Dam breach width significantly influences peak breach outflow, inundation levels, and flood arrival time, but uncertainties inherent in the prediction of its value for embankment dams make its accurate estimation a challenging task in dam risk assessments. The key focus of this paper is to provide a fuzzy logic (FL) model for estimating the average breach width of embankment dams as an alternat...

The Impact of Karkheh Dam and Meteorological Parameters on the Annual Peak Regime Flood Plains River

For the last fifty years, the design floods of a number of embankment dams were re-evaluated and the revised spillway outflows are often larger than the original design discharges. Several embankment overtopping protection systems were developed for earthfill structures, and the applications range from river dykes to tsunami protections including embankment dams. Well-known designs include timb...

In 1891 a report was published by an ASCE committee to investigate the cause of the Johnstown flood of 1889. They concluded that changes made to the dam by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club did not cause the disaster because the embankment would have been overflowed and breached if the changes were not made. We dispute that conclusion based on hydraulic analyses of the dam as originally b...

A computational methodology dedicated to embankment dam performance assessment has been designed and implemented. The model’s inputs are the whole set of available information and data: visual observations, monitoring measurements, calculated data and documents related to design and construction processes. Firstly, a formal grid is proposed to structure the inputs. It is composed of six fields:...

The reservoir-induced seismicity (RIS) at the Karkheh dam site with a reservoir capacity of about 7.4x109 meters is investigated. Based on the assessment of the seismicity of the dam site in equal time periods before and after reservoir impoundment, it was found that the number of earthquakes have been tripled after impoundment, while their magnitudes and focal depths become smaller. The averag...

Forecasting dam behaviour is of paramount importance to avoid collapses. It consists of detecting and controlling deterioration mechanisms. This paper sets out to propose a multi model methodology to model complex dynamic systems, such as dams. It defines three models based on expert knowledge: a structural model, a functional model and a behavioural model. They are developed from the stories o...

There is a worldwide interest in the proper design of embankment dams to resist earthquake loadings. For the first time in Iran, a complete ambient vibration survey due to low-level loads such as wind, machinery activities, low level tectonic activities, and water exit from bottom outlet was performed on Marun embankment dam. These kinds of ambient vibration tests are suitable for manifesting t...

There is a worldwide interest in the proper design of embankment dams to resist earthquake loadings. For the first time in Iran, a complete ambient vibration survey due to low-level loads such as wind, machinery activities, low level tectonic activities, and water exit from bottom outlet was performed on Marun embankment dam. These kinds of ambient vibration tests are suitable for manifesting t...