Empirical and semi-analytical models for predicting peak outflows caused by embankment dam failures

Review of moraine dam failure mechanism

“…The list of empirical relationships of peak discharge due to the failure of a dam with various parameters of the dam before failure was already available (Westoby et al 2014). Empirical relationships containing height of water (H w ) and volume of water (V w ) provided more accurate predictions of peak discharge of flow than those having other parameters like embankment length (E l ) and embankment width (E w ) as per the multiple regression analysis performed by Wang et al (2018). Since the prediction of peak outflow by the models including only H w and V w are not improved significantly by the inclusion of E l and E w in the relationship, H w and V w can be considered substantial parameters to determine peak discharge than any other parameters (Wang et al 2018).…”

“…Empirical relationships containing height of water (H w ) and volume of water (V w ) provided more accurate predictions of peak discharge of flow than those having other parameters like embankment length (E l ) and embankment width (E w ) as per the multiple regression analysis performed by Wang et al (2018). Since the prediction of peak outflow by the models including only H w and V w are not improved significantly by the inclusion of E l and E w in the relationship, H w and V w can be considered substantial parameters to determine peak discharge than any other parameters (Wang et al 2018). Figure 4(a-c) portrays peak discharge as a function of the potential energy of the dam, volume of water behind the dam and height of the water behind the dam.…”

Dam Breach Size Comparison for Flood Simulations. A HEC-RAS Based, GIS Approach for Drăcșani Lake, Sitna River, Romania

“…According to the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) [3], worldwide, there are over 36,000 large dams (with heights of at least 15 m) and circa 300 dam-related accidents. Currently, the most used type of dam (embankment dam) is the earthfill dam (only in the US there are 75,000 such dams) [1,4].…”

“…Although across the globe there are thousands of lakes being held up by earth dams, which appear to be risk-free, the possibility for these structures to collapse still exists, and this implies high risks for the downstream settlements. Globally, in the case of a dam breach, 65% of the recorded cases involved earth dams, in China this percentage being the highest, at 90% [4,5]. The main causes of dam failure are overtopping, foundation/structural defects and piping [1,[6][7][8][9].…”

“…Discontinuous urban fabric; 2 Non-irrigated arable land; 3 Vineyards;4 Fruit trees and berry plantations;5 Pastures;6 Complex cultivation patterns;7 Land principally occupied by agriculture, with significant areas of natural vegetation.…”