Assessment of river embankments security: A case study

Assessment of river embankments security is an important task for land use planning. In the MISALVA Project (financed by the Italian Government), the case study of the Volturno River in Southern Italy is analyzed. A two-dimensional numerical model (2D) of the about 30 km long reach from Ponte Annibale Dam to the sea is built and used to assess levee vulnerability for different hydrographs. In this paper, a simplified analysis procedure will be shown for the evaluation of the levees critical issues. Among the various types of bank failure, only overtopping and piping will be taken into account, considering two types of levees: erodible and unerodible levees. The different criticality scenarios of the levees are assessed by comparing three fundamental parameters. These three parameters are the maximum water level obtained from the hydraulic simulation, the elevation of the top of the levee and the elevation of the land on the countryside. The aim of the work is to define a rapid procedure for the determination of possible embankment criticalities.