Author(s): Mehmet Sukru Guney; Emre Dumlu; Merve Okan; Yiğit Kalyoncu

Linked Author(s): Mehmet Şükrü Güney

Keywords: Earth-fill dam; Homogeneous dam; Piping; Internal erosion; Breach development; Discharge from breach

Abstract: One of the most prominent failure reasons for earth-fill dams is internal erosion resulting from piping. This failure mode may cause irreversible weakened structural integrity, loss of properties, and even loss of lives. Therefore, it is important to understand the breaching process due to piping by providing reliable data for the decision-makers in case of emergency. This study was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey with project number 119M609 and involves experimental investigation on piping under three different weak zone scenarios to examine the breach process and provide the data for more realistic numerical evaluations. The experiments were conducted in the hydraulic laboratory of Izmir University of Economics and Dokuz Eylul University. The initiation of piping was triggered from seepage in weak layers at the bottom, middle, and upper parts, along the centerline of homogenous earth-fill dams in a rectangular flume. As a result of the experiments, the magnitude of the peak discharges and their durations as well as the eroded breach areas were found to be affected by the locations of the seepage and initial water heads acting on the weak zones. Also, in the experiments, at the beginning of the breaching, initial cascading surface flow resulted in sheet and rill erosion.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000675921

Year: 2024