Abstract
This paper presents research conducted on the development of a bentonite material suitable for the sealing of the dams of large ponds used for commercial fishing purposes. It is intended that the material will be applied using spray technology. The research was motivated by the large number of very old commercial fish ponds in the Czech Republic of which some are nearly a thousand years old. With the passage of time, leakage through the dams leads to the creation of caverns and preferential flow paths which may eventually result in a breach in the dam wall. An efficient technological approach to the sealing of these earth structures may, therefore, help to mitigate the risk of their failure and destruction. A potentially suitable material for this purpose has been researched and developed at the Czech Technical University and is now ready for the experimental testing phase involving the construction and study of a physical model of such a dam constructed according to the geometry of traditional commercial fish ponds.
Highlights
The landscape in the Czech Republic is unique with respect to the high incidence of commercial fish ponds
The most frequent reason for dam breaches remains the overreaching of the dam by excess water [6] and the consequent erosion of the downstream slope, slides of both the upstream and downstream slopes caused inter alia by internal dam wall failures [7] should not be neglected
The results show that the level of compaction of the sprayed material depends on its water content, a fact that is well known from the results of previous tests
Summary
The landscape in the Czech Republic is unique with respect to the high incidence of commercial fish ponds. Their existence has exerted a strong influence on the formation of the landscape in many parts of the Czech Republic for a number of centuries. The most frequent reason for dam breaches remains the overreaching of the dam by excess water [6] and the consequent erosion of the downstream slope, slides of both the upstream and downstream slopes caused inter alia by internal dam wall failures [7] should not be neglected. Internal erosion constitutes one of the most important causes of these slides. It is important to be able to reduce the occurrence of seepage through such dams
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