New Orleans Levee System Performance during Hurricane Katrina: 17th Street Canal and Orleans Canal North
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 5
Abstract
Centrifuge modeling of the 17th Street Canal and Orleans Canal North levees was performed in this study. During hurricane Katrina the levees on the 17th Street Canal failed, leading to breaches in the outfall canal in the city. Two mechanisms were observed in the centrifuge modeling that could cause a breach. First, a water-filled crack formed in front of the floodwall as the water in the canal rose above the top of the levee. The levees on the 17th Street Canal, which were supported on clay foundations, failed when this cracking led to a translational (sliding) failure in the clay layer commencing at the toe of the floodwall. The levees at Orleans Canal North, where failure did not occur, were also modeled to demonstrate that the model tests could successfully simulate failure and nonfailure conditions. The centrifuge model tests identified the importance of the crack formation in relation to the stability of the floodwall. These tests also confirmed that levee geometry, floodwall depth of penetration, and the underlying soil profile were all critical to the performance of the system under flood loading.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the writers would like to gratefully acknowledge that support. Permission to publish this work was granted by the Director of the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory of the Engineer Research and Development Center. Several entities and their personnel should also be recognized for their invaluable contributions to this work. Those include the primary centrifuge modeling locations RPI and ERDC, in addition to Steedman and Associates, GeoDelft, University of Brighton, New Orleans District of the USACE, and the Mississippi Valley Division.
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© 2008 ASCE.
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Received: Apr 18, 2007
Accepted: Jan 23, 2008
Published online: May 1, 2008
Published in print: May 2008
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