Comparison of physical and numerical dam-break simulations

Laboratory data obtained from model studies of an existing dam under three different failure scenarios are presented. Moreover, the numerical failure simulations of the same dam were performed by employing two state-of-the-art numerical models, namely, SMPDBK and DAMBRK, both developed at the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States. Comparison of the measured and computed results indicate that both numerical models predict peak flood elevation with somewhat reasonable accuracy. However, the results of the more comprehensive dambreak model, (DAMBRK) were closer to the measurements than those of the SMPDBK model, as expected. The SMPDBK model, when compared to the DAMBRK model, underestimates the peak water elevations more because of its simpler algorithm. Moreover, there exist large differences for the peak water surface occurrence times between the physical model and the numerical model predictions, especially in SMPDBK. This is attributed to the high sensitivity of the numerical models to the bottom friction of the channel. Laboratory data obtained from model studies of an existing dam under three different failure scenarios are presented. Moreover, the numerical failure simulations of the same dam were performed by employing two state-of-the-art numerical models, namely, SMPDBK and DAMBRK, both developed at the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States. Comparison of the measured and computed results indicate that both numerical models predict peak flood elevation with somewhat reasonable accuracy. However, the results of the more comprehensive dambreak model, (DAMBRK) were closer to the measurements than those of the SMPDBK model, as expected. The SMPDBK model, when compared to the DAMBRK model, underestimates the peak water elevations more because of its simpler algorithm. Moreover, there exist large differences for the peak water surface occurrence times between the physical model and the numerical model predictions, especially in SMPDBK. This is attributed to the high sensitivity of the numerical models to the bottom friction of the channel