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Evaluation of the overflow failure scenario and hydrograph of an embankment dam with a concrete upstream slope protection

François Chiganne, Claude Marche and Tew-Fik Mahdi

Article (2014)

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Abstract

The standard procedure in Quebec, Canada, for evaluating the failure of an embankment dam, per the Loi sur la sécurité des barrages, specifies a 30-min-long failure scenario with a breach width equal to four times the maximal height of the dam. We demonstrate a new method for evaluating the flood overtopping failure scenario for embankment dams with concrete upstream slope protection, using Toulnustouc dam for example computations. Our new methodology computes safety factors for a range of potential failure mechanisms taking into account geotechnical, hydraulic, and structural factors. We compile the results of our investigations of the various dam failure mechanisms and compare the corresponding dam failure hydrographs to the current hydrograph specified in the standard analysis procedures. Our investigations tend to invalidate the current standard procedures for evaluating the failure of rock-fill dams with concrete upstream faces, by indicating that the current standard procedures underestimate the peak failure discharge and overestimate the time to the peak discharge.

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Subjects: 1100 Structural engineering > 1100 Structural engineering
1400 Mining and mineral processing > 1403 Rock mechanics
4500 Hydrology > 4502 Physical hydrology
Department: Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering
Funders: CRSNG/NSERC
PolyPublie URL: https://publications.polymtl.ca/5314/
Journal Title: Natural Hazards (vol. 71, no. 1)
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-013-0897-2
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0897-2
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2020 18:25
Last Modified: 10 Apr 2025 03:48
Cite in APA 7: Chiganne, F., Marche, C., & Mahdi, T.-F. (2014). Evaluation of the overflow failure scenario and hydrograph of an embankment dam with a concrete upstream slope protection. Natural Hazards, 71(1), 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0897-2

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