Laboratory Investigation to Study Breach Behavior of Embankments

Dam failures cause loss of lives as well as massive damage to the structure. Overtopping failure of dams is the most frequent form of embankment failures as compared to other causes of failure. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the breaching of embankment for the development of early warning system of people downstream of the embankment. To understand the breaching process, the essential breach parameters are breach initiation time, breach width, time to breach, shape of breach. Also, the soil characteristics of fill material influence the rate of breaching of embankment dams. Present study gives the results of seven tests conducted in a small flume using a wooden fuse plug model. For constant hydraulic conditions, the temporal variations of breaching process were observed and described in different phases of breach profile. It was analyzed that soil composition and degree of compaction were key factors in the breaching process. The constant hydraulic conditions and limited width of the flume are some limitations of the study.