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Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP), India 
 
 
Technical Approach and Methodology  
relative to Section of ‘Design Flood Review’ of TOR
 
Making an integral part of Egis Eau Tender Technical Proposal submitted for the DRIP 
 
 
 
Preface:  
 
The Technical Approach was authored on behalf Egis Eau Co., France, 
and it was intended to make a part of consolidated technical proposal 
for Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP), India. The Tech‐
nical Approach was restricted to Project Terms of Reference section de‐
fined as ‘Design Flood Review’.   
The following engineering realms were discussed therein:  
 Hydrological history considerations and reestablishment of de‐
sign inputs for dams rehabilitation, 
 The reservoirs operation modeling whilst having current the in‐
creased flood flows,   
 Scenarios of dams rehabilitation design, 
 The means for upgrading of existing structures and hydro me‐
chanical equipment,  
 Emergency programs for dams break events, 
 Software emulated dams break process.  
The foregoing methodology was associated in all according to the cur‐
rent international standards and codes of practice.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
April, 2013                                                                                                                                       Zika Smiljkovic 
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Understanding of DRIP TOR 

B1. PLANNING
CWC  É Project planning template and optimum implementation schedule. 
Central Water Commission 
General Project Data 

B2. PROCUREMENT
É Procurement management: schedules, tender documents, cost estimates, tender procedures, contracts’ award. 
DRIP 
Dam Rehabilitation & Im‐ B. Project   B3. Financial MANAGEMENT 
É Annual budget plans; É Interim unaudited reports for WB; É Compilation of audited reports to WB ending a financial year. 
provement Project 
Management
B4. Project MONITORING
É Compilation of annual and quarterly progress reports, including ‘as build’ vs ‘planned’ outcomes.  
SCOPE of 
B5. Documents MANAGEMENT 
PROJECT  É Filing System;  É Proactive and on demand response system; É Compilation of final Project Rehabilitation Reports. 
I  Dams and Associated 
Structures Rehabilitation  
II  Dam safety Institu‐
tional Strengthening 
C1. EVALUATION OF DESIGN FLOOD REVIEW STUDIES
III  Project Management 
Management and Engineering 

C. Design Flood  É Evaluation of design review studies prepared by Central Water Commission; É Evolving improved techniques for flood analysis.

Review   C2. OPTIONS TO COPE WITH INCREASED FLOOD DESIGN

CPMU  Methodology  É Review of the rehabilitation design relative to hydrological re‐assessments, then the capacities of spillways and outlets; É Re‐
Central Project   view of energy dissipation organs; É Routine trials for identification of appropriate reservoir levels with simultaneous use of water 
Management Unit  for water supply and hydropower. É Review of dam‐break analysis and inundation consequences in case of unforeseen floods.

Consulting Firm 
Expertise in Consultancy  D1. SEISMIC DESIGN PARAMETERS 
Management and   É Review of design earthquake design parameters;  É  Review of seismic structural analysis and aseismic designs.  
Engineering  
at CPMU and the State Sub‐ D2. REVIEW OF STRUCTURAL SAFETY
Units (SPMU)  É Review of structural designs of remodeled dams aiming to receive higher floods. É  Review of water tightness capacity of dams 
É  Review of originally designed or rehabilitated dams foundation conditions, including their geotechnical conditions, and the ca‐
pacity of sealing measures. 

D3. REVIEW of HYDROMECHANICAL EQUIPMENT
D. Design Review  É Review of Hydromechanical equipment rehabilitation design or where necessitated, the design of new equipment for in‐
creased reservoir levels. 
Methodology 
  D4. REVIEW of DAMS INSTRUMENTATION
É Review of original dams monitoring instrumentation; É Review of rehabilitated dams monitoring design, including the instru‐
mentation, data logging, and the appropriate software for stability limit states ridings.  

