Embankment hydraulic structures: a transverse look at the action of water

Abstract

The water flows through an earthdam, its foundation and its supports. The work can even be exceptionally flowed above. The action of the water is varied and multi-scale in time and in space. This variety reflects in the variety of disciplines having contributed directly or not, to the comprehension of phenomenon and to the modelling of some of these phenomenon. Besides the well admitted fact that the advanced situate to interface of several disciplines, a global vision of influence of water puts in obviousness two results. First, the current models, simple or sophisticated, are only punctual and explanatory. Their predictive character is tenuous, perhaps non-existent. The real numerical model utilization is the reconstitution and the explanation of facts passed. Observation on site, mostly in case of accident or flood are essential for the validation of models. Secondly, a part of phenomenon and several successions of phenomenon escape modelling. This puts in before 1) importance of surveillance; 2) importance of the capacity to make a diagnosis based on experience (expertise).