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Dam- Breach Hydrograph Modelling: An Innovative Semi- Analytical Approach

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Abstract

The delineation of the areas exposed to flood hazard caused by a dam existence upstream and its possible failure needs a thorough analysis of the hypothetical dam break incident. The study presented in this paper focusses on the simulation of the dam breach formation and the calculation of the resulting outflow hydrograph using a semi- analytical approach. More specifically the method presented addresses the dam break incident of an embankment dam caused by overtopping. The analysis is based on the assumptions of constant vertical erosion rate for the formation of the breach and the parabolic shape of the breach. Two solutions are presented dependent on whether the capacity of the reservoir is considered prismatic or it is a power function of the water depth in the reservoir. Finally the proposed method is illustrated through the analysis of a hypothetical dam break incident.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning and Laboratory of Reclamation Works and Water Resources Management, National Tehnical University of Athens, 9 Iroon Polytechniou, 15780, Athens, Greece

    George Tsakiris & Mike Spiliotis

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  1. George Tsakiris
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  2. Mike Spiliotis
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Correspondence to Mike Spiliotis.

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Tsakiris, G., Spiliotis, M. Dam- Breach Hydrograph Modelling: An Innovative Semi- Analytical Approach. Water Resour Manage 27, 1751–1762 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0046-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0046-9

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