STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF HISTORICAL DIKE FAILURE MECHANISM

Abstract

Statistical evaluation of historical dike failure mechanism The failure mechanism of flood protection dikes includes physical (geotechnical, seepage) processes leading to a dike breach. An awareness of the failure mechanism is required directly in dike stability calculations and indirectly for risk calculations. Statistics of historical data indicate among others the distribution and frequency of failure mechanisms associated with dikes. These data may be used in estimations of the expected likelihood of occurrence of non-quantifiable failure mechanisms. In addition to a comparative evaluation of statistics collected in several countries, this publication also presents data for the Carpathian Basin. One of the most important conclusions drawn from statistical information suggests that most dike breaches develop as a consequence of poor safety strategy

Keywords

• flood protection dykes
• dyke breaches
• failure mechanism