Review of Historical Dam-Break Events and Laboratory Tests on Real Topography for the Validation of Numerical Models

Abstract

Dam break inundation mapping is essential for risk management and mitigation, emergency action planning, and potential consequences assessment. To quantify flood hazard associated with dam failures, flooding variables must be predicted by efficient and robust numerical models capable to effectively cope with the computational difficulties posed by complex flows on real topographies. Validation against real-field data of historical dam-breaks is extremely useful to verify models’ capabilities and accuracy. However, such catastrophic events are rather infrequent, and available data on the breaching mechanism and downstream flooding are usually inaccurate and incomplete. Nevertheless, in some cases, real-field data collected after the event (mainly breach size, maximum water depths and flood wave arrival times at selected locations, water marks, and extent of flooded areas) are adequate to set up valuable and significant test cases, provided that all other data required to perform numerical simulations are available (mainly topographic data of the floodable area and input parameters defining the dam-break scenario). This paper provides a review of the historical dam-break events for which real-field datasets useful for validation purposes can be retrieved in the literature. The resulting real-field test cases are divided into well-documented test cases, for which extensive and complete data are already available, and cases with partial or inaccurate datasets. Type and quality of the available data are specified for each case. Finally, validation data provided by dam-break studies on physical models reproducing real topographies are presented and discussed. This review aims at helping dam-break modelers: (a) to select the most suitable real-field test cases for validating their numerical models, (b) to facilitate data access by indicating relevant bibliographic references, and (c) to identify test cases of potential interest worthy of further research.

Simulating the 1976 Teton Dam Failure using Geoclaw and HEC-RAS and comparing with Historical Observations

“…This event has been studied using one-dimensional models and has helped form the basis for the understanding of earthen dam failures (Blanton, 1977;Snyder, 1977;Brown, 1977;Fread, 1977;Thomas, 1977;Macchione & Sirangelo, 1990;Gundlach & Thomas, 1977;Balloffet & Scheffler, 1982). This study contributes new analyses for determining the numerical algorithms' effectiveness for dam-break modeling (Aureli et al, 2021). Furthermore, the data from this paper provides documentation of the consolidated Teton Dam failure data for future work in preparing the Teton Dam failure as a more common a benchmark problem for code comparison (Spero, Hannah and Calhoun, Donna and Schubert, Michael, 2021).…”

“…Actual dam failure events can offer a robust source of observational data for use in validating high-performance computational codes. Examples of commonly used dam failures events used as software benchmark problems include the Malpasset dam failure, Baldwin Hills reservoir failure, and Vajont dam failure case studies (Aureli et al, 2021;Begnudelli & Sanders, 2007;Bosa & Petti, 2011;Urzicȃ et al, 2021;Hervouet & Petitjean, 1999;Biscarini et al, 2016;Valiani et al, 2002;Gallegos et al, 2009). In this study, we use the 1976 Teton Dam failure (US), an event that predominantly formed the basis for the understanding of dam failures (Reclamation, 1976(Reclamation, , 2006ASDSO, 2021).…”

Flood Modelling due to Dam Failure Using HEC-RAS 2D with GIS Overlay: Case Study of Karalloe Dam in South Sulawesi Province Indonesia

“…The dam is a piece of infrastructure beneficial to human life by promoting social and economic development. Dams serve many purposes, including irrigation, power generation, water supply, flood control, fishing, and recreation [1,2]. The Karalloe Dam is a rock-fill type with a concrete membrane and side spillway without a door with a maximum storage volume of 40.53 million m 3 , which is used to meet water needs for irrigation of Kelara-Karalloe, covering an area of 7004 ha and is expected to be developed for hydropower potential of 4.5 MW, flood control (64.17 m 3 /s), conservation of water resources, and tourism development [3][4][5].…”

Location Matters: A Framework to Investigate the Spatial Characteristics of Distributed Flood Attenuation

“…Dams are being removed at an increasing rate for similar reasons [11]. Finally, adapting a centralized work, such as a levee or a large reservoir, to changing conditions or to prevent failures [12,13] and unintended behaviors [14] is an onerous process [15][16][17].…”