An Experimental Investigation of Homogeneous Embankment Dams Overtopping Breach Hydraulic Results by Different Scenarios

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Civil Engineering (Water and Hydraulic Structures), Faculty of Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

2 Department of Hydraulics and Hydro-Environmental Engineering, Water Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

3 Iranian Water Resources Management Company, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jwim.2023.354765.1047

Abstract

Experimental investigation of embankment dams due to overtopping breach is a remarkable subject because it is the most possible failure reason, and it includes a complicated process. The mentioned phenomenon physical modeling has performed at energy ministry water research institute, hydraulics laboratory, and its hydraulic outputs compared with a benchmark model outcome in three scenarios framework. The results reveal that the breach process of physical models comprises three stages: i.e., initiation, development, and the end. Also, the development time is longer than that of the other stages. In first scenario, when shell gradation  varied from 0.5mm to 1.7mm, 26 percent of peak discharge increased and 14 percent of breach time decreased. In second scenario in which lake water level maintained at overtopping threshold for two hours (for more saturation), 15 percent of peak discharge and 14 percent of breach time declined. In third scenario where the primary breach groove did not excavate, the highest difference in comparison with benchmark model results occurred, when 34 percent of peak discharge grew and 24 percent of breach time reduced. Moreover, asymmetrical sedimentation pattern happened in the last scenario. The Calculation of eroded material volume and mass was sedimentation pattern determination harvest. Herein, the simultaneous measurements of breach geometry, flow hydrograph, and final sedimentation pattern are the research unique achievements. However, further acquired analysis would be influential for the embankment dam's failure phenomenon management.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Abdellatif Mohamed, M.M., & El- Ghorab, E.A.S. (2016). Investigating scale effects on breach evolution of overtopped sand embankments. Journal of Water Science, 30, 84-95.
  2. Alhasan, Z., Jandora, J., & Riha, J. (2015). Study of dam-break due to overtopping of four small dams in the Czech Republic. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 63(3), 717-729.
  3. Al-Riffai, M. (2014). Experimental study of breach mechanics in overtopped non-cohesive earthen embankments. PhD thesis, University of Ottawa, Canada.
  4. Association of state dam safety officials. (2023). Kentucky, USA.
  5. ASTM D422-63. (2002). Standard test method for particle size analysis of soils.
  6. ASTM D1557. (2007). Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort. West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
  7. ASTM (2003). Standard test method for direct shear test of soils under consolidated drained conditions. Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Philadelphia 408, 1-7.
  8. Brunner, G.W. (2016). HEC-RAS Reference Manual, version 5.0. Hydrologic Engineering Center, Institute for Water Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, Calif.
  9. Coleman, S.E., Andrews, D.P & Webby, M.G. (2002). Overtopping breaching of non-cohesive homogeneous embankments. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 128 (9), 829-838.
  10. El-Ghorab, E.A.S., Fahmy, A., & Fodda, M. (2013). Large scale physical model to investigate the mechanics of embankment erosion during overtopping flow. Engineering Research Journal, 36 (3), 287-302.
  11. Engomoen, B., Witter, D.T., Knight, K., & Luebke, T.A. (2014). Design Standards No 13: Embankment Dams. United States Bureau of Reclamation.
  12. Froehlich, D.C. (2016). Predicting peak discharge from gradually breached embankment dam. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 04016041, 1-15.
  13. Hakimzadeh, H., Nourani, V., & Amini, A.B. (2014). Genetic programming simulation of dam breach hydrograph and peak outflow discharge. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 19 (4), 757-768.
  14. (2019). ICOLD incident database bulletin 99 update: statistical analysis of dam failures, technical report, international commission on large dams: Paris, France.
  15. Kouzehgar, K., Hassanzadeh, Y., Eslamian, S., Yousefzadeh, F.M., & Babaeian, A.A. (2021). Physical modelling into outflow hydrograghs and breach characteristics of homogeneous earthfill dams failure due to overtopping. Journal of Mountain Science, 18 (2), 462-481.
  16. Mohammadi, M. (2022). Applied hydraulics. Urmia: Urmia university press. (In Persian).
  17. Morris, M., Kortenhaus, A., &Visser, P. (2009). Modelling breach initiation and growth. FLOODsite report: T06-08-02, FLOODsite Consortium, Wallingford, UK.
  18. Msadala, V. (2016). Sediment transport dynamics in dam break modelling. PhD thesis, Stellenbosch university, South Africa.
  19. Orendorff, B., Al-Riffai, M., Nistor, I., & Rennie, C.D. ( 2013). Breach outflow characteristics of non-cohesive embankment dams. Subject to blast. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 40, 243-253.
  20. Pektas, A.O., & Erdik, T. (2014). Peak discharge prediction due to embankment dam break by using sensitivity analysis based ANN. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 18(6), 1868-1876.
  21. Pickert, G., Weitbrecht, V., & Bieberstein, A. (2011). Breaching of overtopped river embankments controlled by apparent cohesion. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 49(2), 143-156.
  22. Rahimi, H. (2019). Embankment dams. Tehran university press. (In Persian).
  23. Saberi, O. (2016). Embankment dam failure outflow hydrograph development. PhD thesis, Graz university of technology, Austria.
  24. Sadeghi, S. ( 2020). Experimental investigation into breach in small Earth dams with clay core due to overtopping. PhD thesis, Sahand University of Technology, Iran. (In Persian).
  25. ( 2004). General design and construction considerations for Earth and rockfill dams. US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington DC, USA.
  26. (1987). Design of small dams. Bureau of Reclamation, water resources technical Publication.
  27. Zumrawi, M. (2015). Failure investigation of Tawila dam in north Darfur, Sudan. International Journal of Science and Research, 4 (5), 963-967.
Water and Irrigation Management
Volume 13, Issue 3
October 2023
Pages 651-664

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics