DESIGN METHODS FOR PRESSURE RELIEF WELL SYSTEMS AT DAMS AND LEVEES
type: CreativeWork
description: "Flood risk reduction structures such as dams and levees are important systems that provide significant benefits to the nation. Relief wells reduce the substratum water pressures that can compromise them via internal erosion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) analytical method to design relief well systems by calculating discharge and excess head along an infinite line of wells was developed from the 1930s – 1950s. The research presented here increases our understanding of the method’s history and uses analytical and numerical models to improve current infinite and finite well system design practices. The historical development of this method was reviewed, and numerical modeling of well systems was used to verify the different nomogram versions used in design manuals. Early equations were analyzed and related to their modern versions. An early chart error was identified, the potential impacts on well system design were characterized, and a corrective procedure was developed to assist designers in evaluating old systems. Average head for a well line was better defined with analytical equations and numerical models as an overestimation of head landward of the wells. Models were used to examine landward maximum head and to create a new design variable and charts for integration into the USACE method so that head landward of an infinite line can be more accurately calculated. Finally, the assumption of an infinite line of relief wells was studied, and numerical models were used to investigate well lines that have a defined, finite length. Uplift along and landward of finite well lines were studied while varying input parameters, and new variables and charts were developed so the existing design method can evaluate finite well lines"--Abstract, p. iv
abstract: "Flood risk reduction structures such as dams and levees are important systems that provide significant benefits to the nation. Relief wells reduce the substratum water pressures that can compromise them via internal erosion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) analytical method to design relief well systems by calculating discharge and excess head along an infinite line of wells was developed from the 1930s – 1950s. The research presented here increases our understanding of the method’s history and uses analytical and numerical models to improve current infinite and finite well system design practices. The historical development of this method was reviewed, and numerical modeling of well systems was used to verify the different nomogram versions used in design manuals. Early equations were analyzed and related to their modern versions. An early chart error was identified, the potential impacts on well system design were characterized, and a corrective procedure was developed to assist designers in evaluating old systems. Average head for a well line was better defined with analytical equations and numerical models as an overestimation of head landward of the wells. Models were used to examine landward maximum head and to create a new design variable and charts for integration into the USACE method so that head landward of an infinite line can be more accurately calculated. Finally, the assumption of an infinite line of relief wells was studied, and numerical models were used to investigate well lines that have a defined, finite length. Uplift along and landward of finite well lines were studied while varying input parameters, and new variables and charts were developed so the existing design method can evaluate finite well lines"--Abstract, p. iv
author: Keffer, Andrew
keywords: Dams, Levees, Relief wells, Seepage, Underseepage, Engineering, Geological Engineering
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:18:18Z
provider: Missouri University of Science and Technology
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Missouri University of Science and Technology