The effect of sheet piles’ inclination angle, number, and distance on seepage through an earthfill dam

The current research deals with the effects of the inclination angle (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, and 150°) of a sheet pile, the number of sheet piles (1–6), and the distance between two vertical sheet piles (2–10 m). The SEEP/W finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the seepage rate, seepage velocity, and pore water pressure. The outcomes revealed that the maximum decrease in seepage discharge is 34.8 % for a sheet pile with an inclination angle of 105°. By increasing the spacing between two vertical sheet piles, seepage discharge decreases so that the maximum reduction in the seepage discharge was 45.9 % for two vertical sheet piles with a distance of X=10 m. An increase in sheet pile numbers causes a decrease in seepage flow rate so that the maximum reduction in seepage was 50 % when six sheet piles (N=6) were deployed.