Dear Participants,
I am sure you must be reading Dam Failure case studies with lot of interest, as all the case studies throw light on the deficiencies in planning, design, construction and operation of the reservoirs.
Most of the case studies given in damfailures.org are from western part of the world. There are many failures of Dams in other parts of the World as well.
In fact, I would like to draw the attention of Indian Participants to the case of Panshet & Khadakwasla Dam Failure. As many of you know, NWA is located just 2 km downstream of the Khadakwasla Dam, which breached on 12 July 1961. NWA was not there at that time, but The Central Water & Power Research (CWPRS), Pune which is situated just one kilometer downstream of the dam recorded the failure on motion camera.
Khadakwasla Dam, which was Masonry Dam (backed by earthen mass) breached due to overtopping. The reason for overtopping was failure of upstream Dam called “Panshet” situated about 20 km upstream of Khadakwsla Dam. Panshet was an Earthen dam, getting filled up for the first time during the monsoon of 1962. The main reason of failure of the Panshet Dam was improper construction schedule; issues with design and incomplete construction of sluice conduit; incomplete gates & hoists arrangement etc. All these factors lead to erosion of the conduit and consequently dam failure. The flood wave coming from Panshet Dam reached downstream Khadakwasla Dam, which was an older dam ( It was not designed to account for uplift pressure nor designed for overtopping). Flood waves overtopped the Khadakwasla Dam. The excessive stresses developed in the dam resulted in its failure. Eyewitness say that that a part of dam opened up like single door leaf with hinge on the right side. The opening in the Dam is clearly seen in the video. Resulting flood wave inundated large part of Pune city. The Khadakwalsa dam acted as a buffer for some time and allowed the major population of Pune city to get to safer place, thus limiting the loss of life and property.
The video of CWPRS is available on Youtube at the link
Please note that this video is of the Khadakwasla Dam and not of upstream Panshet Dam (which failed first) .
I am sure the video will be of interest to all Indian as well as International Participants ( though the video quality is bit poor as it belongs to 1960 era). The film also shows the efforts of Engineers in putting sandbags before the breach and also the devastation scenes from the city after the flood.
Regards,
..Dattakumar