The photo illustrates the power of the flow (fast transient flow) through a dike when a breach or channel forms through the dike. What is the origin of this breach? The erosive action of water overtopping these kinds of earthen embankments. The photo was taken during a dike overtopping experiment on a dike of 1 m high, with a 190 m3 reservoir behind it. The dike was constructed from fine sand. Some objectives of these experiments are: Acquisition of high-quality data through medium-scale tests that can replicate a closer real-life process, and investigating the potential scale effects in reduced-scale modeling. The experiments are conducted in colaboration with Hydraulics laboratory of SPW in Châtelet.
© Masoumeh Ebrahimi