D5. OVERALL DAMS REHABILITATION DESIGNS REVIEW
É Review of survey data on seepage water through dams, geodynamic and erosive process of the upstream and downstream 
slopes, time related settlements of dams, propagation of cracks and thenceforth; É Review of rehabilitation designs of dams, 
dams abutments and reservoir slopes. 

D6. DESILTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTISE
É Detail review of desiltations designs (where applied)  and rendering  guidance to the project authorities in environmentally 
sound implementations. 

E1. PERIODICAL SITE INSPECTION 
Understanding of  É Minimum one visit quarterly aiming to check the construction management expertise.  

Project Scope  E2. ASSESSING SUPERVISORY SYSTEM

É Occasional assessment of supervisory mechanisms established by State Project Management Units for particular Dam Projects .  
The Project extends to 4 states of India:  E. Consultancy  
Kerala, Madhya, Pradesh and Orissa.  E3. ASSESSING QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM
Supervision   É Occasional assessment of quality control mechanisms established by State Project Management Units for particular Dam Pro‐
Few more states may join DRIP at a  of Works Quality & Safety  jects.
later stage.  
A conclusion was derived from TOR  E4. ASSESSING of ESMF Compliances 
that the Project is dealing with the  É Assessment of Environmental and social Management Framework compliances of  State Implementing Agencies whilst their 
preparation of environmental management plans.    
flood control and/or water supply 
dams. There, the spillways, shoots, still‐
ing basins, bottom outlets, the installed 
hydromechanical equipment inclusive, 
F1. UPGRADING OF INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERTISE
were construed to be the dam appur‐ É Training of  SPMU employees including procurement of works, financial and environmental management, modern practices in 
tenances. Hence, the water supply   dams engineering,  uptodate construction technologies, risks management, the software serving dams operation control, and the 
conveyors(if any) fed by dam ponds,  like.   
then the appurtenant pumping sta‐ F2. FORMULATION OF NEW GUIDELINES FOR DAMS DESIGN AND SAFETY
tions, valves and  water hammer limita‐ É Including overall scale of Dam Engineering, beginning of hydrological inputs, the reservoir routing, the flood water evacuation, 
tion facilities, were presumed to be out  until the risk analysis of dams.  
of the DRIP scope.   F3. DESIGN REVIEW MANUAL 
If the hydroelectric dams were included  É Hydraulic safety, structural safety and rehabilitation design for the types of the existing dams. 
in DRIP package too, then it is to note 
that power conveyors, the regime of  F4. DEVELOPMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF DHARMA
É Development of balance modules of Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application. 
turbine flows, then the plants opera‐
tion regimes serving base or pick‐on  F. Dams’ Safety  F5. IDENTIFICATION OF UPTODATE DESIGN SOFTWARE
electricity demands,  can be of the ef‐ Institutional Strengthening  É Advise on suitable software for hydrological, hydraulic, structural analyses of dams, as well as for dam break analysis. 
fect to ponds management updating, 
the remodeling of dams and  rehabilita‐ F6. ISO 901 Certification for CDSO and ISO Advisor
tion of spillways and outlets. Assigning  É Facilitation of all activities relative to ISO 901 certification by Dam safety Organization – Dam safety Commission.  
the term ‘Appurtenances’ to headrace  F7. DAM SAFETY trainings
system, surge thanks, power houses,  É Facilitating identification of training requirements for application of modern tools/prices relative to operation, maintenance 
and the like, in this case should be dis‐ and rehabilitation of dams.
cussed during Tender clarification  F8. IDENTIFICATION OF DAMS DESIGN SOFTWARE
phase. The same applies to rehabilita‐ É  Identification of appropriate software for hydrological, hydraulic and structural analysis; É Guidance to software implementa‐
tion. 
tion of power generating equipment, 
the automation and control systems  F9. DEVELOPMENT OF IN‐HOUSE EXPERTISE
then of transmission lines (if any).   É Identification of thrust areas of In‐House expertise and the related requirements for LAB facilities, hardware, software, train‐
ings and the like. 
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Technical Approach and Methodology relative to Section of ‘Design Flood Review’ of TOR

Collection of the complete history of hydrological parameters of a watershed trending to a dam site shall be the first step of design flood review. The pre-
construction collections then those being logged during dam operation span will have to be digitally filed and analyzed. The gauging stations such as those of
pluvial ones, the limnigrphs or staff gauges covering the overall pre and after construction history of a particular dam should serve as a key sources for dams’
rehabilitation process. The recorded daily river discharges in conjunction with those of rainfall intensity are amongst others the basic inputs for an updated
hydrological study supporting rehabilitation process.

