Experimental Investigation of Flood Management by an Instantaneous Levee Breach
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the reduction of flood depth in a channel due to an engineered levee breach. Different combinations of inflow hydrographs, breach openings, and floodplain storage areas were considered. Inflow hydrographs with various peak discharges, hydrograph shapes, and flood durations were generated by a computer-controlled valve. A breach was created instantaneously on the channel sidewall as the flood wave approached the breach location. Regression analyses were conducted to express the reduction of flood depth as a function of the breach width, channel width, distance of the selected location from the breach centerline, hydrograph characteristics, and the area of the floodplain basin. The results show that the engineered levee breach provided an effective reduction of flood depth both upstream and downstream of the breach—more so upstream of the breach—by modifying the flood wave. The breach width and floodplain area are found to play a significant role in depth reduction.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published paper.
Acknowledgments
The first author acknowledges the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the financial support for his doctoral study. The construction of the experimental setup was partially supported by a National Science Foundation PIRE grant (Grant No. OISE-0730246). Dr. John Dickerson is gratefully acknowledged for his help with automation.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 23, 2020
Accepted: Oct 4, 2021
Published online: Nov 27, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 27, 2022
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