The Failure of Embankment Dams

This monograph is the result of several years of creative research activity by the authors and their department in a field that has become highly topical in recent years, both in the Czech Republic and worldwide, in the context of extraordinary hydrological situations and their consequences. The subject concerns extreme hydrological situations in river basins where a number of earth-filled dams have failed as a result of overtopping. The authors have divided the subject matter into 14 chapters, which may be grouped according to the subject matter into four sections. The first section introduces the topic and summarises existing knowledge on dam failures; the second describes the physical nature of the processes involved in dam failures and outlines the possibilities for determining the parameters of potential failure; the third addresses the problems and interpretation of the results of experimental research; and the fourth presents a number of case studies and useful practical recommendations. The final chapters 10-14 facilitate the reader's orientation within the text and in available Czech and foreign publications on the topic of embankment dam failures. The form and content of the publication are optimally balanced, giving the reader the justified impression that it provides the maximum of currently available information, which is moreover immediately applicable in practice.