Establishment of mean discharge for a particular day of the hydrological history, then the particular mean weekly, monthly and yearly discharges for a year
cycle, would serve as inception parameters. With reference to the watershed behaviour, these should be all the time correlated with as recorded areal hyeto-
graphs.

The evaluation of the foregoing data should result to: (i) mean multiyear distribution of rainfall load during a year cycle, and (ii) mean multiyear distribution
of river discharges for the same cycle. Further analyses of hydrological data will have to conclude the updated multiyear flow duration curve pertinent to a
particular dam site. There, particular attention shall be paid to River discharges losses (if any) in case of faulted limestone dissolution forming karst. Here,
the integral of the hydrological evaluations should result to: (i) mean MY weekly discharges (ii) mean MY monthly discharges, (iii) mean MY annual dis-
charges, and (iv) mean MY percentage exceedence chart, alias flow duration curve, incremented at a minimum of 5%. For the purpose of the rehabilitation
design, all the referenced outcomes should be digitally available too. The base flow as well as the safety flow for a specific dam site should be here reevalu-
ated as well, the later one being under the effects of the currently applicable local regulatory acts.

Whilst the probability analysis, the flood peak discharges and the appropriate flood volumes, should be evaluated for several return periods which are merito-
rious for setting the dam design criteria. Those being but not limited to: flood return periods of 50 Yr, 100Yr, 1000Yr, 2000Yr, 5000Yr, and 10 000Yr. The
Probable Maximum Flood is the ending data which should be appraised at this point of dams’ rehabilitation process.

The updated hydrological inputs discussed here before should be assigned the appropriate statistical error, contingent to the confidentiality of the source re-
cords and the methodology adopted for their evaluations. There, only the values inclining to conservative margin shall be adopted for dam’s rehabilitation
design inputs.

The proper time related location of the updated hydrological inputs, is vital in view of taking into account the projection of the potential effects of climate
changes governing in the areas. Hence, a consistent chart of mean annual discharges, time versus discharge, shall be graphed and the appropriate trend line
extended to minimum 30 years beyond the time of rehabilitation shall be deduced there from. It will be then up to the engineering judgment, wisdom and far
sighting, to locate the time section of the future operation lifespan at which the appropriate hydrological inputs shall be declared as climate changes affected.
Hence, the appraised parameters are to be the basic criteria for reevaluating of dams capacity and safety. Here, a locally experienced hydrologist of CPMY
or SPMY, who is fully aware of specific watershed hydrological fluctuations, should be delegated as a member of Consultant’s experts’ team on an ‘ad hock’
basis.
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Comprehensive Terms of References having addressed-in the foregoing hydrological discussion should precede the preliminaries and main course of up-
dated hydrological study preparation.

At the point of dams’ rehabilitation process when the updated hydrological study was concluded, it is of paramount importance to collate the dams design
criteria then derived, with those being prescribed at the time of original design of particular dam. The statement of their potential inconsistence shall be di-
rective to hydraulic and structural redesigns of a particular dam.

The reservoir operations modeling via flood routing analyses shall characterize the flood passage wave through a system. To this effect, the required dam
outflow hydrograph shall be obtained once the River inflow hydrograph, the operation level of the reservoir and the flood storage volume of the reservoir
were counted in. Whilst the inflow hydrograph will come as the outcome of hydrological inputs discussed herein, the outflow hydrograph remains the entire
time contingent on the capacities of the dam outlets and spillways. Here, it was presumed the continuous monitoring of a dam outflows and reservoir levels
had been either automatically or dam operators kept in the time of a dam operation. The outputs/logbooks backed there on, shall be essential for updating of
reservoirs operation modeling.

