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Abstract
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Construction of a grout curtain in karstic terrains consists of some uncertainties which usually result in money and time spending. From the engineering geology point of view, having karst at the grout curtain route can be a disaster. In some cases, the dimension of karst was so big that stopped the work for a certain time or made the whole project uneconomical. In rare cases despite of huge remedial works, little or no results have been achieved. Case histories of finished projects in karstic terrains show that a great part of problems is related to the lack of investigations during the design phases. Of course there are many limitations to define the problem. For instance, it should be noticed that recognition of small (and big) karst features is very difficult and sometimes it's even impossible. After recognition of the karst, there are still many problems that should be solved. These problems consist of determining the karst geometry, removing the deposited materials from the bottom of karst, filling the karst, connecting the karst to the grout curtain and so on. Fortunately, it's possible to consider some actions that help to have fewer problems during the execution phase and being ready for quick action. In this paper, we try to explain major criteria for designing the grout curtain in karstic terrains and also consider the problems occurred in some big projects and their solutions with special attention on Salman Farsi dam project as a typical karstic environment dam.
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