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Damage to grass dikes due to wave overtopping

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Abstract

Grass covers have been applied as an effective measure for protecting river levees and sea dikes. We conducted experiments to show how roots considerably improve the shear strength of soil on dike slopes. Roots of 1-year-old Bermuda and Carpet grass may increase the total shear strength of up to 20 kPa. Exposed to severe overtopping flow, dike slopes may possibly fail in various manners including ‘head-cut’, ‘roll-up’ and ‘collapse’. The ratio between shear strength of the grass cover and its subsoil layer would get a value of two to distinguish the first two manners and would be zero for the last one. To some extent, the findings contribute to the basis for thoughtfully investigating the strength and failure mechanism of grass-covered slopes.

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Acknowledgements

A large part of the data presented in this study was mainly achieved through the project “Technical Assistance for Sea Dike Research” supported by the Government of the Netherlands and the project “Super Sea Dike with high safety level and environmental friendly” financed by the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Measurements were taken by the staffs of the Faculty of Marine and Coastal Engineering, Water Resources University and the Plant Protection Research Institute in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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  1. Faculty of Marine and Coastal Engineering, Water Resources University, 175 Tay Son, Dong Da, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

    Hai Trung Le

  2. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands

    H. J. Verhagen & J. K. Vrijling

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  1. Hai Trung Le
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  2. H. J. Verhagen
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  3. J. K. Vrijling
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Correspondence to Hai Trung Le.

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Le, H.T., Verhagen, H.J. & Vrijling, J.K. Damage to grass dikes due to wave overtopping. Nat Hazards 86, 849–875 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2721-2

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