Numerical Modeling of Breach Erosion of River Embankments
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 9
Abstract
The process of breach erosion of river embankments depends on the interaction among flow, sediment transport, and the corresponding morphological changes. Levees often consist of noncohesive material with a wide range of grain sizes. The dam material is mainly eroded due to the transport capacity of the overtopping water. Both bed load and suspended load are of importance. For breach formation, the lateral erosion due to slope instabilities has a significant impact. A depth averaged, two-dimensional numerical model was developed to account for these processes. The sensitivity of the discharge through the breach related to different processes and material parameters was investigated and compared to experimental and field data. The results show that the most sensitive parameter of an erosion-based dike-breach simulation is the breach side-slope angle which determines the lateral erosion. The application of the described Model 2dMb to different embankment failures at the Elbe River illustrates its capability in simulating overtopping breaching.
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Acknowledgments
The research project on the Elbe River was sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office for Water and Geology. The digital terrain model of the Elbe River was provided by A. Koschni, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 9 • September 2007
Pages: 1000 - 1009
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 2, 2005
Accepted: Feb 28, 2007
Published online: Sep 1, 2007
Published in print: Sep 2007
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