DAM Break Studies for Kanhar DAM Under Level Pool Scenario Using HEC-RAS Software

The water resource structures are constructed across the river which creates storage (reservoir) on the upstream side of the structure. In the case, the catchment of the dam received extreme rainfall, it results huge inflow in the reservoir. Faulty spillway operations or insufficient capacity of spillway are responsible for breach of dam due to overtopping. The overtopping results the breaching of the dam structure within short period of time. It creates flood disaster in the reach of river downstream to dam structure. The dam break analysis is carried out to estimate the magnitude of the dam break flood wave and it's routing through the reach of the river on the downstream side of the dam using universally acceptable HEC- RAS software. In present paper, a case study on the dam break analysis carried out for Kanhar dam using HEC-RAS software is discussed. Dam Break analysis of Kanhar dam included the estimation of dam break flood hydrograph and routing of the hydrograph through downstream channel of River Kanhar. The routing of flood hydrograph through the downstream valley is carried out by developing one-dimensional mathematical model. The flood inundation map is prepared for the study reach which can be used as an input in the preparation of Emergency Action Planning (EAP).