Breaching Charateristics of Dam Failures

Computer programs developed for dam safety analyses are limited by the accuracy of the input data for the geometric and temporal dam breach characteristics. Data on a number of historical dam failures were collected and analyzed and graphical relationships for predicting breach characteristics were developed for erosion type breaches. The data provides a basis for selecting a breach shape and calculating the breach size and the time for breach development. A relationship is also developed for estimating peak outflows from dam failures. This relationship can be used to verify the methodology and the results of dam safety studies.