[Rhodes22-list] Edenville and Sanford Dam Failures

[Tom Van Heule]

I meant megoalthic...

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 5:00 PM Tom Van Heule <
tom.vanheule at intrinsicprograms.com> wrote:

> "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
>>
>>