Uncertainties Analysis and Life Cycle Costs of Piping Mitigation Measures

The traditional Dutch way to deal with piping failure in river dikes is the implementation of piping berms. The disadvantage of such a measure is the required inland space. Relief wells, on the other hand, require less or no inland space representing an attractive alternative solution. The aims of this paper are first, to show how reliability analysis of relief wells systems can be carried out, and second to examine the costs required to achieve a reliability target for piping failure, as set in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the analyses will help comparing relief wells with piping berms in economic terms. Subsequently, a life cycle cost analysis is performed. A comparison of the net present value of the two mitigation measures is made. Finally, analyses of two case studies are performed to show the possible economic advantages of installing relief wells, resulting in relief wells as a cost-effective mitigation measure, outperforming piping berms.