Abstract
The headcut migration describes the physical process of breach side slope retreat that governs the widening of the breach. Modeling the growth of a breach due to embankment failure is the first step in mapping the resulting inundation in a floodplain. As removal of soil from the toe of the headcut effectively removes physical support for the upper part, the headcut fails on the plane normal to the direction of tensile stress. This process is a typical mode of tensile failure. A numerical model of the headcut migration was established by integrating the effects of the soil tensile strength, soil permeability and embankment geotechnical characteristics. Thus, a simple analytical equation was finally obtained to predict the critical length of the headcut. Furthermore, the presented model was verified by using the limit equilibrium method (LEM) for three typical embankment scales (2, 4 and 6 m high). The comparisons between the present model and the LEM show good agreements. The present model could provide a simple method to predict the critical length of the headcut migration and easily be adopted to breach widening models.
Highlights
Floods can have serious consequence in floodplains
The critical lengths of the headcut obtained under the high soil permeability situation was a little larger than that obtained under the moderate soil permeability situation, which was obvious when the embankment height was relatively low
This study presents a headcut migration model of breach side slope for computing the critical length of the headcut during the breach widening
Summary
Floods can have serious consequence in floodplains. Worldwide, many areas can become flooded or are at risk, and numerous people risk being displaced. The breach of embankments became wider as the episodic failure of the headcut [9,10] It is the headcut migration of the breach side slope that contributes to the breach widening. The episodic failure of the headcut has replaced the continuous process with soil erosion as the breach widening mechanism. A simple mathematical model of the headcut migration considering the embankment geometry, soil characteristics and discharge flow conditions will be studied in this paper. A headcut migration model was developed to predict the critical length of the headcut This numerical model incorporated the classical tensile failure mode into the headcut migration. It considered the soil tensile strength and soil permeability into the headcut stability analysis for the first time. The presented model was verified by the limit equilibrium method
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