Sensitivity Analysis of Internal Erosion Models for Dam Safety

WindowsTM Dam Analysis Modules (WinDAM) is a set of modular software components used to analyze the erosion and peak discharges that results from the overtopping or internal erosion in earthen embankment dams. The initial computational modules address routing of floods through the reservoir with dam overtopping and evaluation of the potential for vegetation or riprap to delay or prevent failure of the embankment. Subsequent modules perform dam breach analysis. Current work is underway to include analysis of internal erosion, non-homogeneous, zoned embankments, and the analysis of various other forms of embankment protection. The focus of this paper is on sensitivity analysis of internal erosion models using Sandia National Laboratories' Dakota software suite 6.10 to perform the analysis.