The reservoir modeling, concretely its storage volume shall be affected by the accumulated sediment yields too. Thus, the seismic reflection survey or bathy-
metric measurements of the dams’ reservoir should take precedence to modeling exercise.

It is expected that two potential scenarios could appear after the reservoir modeling analyses has been updated: (i)the reservoir operation and flood levels are
within the originally designed margins, in which case the rehabilitation process shall be confined solely to the physical treatment of the dams and associated
structures aiming to lengthen their operational longevity, and (ii) the flood volume is increased and the consequent flood level was suffering upraising due to
larger hydrological amplitudes, in the event of which the spillways capacity should be upgraded and the dams crest be remodeled such that to retain the re-
quired freeboard safety. Some other scenarios such as the increase the outlets capacity, construction of upstream flood control dams or construction of addi-
tional waterways inside the dam abutments might be implementable to the later case too, but to a rare extent. Hence, the latter, apart from the physical recti-
fication it can be aligned with reconstruction activities too.

Here, each dam and its components shall be considered on its own merits. Under the circumstances where the descending of spillways crests and rectification
of the hydraulic conduits and thus the reduction of hydraulic losses have been proved feasible, the hydraulic outputs of the water release organs can be en-
hanced and the dam safety increased. As for structural aspects, both the engineered structures and those of geo-structural origin should be comprehensively
considered aiming to augment the physical and mechanical sustainability of concrete structures, the geotechnical structures such as the abutments and the
foundations, then the rockfill embankments.
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To the foregoing effects, the following upgrading should be amongst others considered during the design stage of dams’ rehabilitation where/if applicable:
(i) Cementitious injections of gravity dams whereby the strength of concrete matrix shall be upgraded, allowing thus potentials for remodeling of
dam crest;
(ii) Use of silica fume concrete for rectification of spillways, shuts and stilling basins;
(iii) Fiber reinforced concrete in conjunction with bolting, for underground dam outlets;
(iv) Reconstruction of rip-rap lining for rockfill dams, minimizing thus the effects of potential overtopping;
(v) Hydraulically operated gates, wherever applicable;
(vi) Automation of reservoir level monitoring system.

The foregoing upgrading should be preceded by comprehensive hydraulic analyses of the water tract of Stream Inflow – Reservoir Retention – Dam Outlets,
as well as by compound structural modeling of the system dam – dam abutments/foundations. The Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) software package
applicable to reservoir system analysis can be inter alia a useful tool for reservoir – dam hydraulic interaction.

Dams Break Events are usually aligned with catastrophic circumstances occurring during the dams’ lifespan, which usually are not a part of standard design
criteria for dams engineering. They might be the cases of simultaneous propagation of unforeseen floods and maximum probable earthquakes, then unfore-
seen sliding of the reservoir slopes, and the like. A comprehensive rehabilitation program should reduce the consequences of those events to a minimum. The
appropriate preparatory measures shall be an integral part of the operation and maintenance manuals of dams. In order to avoid or to foresee in due time the
potential catastrophic events, the automation of reservoir monitoring then that of dams monitoring, both associated with comprehensive emergency program
for downstream settlements, shall be the major section of O/M manuals. Here, the appropriate river training programs should be also used for simulation of
the downstream flood wave propagation.

Dam Break analysis shall be examined via analytical and numerical modeling of dam sustainability under prospective scenarios of its overtopping and the
consequential erosion effects. A sensitivity analysis of overtopping depths then potential mechanisms of dam failure and progressive collapsing caused
thereby shall be analyzed in depth via the foregoing models. The software packages, such as PLAXIS, ANSYS, then PHASE, can be beneficially supportable
to Dam Break investigations.

Z. Smiljkovic