DAM BREACH MODELLING AND FLOOD INUDATION MAPPING A CASE

STUDY OF AJIMA DAM

By: Habtamu Fenta

Id: PSAMIT/2371/10

Department: Dam Engineering

DAM BREACH MODELLING AND FLOOD INUDATION MAPPING A CASE
STUDY OF AJIMA DAM

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Construction of dams is highly essential in developing countries. Nowadays there are more than
800,000 dams constructed around the world for different purposes: flood control (the most
common purpose), irrigation, electricity generation, water supply, recreation, etc. (Zagonjolli,
2007).
While planning and implementing dams, taking a good care of their safety is currently becoming
an important issue since lots of dams have been breached out in history in different corners of the
world and have resulted in a catastrophic damage to human lives, property and the environment.
Cont…………….
A good example is the world’s worst dam disaster occurred in Henan province in China, in
August 1975, when the Banqiao Dam and the Shimantan Dam failed catastrophically due to the
overtopping caused by torrential rains (Pierce et.al, 2010). Approximately 85,000 people died
from flooding and many more died during subsequent epidemics and starvation; millions of
residents lost their homes. There fore,
Forecasting the possible dam break flood and formulating its temporal and areal distribution on
the downstream helps to develop disaster management plans such as demarking safe building
areas, constructing flood protection dykes, structuring evacuation techniques, transmitting
inundation information and setting early warning systems. This approach was valid during
Baldwin Hill and San Fernando dam failures where thousands of lives could be evacuated (Guner,
2001).
Cont………….
In Ethiopia the number of dams being constructed is increasing, ranging from small micro earth
dams built to fulfill community demands such as food and water supply to mega projects as that
of The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), being implemented to boost the nation's
economy.
Ajima dam is one of the earth fill dams being constructed in different parts of the country
intended for impounding water used to irrigate agricultural purpose. The dam is a rock fill type
dam with impervious clay core at the middle covered by adjacent transition fill material and sand
filters on both sides with a purpose of preventing finer materials from migration.
This research is expected to contribute some useful information to Ajima Dam administrating
body regarding to dam safety issues that should be considered.
2. Statement of the Problem
1. Ruining out of the embankment and its appurtenant structures which are constructed with
high investment.
2. Loss of impounded water that has been accumulated for years and could irrigate an
enormous area of land.
3. Inundation of downstream area causing loss of human life and property.
3. Objective of the Study
1. To determine the probable maximum flood (PMF), this may have the potential of

overtopping the dam and cause failure.

2. To simulate the breach process applying different breach parameters using the model HACRAS.

3. To run the model for different catastrophic scenarios and analyze the consequences of the

most hazardous one.

4. To predict the outflow hydrograph just at the outlet of the breach.

5. To prepare geographic data using HEC-GeoRAS and export to HEC-RAS for routing

process.

6. To route the peak outflow hydrograph on downstream channel and map the area that shall

be flooded.

7. To prepare various types of maps such as area, velocity, depth with time that can describe

the nature of flood propagation and coverage.

1.1Research questions
The following questions can be raised to initiate this study
1. What predominant mode of failure would the dam probably manifest?
2. What are the breach parameters defining the cross section of the breach?
3. What are the different scenarios that would cause the dam break and which of these is
the most catastrophic?
4. Flow long would it take for the breach process to complete and for the inflow flood
together with the reservoir water to evacuate?
5. Flow much area would the emerging flood hydrograph covers in the downstream until
it attenuates?
4. Scope of the Study
The purpose of this report is to document the methods and results of hydraulic dam-breach models and to present
resulting flood-inundation maps for the affected areas downstream from Ajima Dam near Chacha. Results
presented in this report can be used to assist the town of Chacha in identifying and mitigating areas at risk if a dam
breach occurs. Results also can be used to assist the town of Chacha by providing

(1) flood inundation maps,

(2) hydraulic models,

(3) topographic data for the study area, and

(4) detailed hydraulic information about reaches in the study area.

5. LITERATURE REVIEW
Dams are designed to withstand different loads such as upstream
hydrostatic pressure load, self weight, seismic load and other minor
loads like the wind load.
5.1 Mode of Failure
✓Overtopping
✓Piping failure
✓Seepage failure
✓Seismic failure
5.2 Dam Break Analysis
In either overtopping or piping cases, the erosion process is so fast that it takes
minutes to few
hours for the whole embankment to get washed away and for the reservoir water
to drain out.
5.3 Breach Parameter Estimation
Different models have been developed to estimate the breach parameters and
magnitude of outflow hydrograph.
6. Methodologies
6.1 Data collection

Primary data:
The primary data to be collected include:
➢ Surveying data to be collected along the cross section of the river at downstream of the
dam on every chainage that will be sufficient for the flood mapping process.
➢ Physical observation.
➢ Land use land cover data of the area prone to flooding. This can vary from land surface
formation type that will be used to estimate the manning's roughness 'n' to land use pattern
to evaluate the economic value that the area has rendered the inhabitants.
6.1 Data collection
Secondary data
All necessary secondary data such as:
➢ Daily rainfall data of meteorological stations located within and surrounding the
catchment.
➢ Stream flow data of Ajima River
➢ Salient features of the dam
➢ Salient features of the reservoir
➢ Reservoir area-elevation-volume curves
➢ Geotechnical information on the composition of the dam and foundation.
➢ Laboratory test results.
➢ Design reports of the project
7. Data analysis, Results and Discussion
The procedure followed to conduct this thesis is;
• First hydrological study is conducted to determine the probable maximum flow (PMF) that
enters the reservoir and may overtop the dam thereby endangering the dam for failure.
• Dam breach analysis is then done to predict the breach size and estimate the outflow
hydrograph.
• Having determined the outflow magnitude, the flood is routed through the downstream
channel and flood plain using HEC-RAS in order to determine the flood prone area, so that
flood early warning system can be set and emergency action plans can be made.
• Results of hydraulic flow simulation are exported into HEC-GeoRAS to produce flood
inundation maps.
8. EXPECTED OUTPUTS
After conducting this thesis, the following outputs are expected:
1. The most feasible mode of failure will be selected
2. The dam breach parameters will be determined
3. The dam breach model will be simulated using the determined parameters
4. Outflow hydrograph will be plotted for different scenarios of inflow hydrograph and
dam operation
5. The resulting outflow hydrograph will be routed towards downstream and the
inundating flood will be mapped to see the area it covers.
9. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Hence conducting pre-event analysis of Ajima dam break and its consequences and forwarding
the hazard extent to public offices have great significances among which some are listed below:
1. Downstream settlement of inhabitants can be planned in such a way that evacuation of the
people during dam breach can be done rapidly saving as much lives as possible.
2. Protection dikes can be provided at both downstream banks with their top level
considerably higher than the propagating flood level, especially on the stretches along
residence areas.
3. The thesis paper can be used as a reference for further detailed researches on the study
area and the same title on other study area.