One of the most important factors concerning the design of earth-fill dams is the accurate seepage estimation, which is highly correlated to the permeability and hydraulic conductivity of the core material. With the geographic coordinates of 37°31′35.9,“ North and 46°07′55.6″ East, Gale chay dam is located in the northwest of Iran in East Azerbaijan province. The dam is highly important regarding the provided economic benefits for the region. In this research, the steady-state seepage analysis of the Gale Chay dam was conducted via the finite element model (FEM) using a novel saturated fractal hydraulic conductivity model, and the results were compared with those obtained from the conventional and fractal models in the unsaturated condition. For estimating the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the core material, the fractal theory was employed using the image processing technique, the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images, and a new fractal permeability model. The estimated saturated hydraulic conductivities were in good accordance with the measured values. Furthermore, since the fractal theory considers the distribution of the pores, the estimated upper and lower bounds of the saturated hydraulic conductivity resulted in better seepage estimations. Using the estimated maximum, minimum, and average fractal hydraulic conductivities, the results of the saturated seepage analysis indicated relative errors of 15.6%, 8%, and 10.8% compared to the observed seepage. The results were acceptable in terms of safety and economic aspects. Conducting the unsaturated seepage analysis, it was observed that the estimated seepage was highly influenced by the saturated hydraulic conductivity value. Hence, the estimated average fractal hydraulic conductivity by the image processing technique affected the unsaturated fractal and conventional models in a way that the unsaturated seepage analysis was improved by an average of 80%. Moreover, the unsaturated fractal model revealed reliable estimations compared to the conventional models and was considered a feasible alternative for estimating the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity.

填土坝设计最重要的因素之一是准确的渗流估算，这与岩心材料的渗透率和导水率高度相关。Gale chay大坝位于伊朗西北部，东阿塞拜疆省，地理坐标为北纬37°31′35.9“，东经46°07′55.6”。大坝对于为该地区提供的经济利益非常重要。在这项研究中，Gale Chay 大坝的稳态渗流分析是通过有限元模型（FEM）使用一种新颖的饱和分形导水率模型进行的，并将结果与​​常规模型和分形模型获得的结果进行了比较。不饱和状态。为了估算岩心材料的饱和导水率，使用图像处理技术、扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 图像和新的分形渗透率模型采用了分形理论。估计的饱和水力传导率与测量值非常吻合。此外，由于分形理论考虑了孔隙的分布，饱和导水率的估计上限和下限导致更好的渗流估计。使用估计的最大、最小和平均分形水力传导率，饱和渗流分析的结果表明，与观察到的渗流相比，相对误差分别为 15.6%、8% 和 10.8%。结果在安全和经济方面是可以接受的。进行非饱和渗流分析，据观察，估计的渗流高度受饱和导水率值的影响。因此，通过图像处理技术估算的平均分形导水率对非饱和分形模型和常规模型的影响使非饱和渗流分析平均提高了 80%。此外，与传统模型相比，不饱和分形模型揭示了可靠的估计，并被认为是估计不饱和导水率的可行替代方案。