Breaching of river levees often causes catastrophic damages to the hinterland which is supposed to be protected by the levees. The breaching process has been studied during the last decades mainly with reference to the case of dams and sea dikes, while specific knowledge and modelling tools are missing to address the case of river levees. A new process-oriented approach was developed in the present study in order to advance the knowledge about the processes associated with the breaching of river levees and to investigate the physical conditions that determine a final configuration of the breach. The interaction between breach development and river hydro-morphodynamics was considered to be the key to understand the levee breaching process. The river-breach system has been analysed by means of two series of laboratory experiments and an analytical model of the river flow, which give complementary descriptions about the breaching process. Results from the fixed bed laboratory investigations highlight the hydrodynamic processes that take place in a channel when a lateral outflow occurs (as in case of a levee breach). The movable bed investigations provide one of the few existing laboratory experiments reproducing a non-cohesive levee breach together with the river flow until an equilibrium stage is achieved. A simple overall picture of the hydrodynamic processes and a new interpretation of the breaching at the equilibrium stage are given by the analytical flow model. This research provides the necessary knowledge about the breaching process of river levees in order to support more process-oriented approaches for the assessment of the breach features that can develop in a river levee. The application of the results to real case data shows that the research direction is appropriate and it pushes toward future research studies.


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    Title :

    Breaching of river levees: analytical flow modelling and experimental hydro-morphodynamic investigations


    Additional title:

    Bruch von Flussdeichen: Analytische Strömungsmodellierung und hydro-morphodynamische Untersuchungen im Labor


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2013



    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English


    Classification :

    DDC:    627





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