Flood performance of earth embankments

Earth embankment structures are vital to protect against flooding and their failure can result in significant loss of life and infrastructure damage. The increasing frequency of flood events requires defences to be able to withstand multiple flood loading scenarios where excess pore water pressures within the embankment can lead to local instability of a full breach. Centrifuge model tests of a 1:30 scaled embankment subjected to multiple flood events with a final overtopping phase to evaluate resilience is presented. A tension crack along the embankment crest on the waterside was observed after dissipation of the first flood water which proved critical to the overall stability of under repeated cycles. Overtopping was shown to initiate significant surface erosion on the landside slope that lead to full breaching of the structure.