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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The risk related to embankment dam breaches needs to be evaluated in order to prepare emergency action plans. The physical and hydrodynamic parameters of the flood wave generated from the dam failure event correspond to various breach parameters, such as width, slope, and formation time. This study aimed to simulate the dam breach failure scenario of the Yabous dam (northeast Algeria) and analyze its influence on the related areas (urban and natural environments) downstream of the dam. The simulation was completed using the sensitivity analysis method to assess the impact of breach parameters and flooding on the dam break scenario. The flood wave propagation associated with the dam break was simulated using the one-dimensional HEC-RAS hydraulic model. This study applied a sensitivity analysis of three breach parameters (slope, width, and formation time) on five sites selected downstream of the embankment dam. The simulation showed that the maximum flow of the flood wave recorded at the level of the breach was 8768 m3/s, which gradually attenuated along the river course to reach 1972.7 m3/s at about 8.5 km downstream the dam. This study established the map of flood risk areas that illustrated zones threatened by the flooding wave triggered by the dam failure due to extreme rainfall events. The sensitivity analysis showed that flood wave flow, height, and width revealed positive and similar changes for the increases in adjustments (±25% and ±50%) of breach width and slope in the five sites. However, flood wave parameters of breach formation time showed significant trends that changed in the opposite direction compared to breach slope and width. Meanwhile, the adjustments (±25% and ±50%) of the flood hydrograph did not significantly influence the flood parameters downstream of the dam. In the present study, the HEC-RAS 1-D modeling demonstrated effectiveness in simulating the propagation of flood waves downstream of the dam in the event of dam failure and highlighted the impact of the breach parameters and the flood hydrographical pattern on flood wave parameters.

Details

Title
Modeling and Risk Analysis of Dam-Break Flooding in a Semi-Arid Montane Watershed: A Case Study of the Yabous Dam, Northeastern Algeria
Author
Gaagai, Aissam 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hani Amir Aouissi 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Krauklis, Andrey E 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Burlakovs, Juris 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Athamena, Ali 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zekker, Ivar 5 ; Boudoukha, Abderrahmane 6 ; Benaabidate, Lahcen 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Haroun Chenchouni 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Scientific and Technical Research Center on Arid Regions (CRSTRA), Biskra 07000, Algeria; [email protected] 
 Institute for Mechanics of Materials, University of Latvia, Jelgavas Street 3, LV-1004 Riga, Latvia; [email protected] 
 Rural Building and Water Management, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014 Tartu, Estonia; [email protected] 
 Department of Geology, Institute of Earth and Universe Sciences, University of Batna 2, Batna 05078, Algeria; [email protected] 
 Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila St., 50411 Tartu, Estonia; [email protected] 
 Laboratoire de Recherche Appliquée en Hydraulique, University of Batna 2, Batna 05078, Algeria; [email protected] 
 Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment Engineering, University of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, Fez 30500, Morocco; [email protected] 
 Department of Forest Management, Higher National School of Forests, Khenchela 40000, Algeria; [email protected]; Laboratory of Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments ‘RNAMS’, University of Oum-El-Bouaghi, Oum-El-Bouaghi 04000, Algeria 
First page
767
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734441
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2637791077
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.