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<br />A METHOD FOR ANALYZING EFFECTS OF DAM FAILURES <br />IN DESIGN STUDIES(l) <br />by William A. Thomas(2) <br /> <br />ABSTRACT <br /> <br />In the planning and design of dams and embankments for large <br /> <br />multiple-purpose projects, it is usually necessary to evaluate the <br /> <br />effect of potentially disastrous extreme events to insure that the pro- <br /> <br />posed developments do not produce an unnecessary increase in the <br /> <br />disaster potential. One such case which is being encountered more <br /> <br />frequently now involves the design of dams and embankments for projects <br /> <br />located downstream from an existing dam. If the existing structure is <br /> <br />relatively old or if there is reason to believe that the probability <br /> <br />of failure is relatively great, it may be desirable to consider the <br /> <br />effect of a potential failure during the design of the downstream <br /> <br />structure. <br /> <br />In the design studies for a dam to be located downstream from an <br /> <br />existing dam, the effects of failure of the upstream structure have been <br /> <br />calculated. The flood wave which would result from failure of the up- <br /> <br />stream dam has been calculated and routed through the reservoir that <br /> <br />would be formed by the downstream structure. The analysis utilized the <br /> <br />(1) For presentation at the ASCE Hydraulics Division Specialty Conference, <br />Cornell University, August 1972 <br /> <br />(2)Research Hydraulic Engineer, Research Branch, The Hydrologic Engineering <br />Center, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, California <br />