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Experimental investigation of breaching process of moraine dam with different breach-section shapes

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Abstract

Moraine dam breaches occur suddenly and have severe consequences. However, breach-process prediction is challenging. Breach-notch excavation is crucial for risk reduction, but no consensus have been reached regarding the optimal notch shape. This study considers the typical characteristic parameters of the Jialongcuo glacial lake and trapezoidal, triangular, and compound notches. In this study, three flume tests were conducted to study the breach-shape impact on the peak discharge and erosion development of the dam during dam-breaching process, while controlling the excavation volume and depth. The compound- and triangular-breach peak discharge values surpass that of the trapezoidal type by 18.4% and 12.2%, respectively. Additionally, the trapezoidal breach exhibits average erosion rates that are > 50% lower, both laterally and vertically, at its initial erosion section, indicating milder erosion and improved outflow efficiency. The results emphasize that the notch-bottom width is critical, and that a trapezoidal notch with equal depths yields higher initial outflow efficiency owing to its greater bottom width. An analysis based on dam erosion process theory agrees with the experimental results and confirms the conclusions. Based on the erosion rates taken from the experiments, a comparison of sediment transport values is given for the three tests. The results indicate that the trapezoidal notch has a relatively small bed load transport. Our work is expected to provide references for the selection of better notch shape.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: U2243221), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (Grant number: 2019QZKK020706) and IWHR Research & Development Support Program (Grant number: HY0145B032021). We also thank the Editor and the reviewers for their comments which greatly improved the quality of the manuscript, and thank Aishling, PhD, for editing the English of this manuscript.

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: U2243221), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (Grant number: 2019QZKK020706) and IWHR Research & Development Support Program (Grant number: HY0145B032021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China

    Jinzhi Lu, Xinlei Guo, Hui Fu & Yihong Wu

  2. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Jinzhi Lu & Zeyu Mao

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  1. Jinzhi Lu
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  2. Xinlei Guo
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Contributions

Methodology: Jinzhi Lu, Xinlei Guo, Hui Fu; analysis: Jinzhi Lu; supervision: Xinlei Guo, Hui Fu, Yihong Wu; writing—original draft: Jinzhi Lu; writing—review and editing: Xinlei Guo, Hui Fu; language proofreading: Zeyu Mao.

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Correspondence to Xinlei Guo.

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Lu, J., Guo, X., Fu, H. et al. Experimental investigation of breaching process of moraine dam with different breach-section shapes. Environ Earth Sci 83, 198 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-024-11510-8

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