Dam Breach Parameters and its Effects on Propagation of Flood Wave at the Downstream of Sarabgarh Irrigation Project

Abstract

Our society gets huge benefits from the water storage dams, but the consequences are devastating if a dam fails. It produces extensive damage to the life as well as properties mostly due to short warning time. Dam break analysis is critical for predicting the future effects on human life and property due to sudden release of huge amount of water to the lower laying area of a dam. For this,every constructed as well as proposed dams need to be study for the risk of dam break. Important factors governing failure studies are the breaching parameters that help to quantify the risk associated with dam break floods. Many empirical equations have been developed for predicting the breaching parameters associated with peak outflow, and these equations are generally developed by regression analysis from the record of dam failure data.In the present work, a hypothetical failure of dam is modelled using MIKE 11. The required inputs in terms of PMF data cross sectional data, area-elevation-capacity curves, stage-discharge data, dam specifications are provided for modelling and subsequent simulation was performed. Towards this, data from Sarabgarh dam project in Orissa is used to model the breach parameters and propagation of flood waves in the downstream reaches using Mike 11 and other software. The flood hydrograph at different stations were analyzed to estimate the risk of overtopping of river bank and flooding. The Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) and Froelich-2008 regression breach prediction methods are compared to get the best output results from them. Besides, the dam break analysis the sensitivity analysis for various parameters that affects the maximum discharge and maximum water level has been examined. Main aim of sensitivity analysis is to find out the parameter which is more sensitive to produce high amount of discharge during dam break.Accuracy in the study is significant to construct and rectify Emergency Action Plan and Risk Management for the proposed dam. The analysis of various results obtained from the simulation has been extended to the design the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Sarabgarh dam. This can help to minimize the loss of life as well as property during of dam failures events.