A Case History of Embankment Failure: Geological and Geotechnical Aspects of the Celotex Levee Failure, New Orleans, Louisiana

Dunbar, Joseph B.; Torrey, Victor H.; Wakeley, Lillian D.

doi:10.21236/ada375282

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…3), and the active channel is frequently in contact with coarse or cohesive sediments, most commonly associated with older channel belts or Pleistocene deposits, or infilled cutoffs (clay plugs) and backswamp deposits, and older Tertiary bedrock. The heterogeneity in floodplain deposits is an important consideration in management, such as dike (levee) construction and bank stabilization because it influences channel bank erosion and meander bend migration (Fisk, 1947;Dunbar et al, 1999;Hudson and Kesel, 2000) and groundwater seepage (Mansur et al, 1956;Krinitzsky and Wire, 1964;US-ACE, 1998a,b,c, 2005. Floodplain borings (Fig.…”

Section: Lower Mississippimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although significant improvement occurred in understanding the hydrology and hydraulics (Humphreys and Abbot, 1861;Elliot, 1932), little was known about the Quaternary geomorphology of the Lower Mississippi Valley, which is fundamental to understanding groundwater flow and dike underseepage (Mansur et al, 1956;Krinitzsky and Wire, 1964), river channel dynamics, and the sensitivity of the channel and floodplain to specific types of flood management (Winkley, 1977;Dunbar et al, 1999). Perhaps more significantly, the knowledge base concerning fundamental concepts and models about meandering river processes and alluvial architecture did not exist, because it was still a decade or more before the epic publications of Russell (1936) and Fisk (1944).…”

Section: Lower Mississippimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to dike (levee) construction, other modifications to manage flooding include channel straightening, drainage ditches, and the creation of flood bypass corridors (Elliot, 1932;Ferguson, 1940;Van Veen, 1962;Van de Ven, 1993;Smith and Winkley, 1996). Successful application of these technologies to large river systems is highly dependent upon the floodplain geomorphology, because of the interaction between alluvial channels and floodplain deposits and the hydrological importance of the floodplain sedimentology (Fisk, 1947;Mansur et al, 1956;Krinitzsky and Wire, 1964;Winkley, 1977;US-ACE, 1998a,b,c;Dunbar et al,1999;US-ACE, 2000;Li et al, 2003;ASCE, 2007). Moreover, the flood management infrastructure and channel modifications fundamentally alter hydrologic and sedimentary processes within the embanked floodplain (Middelkoop and Van Haselen, 1999;Silva et al, 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Flood management along the Lower Mississippi and Rhine Rivers (The Netherlands) and the continuum of geomorphic adjustment

2008

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Section: Lower Mississippimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lower Mississippimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flood management along the Lower Mississippi and Rhine Rivers (The Netherlands) and the continuum of geomorphic adjustment

2008

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“…It resulted in damage to the levee [38] and extensive flooding. Dunbar et al [39] present an overview of the research on river embankments and levee safety and risk prediction of flow slides in the USA. Typical post-event morphology was the 'hourglass' shape in plan-view and the gentle runout gradient of about 8 • (about 1:7).…”

Section: Retrogressive Bank Failures In the Mississippi River Usamentioning

confidence: 99%

Watching the Beach Steadily Disappearing: The Evolution of Understanding of Retrogressive Breach Failures

Mastbergen

Beinssen

Nédélec

2019

JMSE

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Retrogressive breach failures or coastal flow slides occur naturally in the shoreface in fine sands near dynamic tidal channels or rivers. They sometimes retrogress into beaches, shoal margins and riverbanks where they can threaten infrastructure and cause severe coastal erosion and flood risk. Ever since the first reports were published in the Netherlands over a century ago, attempts have been made to understand the geo-mechanical mechanism of flow slides. In this paper we have established that events, observed during the active phase, are characterized by a slow but steady retrogression into the shoreline, often continuing for many hours. This can be explained by the breaching mechanism, as will be clarified in this paper. Recently, further evidence has become available in the form of video footage of active events in Australia and elsewhere, often publicly posted on the internet. All these observations justify the new term 'retrogressive breach failure' (RBF event). The mechanism has been confirmed in flume tests and in a field experiment. With a better understanding of the geo-mechanical mechanism, current protection methods can be better understood, and new defense strategies can be envisaged. In writing this paper, we hope that the coastal science and engineering communities will better recognize and understand these intriguing natural events.

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“…Channel bank failure, and collapses of shoal margins and beaches due to flow slides, have been recognized in estuaries and rivers around the world (Coleman, ; Laury, ; Silvis and De Groot, ; Torrey ; Dunbar et al , ; Van den Berg et al , ; Beinssen et al, ; Beinssen and Mastbergen, ). ‘Channel banks’ refer to the estuary margins, which in the Western Scheldt at present are protected from erosion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Location and probability of shoal margin collapses in a sandy estuary

Dijk

Mastbergen

Ham

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Channel bank failure, and collapses of shoal margins and beaches due to flow slides, have been recorded in Dutch estuaries for the past 200 years but have hardly been recognized elsewhere. Current predictions lack forecasting capabilities, because they were validated and calibrated for historic data of cross-sections in specific systems, allowing local hindcast rather than location and probability forecasting. The objectives of this study were to investigate where on shoal margins collapses typically occur and what shoal margin collapse geometries and volumes are, such that we can predict their occurrence. We identified shoal margin collapses, generally completely submerged, from bathymetry data by analyzing digital elevation models of difference of the Western Scheldt for the period 1959-2015. We used the bathymetry data to determine the conditions for occurrence, specifically to obtain slope height and angle, and applied these variables in a shoal margin collapse predictor. We found 299 collapses along 300 km of shoal margin boundaries over 56 years, meaning that more than five collapses occur on average per year. The average shoal margin collapse body is well approximated by a 1/3 ellipsoid shape, covers on average an area of 34 000 m 2 and has an average volume of 100 000 m 3 . Shoal margin collapses occur mainly at locations where shoals take up a proportionally larger area than average in the cross-section of the entire estuary, and occur most frequently where lateral shoal margin displacement is low. A receiver operating characteristic curve shows that the forecasting method predicts the shoal margin collapse location well. We conclude that the locations of the shoal margin collapses are well predicted by the variation in conditions of the relative slope height and angle within the Western Scheldt, and likely locations are at laterally relatively stable shoal margins. This provides hypotheses aiding the recognition of these features in sandy estuaries worldwide.

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A Case History of Embankment Failure: Geological and Geotechnical Aspects of the Celotex Levee Failure, New Orleans, Louisiana

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Flood management along the Lower Mississippi and Rhine Rivers (The Netherlands) and the continuum of geomorphic adjustment

Flood management along the Lower Mississippi and Rhine Rivers (The Netherlands) and the continuum of geomorphic adjustment

Watching the Beach Steadily Disappearing: The Evolution of Understanding of Retrogressive Breach Failures

Location and probability of shoal margin collapses in a sandy estuary

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