[Rhodes22-list] Edenville and Sanford Dam Failures

[Tom Van Heule]

"we would never build a damn like this today"

How would the monolithic have done it?

A tease,
Tom

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 3:26 PM Lowe, Rob <rlowe at vt.edu> wrote:

> This is mainly addressed to Roger, but some others maybe interested.  As a
> civil engineer, it certainly is of interest to me.
>
> The American Society of Civil Engineers recently release their report on
> the dam failures at Edenville and Sanford.  A couple of stories on their
> findings.
>
>
> https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/article/2021/09/static-liquefaction-likely-caused-edenville-dam-failure-report-says
>
>
> https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/article/2021/09/22/failures-at-edenville-and-sanford-raise-concerns-about-other-us-dams?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io&PostID=38199516&MessageRunDetailID=6486574554
>
> Seems like the plausible root cause was uncompacted sand used in the dam
> while the specifications called for the sand to be compacted.
>
> Non-compacted sand allowed it to liquify when the water pressure on the
> soil got too high.  A video shows the initial failure.  I had not seen this
> video until I read this report.  Notice the dam fails from inside the dam
> and then the water breaks through.  The dam was not overtopped as
> originally thought.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc3u_CHVHJ8
>
> Some of these earthen dams are over 100 years old and were built before
> engineers understood the engineering properties of soils.  We would never
> build a dam like this today.
>
> Rob
>
>