Overviewing geotechnical issues associated with levees and dams in Europe and USA
Une perspective sur les aspects géotechniques associés aux digues et aux barrages en Europe et aux États-Unis
Résumé
In ICOLD, a working group has been working on levees since 2015, preparing both a levee situation overview of Europe and USA, and a comparison between dams and levees. In both resulting reports, levee characteristics, geometry, safety and technical standards, design rules, governance, management and knowledge gaps are discussed. Levee and dam engineers can learn from each other. Geotechnical issues are significantly featured. This paper will give an overview of levees in Europe and USA, with special focus on their geotechnical aspects, such as geometry, materials, subsoil, failure modes, design rules and safety standards. Also special attention will be given to site investigation and monitoring. In both levees and dams, understanding of the performance and of associated uncertainties is a challenge. In assessing safety, geotechnical issues like internal erosion and different types of instability are essential, especially in the initiation of failure and the breaching process. Given these common interests, cooperation between TC201 of ISSMGE and a recently established ICOLD Technical Committee on Levees is important and should be encouraged; this cooperation has already been initiated as some members are involved in both committees.