Failure simulation of Babar dam – Algeria and its impact on the valley downstream section

Abstract

A failure analysis of Babar dam on the El Arab River was performed to highlight the impact of flood wave and velocities on the four villages downstream of the dam; Hella, Khérenne, Chebla and El Oueldja. The simulation of wave propagation along the El Arab River under several scenarios was performed by the hydraulic HEC-RAS model. This model is dedicated to the description of floods at the dam following a breach in the dike. The main factors considered in this simulation include the level of flood water, the flood hydrograph, and the typical scenario for this breach. The flood risk analysis revealed that the maximum of flood wave flow registered at the breach is (Qmax = 9253.02 m∙s), and is beginning to mitigate downstream of the dam along the El Arab River where it reached at the last village with a low flow (Q = 1110.64 m∙s). This simulation allowed drawing the risk map which showed the areas threatened by flood wave resulting from a total failure of the work, and consequently required a plan of security measures to moderate as much as possible the consequences of floods. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to approach the parameters of impact of the breach on the dam failure scenario. It was confirmed that these parameters as formulation time, breach width and side slope have a great influence on the dam failure scenario with the four adjustments (±20 and ±50).