Tensay Gebremedhin (PhD)Gemechis Ayana2024-07-312024-07-312024-06https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/3346Soil reinforcement technology is now well-established technique for geotechnical applications in most parts of the world. This thesis was intended to numerically investigate the benefits of soil reinforcement techniques, in static and dynamic stability of zoned embankment dams in Ethiopia. The dam section designed by ECDSWCo has been considered for the case study. The detail static and dynamic analyses were conducted for the dam without geosynthetic reinforcements initially and then the slopes of this dam was considered to be reinforced with horizontal layers of geosynthetic reinforcements (geotextiles) by replacing the rock fill zone with granular shell fill for cost minimization. The analysis was carried out by using state of the art software Geo-Slope International Ltd, finite element and limit equilibrium based packages, based on analysis type. Different analysis alternatives were conducted for the reinforced dam by varying the spacing of the reinforcement layers to optimize safety and economy. Hence, this study demonstrated that reinforcing embankment dam slopes with horizontal layers of geosynthetic reinforcements improves the embankment dam's safety and economy. By using only six layers of geosynthetic reinforcements, arranged in 4m c/c spacing for both upstream and downstream slopes, the static stability factor of safety was improved by an average value of 34.5%, the amplification value at the dam crest was reduced by about 59%, vertical crest displacement was reduced by about 24% and approximately 25% of the embankment fill construction cost was saved from the dam without geosynthetic reinforcements.en-USEmbankment DamNumerical AnalysisGeo-SlopeGeosyntheticThesis