Taking typical soil dikes in the Dongting Lake area as the object, the coupling calculation of seepage, temperature and stress was carried out by using FLAC3D software.The temporal-spatial evolution characteristics of the seepage field, temperature field and damage field of dikes and foundations were analyzed under the conditions of seepage and structural failure. The internal relationships between temperature and seepage and between temperature and structural failure were investigated. The results show that the evolution of dike foot and surface temperature in the lower reaches reveals the characteristics of stage change during the process of local penetration failure and even the whole structure failure. The change characteristics of surface temperature can be used as an indirect index to predict or judge the degree of seepage damage and structural damage in dams.