Designing Experiments to Study Dam Breach Hydraulic Phenomena

Abstract

The success of experimental studies to investigate hydraulics of dam breaching requires an adequate specification of geotechnical parameters and control over its realization in field or in laboratory conditions. Although this is known, there are few studies specifically addressed to formulate and discuss the requirements for comparable laboratory hydraulic tests to study embankment failure by overtopping. This study addresses this research gap specifically for homogeneous earthfill dams. It is aimed at proposing and discussing a set of core procedures and monitoring techniques to be observed in studies of dam breaching by overtopping. A first procedural step involves the theoretical discussion of similarities between model and prototype erodibility. Further steps involve observations of breached model dams under controlled hydraulic and geotechnical conditions. Requirements for comparability of hydraulic laboratory practice are described and discussed, and it is argued that the key geotechnical parameters of control are the soil composition (more specifically, the fraction of fine material) and the compaction conditions (relative compaction and water content). To attain similarity conditions in what concerns model dam erodibility, whose failure modes should include headcuts and undercutting, a range of reference values for the geotechnical control parameters is suggested and construction/compaction methods are discussed.