• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.3B
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• pp.239-245
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• 2009

Levees, the hydro-engineering structure, are similar to earth dams in aspects of shape and structure. However, they are different from earth dams in the external force conditions. As a levee is the structure that is complexly affected by the flow and the water stage in the river, it may be unreasonable to analyze the seepage safety as previous studies derived from the neglect of river flow. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate flow structures in a trapezoidal open-channel and the influence of the channel flow on the seepage through a levee. Flow structures in a trapezoidal open-channel were distinguished from a rectangular open-channel such as velocity and bottom shear stress distributions. In case with the flow velocity of 0.5 m/s, seepage water heads were higher 10 percent as compared with the stagnant case. This result is caused by dynamic heads, secondary currents, turbulent fluctuation forces, and various physical factors. It is suggested that external force boundary considered in terms of the flow as well as the water stage is proper to seepage analyses.