Investigating a potential reservoir landslide and suggesting its treatment using limit-equilibrium and numerical methods

A reservoir landslide not only reduces the water storage capacity, but also causes extensive damages to the dam body, power/water transmission lines, roads, and other infrastructures. The Latian Dam, located 35 km north east of Tehran (Iran), is one of the cases which has encountered serious problems with instability of its rock abutments. This paper addresses the stability analysis of the right abutment of the Latian Dam using limit equilibrium and numerical methods. Geomechanical characteristics of the rock abutment were first estimated based on engineering classification of the rock mass. Different search methods were examined for locating the critical circular/non-circular slip surface in conjunction with the general limit equilibrium method. The effect of variability of rock mass properties, water table, and earthquake load on the factor of safety (FS) and probability of failure (PF) was studied. In the event of rapid drawdown in the reservoir, the limit equilibrium analysis calculated FS=1.067 and PF=21.1%, and the numerical analysis returned FS=1.01. The results of the analyses suggest that the right abutment of the Latian Dam is prone to slide and needs treatment. Investigations demonstrated that a slope reduction by 15° at the upper part of the abutment would meet stability conditions even in the worst-case scenario (FS=1.297 and PF=2.07%).