Failure Shape Due to Earthen Embankment Overtopping

Failure of compacted homogeneous non-cohesive earthen embankment due to overtopping is experimentally studied. Effect of different shape parameters including the embankment downstream slope, the crest width and the height of the embankment on the erosion process is tested. Breach shape is tracked using a sliding rod technique method together with an image processing technique utilizing high-definition camera to track the erosion process of the embankment. Time of failure of the embankments are evaluated for different downstream slopes, crest width and embankment heights. The results show that the downstream slopes have a major effect in changing the failure modes of the embankment. For small downstream slope, the erosion of the downstream slope takes place along a pivot point where the base length of the embankment increases by time. On the other hand, for higher values of downstream slopes, the pivot point is located on the base of the embankment and the base length of the embankment is decreasing by time till it reaches equilibrium.