Illustration of a dam failure test
Dike breach simulation: (a) breach initial stage: deepening and widening; (b) development stage: lateral widening
Scheme of the computational domain
Point cloud from the post-processing of the images acquired with KINECT SENSOR
Large Scale Particle Tracking Velocimetry (LSPIV)
View of the downstream face of the dam during a mass detachment episode
Top (a) and frontal views (b) of the evolution of the breach morphology between two instants of the failure by overtopping of an earth dam composed of granular soil with high fines content
Frontal vie of the breach morphologic evolution during the failure by overtopping of a homogeneous dam composed with a clay soil
Laser sheet projected in the dam crest defining the reference section of the breach. Frontal view
Laser sheet projected in the dam crest defining the reference section of the breach. Lateral view
Experimental facility for embankment breach experiments. Photo in perspective
Experimental facility for embankment breach experiments. Plan and cut scheme
Entity
South Carolina University
COORDINATOR Instituto Superior Técnico
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil
South Carolina State University
Universidade Católica de Louvain la Neuve
University of Puerto Rico
COORDINATOR Instituto Superior Técnico
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil
South Carolina State University
Universidade Católica de Louvain la Neuve
University of Puerto Rico
Description
Hydraulic research on the failure of embankments: i) physical modelling of earth dam failures with different materials (granular and clay soils), different compaction efforts and transversal dam profiles (homogeneous vs zoned (with a clay core) and with/without internal drainage system); ii) physical modelling of dikes failure with different soils iii) numerical modelling of the failure of earth dams and dikes and comparison with experimental results and results from other numerical models.
Objectives
- Numerical simulation of the failure process.
- Characterization of the main differences between the failure processes in dikes and earth dams.
- Characterization of the morphodynamic processes on the breach.
- Development of novel methods to estimate the breach effluent flow.
Results
- Layout of procedures to adopt in dam breach experiments
- Methodologies of image post-processing for extraction of crucial data
- Local estimates of the failure hydrograph (calculates at the breach section)
- Understanding the relation between the flow hydrodynamics and the breach morphologic evolution during the failure of earth dams, in particular, during the occurrence of soil mass detachment episodes from the dam body
Next challenges
- Experimental tests on failure of earth dams: i) homogeneous with internal drainage system; ii) zoned with a clay core; iii) homogeneous with clay soils (cohesive material)
- Experimental tests on dikes failure
- Identification of the main differences on the failure processes of earth dams and dikes
- Numerical simulation of the failure of embankments (earth dams and dikes) through STAV-2D model and comparison with experimental results and numerical results, from other numerical models