Instrumentation Readings versus Numerical Analysis of Taham Dam

Dam construction is one of the challenges among large-scale projects of a country. Among different types of dams, due to special features, earth dams are the most kind of dams that were constructed in Iran in the past three decades. Features such as efficiency and stability of earth dams have an important effect on their operation and prevent them to be damaged. Taham dam is clay core dam which is constructed in Zanjan province in Iran. After dam impoundment, the stresses and distribution of pore water pressure of the Taham earth dam were investigated and measured by using the instrumentation installed in dam body. Measured values then compared with the obtained results by numerical analysis of the Dam. For numerical analysis PLAXIS code has been used. This comparison showed that the pore water pressures in the dam is similar with the results of numerical analysis, but the stresses in the dam are lower than results of numerical analysis in most areas of dam.