Breach mechanism and numerical simulation for seepage failure of earth-rock dams

In this study,a numerical model,which can capture the full process of the development of seepage passages,the collapse of dams and the failure due to overtopping,is proposed for earth-rock dams.The critical incipient velocity for the occurrence of seepage failure is derived by analyzing the forces acting on soil particles in the seepage passage.The sediment transport formula is proposed to simulate the erosion process and the evolution of breach within the dam.In this model,the grain size distribution,the compaction density and the strength of dam materials are reasonably accounted for.Furthermore,the influences of the direction of seepage paths,the slope of the dam and the velocity of water flow on the amount of erosion are also taken into consideration.The proposed model and the corresponding numerical programs are employed to simulate the development of breaches and discharge of two typical cases due to seepage failure.The development of breaches,the history of discharge and the peak flood flux predicted by the numerical models are rather comparable to the measured data,which confirms the validity of the proposed model and the feasibility of applying the model in evaluating the disaster consequences and preparing the emergency counter measurements in the case of dam collapse.

Accuracy of the Adaptive GRP Scheme and the Simulation of 2-D Riemann Problems for Compressible Euler Equations

The adaptive generalized Riemann problem(GRP)scheme for 2-D compressible fluid flows has been proposed in[J.Comput.Phys.,229(2010),1448–1466]and it displays the capability in overcoming difficulties such as the start-up error for a single shock,and the numerical instability of the almost stationary shock.In this paper,we will provide the accuracy study and particularly show the performance in simulating 2-D complex wave configurations formulated with the 2-D Riemann problems for compressible Euler equations.For this purpose,we will first review the GRP scheme briefly when combined with the adaptive moving mesh technique and consider the accuracy of the adaptive GRP scheme via the comparison with the explicit formulae of analytic solutions of planar rarefaction waves,planar shock waves,the collapse problem of a wedge-shaped dam and the spiral formation problem.Then we simulate the full set of wave configurations in the 2-D four-wave Riemann problems for compressible Euler equations[SIAM J.Math.Anal.,21(1990),593–630],including the interactions of strong shocks(shock reflections),vortex-vortex and shock-vortex etc.This study combines the theoretical results with the numerical simulations,and thus demonstrates what Ami Harten observed"for computational scientists there are two kinds of truth:the truth that you prove,and the truth you see when you compute"[J.Sci.Comput.,31(2007),185–193].