Vajont is considered the most disastrous rockslide ever to occur in Europe. Lexington, KY 40508, © 2021 Copyright Association of State Dam Safety Officials. 600 meters). Total fatalities were estimated at upwards of 2,056 and many more were injured. (4) Hoek, E. (2007). The Vaiont Dam disaster of 1963 was a classic slope stability failure. The dam remains in place today, albeit with no water behind it. Vajont Dam remains in place today and provides a unique and important educational opportunity for visitors. A vast soil mass falling into the reservoir triggered a massive wave that blew over the dam and destroyed villages downstream. The prehistoric Vajont rockslide: An updated geological model, Geomorphology, Elsevier, p 165-191. accepted April 26, 2012. There is a large amount of speculation about the subsurface conditions of Vaiont dam location as it relates to the failure. ... Case Study: Vajont Dam (Italy, 1963). Waves of water reached greater than 330 feet above the dam crest. The wind created by the rapid displacement of air caused destruction before the water arrived. It had withstood a force of approximately 4 million metric tons (4 million tons) of water, roughly eight times the force for which it had been designed. There was very little chance of people being rescued. Technical Note: Implementation of a geodatabase of published and unpublished data on the catastrophic Vaiont landslide, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. Geo-hazards can exist at dams, even if a structure is considered safe and does not fail. Longarone was a tourist destination, a mountain village made up of mostly residential and commercial structures. It dam is not owned by ENEL. The dam is 11 feet wide at the crest, 73 feet wide at the base, with a crest length of 623 feet. Vajont highlights the need for thorough geotechnical investigations during dam design, specifically reservoir slope stability analyses for dams in mountainous areas. The consequences of this event are unique in scale, with extremely high fatality rates caused by very deep and fast-moving flood waters. All rights reserved. On October 9, 1963, at 10:41 p.m., approximately 270 million cubic meters (353 cubic yards) of rock fell into the reservoir, moving as fast as 25 m/s (82 fps). The valley of Vajont (or Vaiont) in the Italian Dolomites is characterized in the upper part by a broad catchment area, carved by ancient glaciers, and in the lower part by a deep and narrow gorge, eroded into limestone formations by the river Vajont. Five downstream towns were destroyed including Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova, and Fae. They were repaired with the advice from Soviet engineers and the new design, dubbed the iron dam, was considered unbreakable. 239 S. Limestone Street The Vajont rockslide, and the terrible consequences that resulted from it, represented a turning point in the history of landslide studies and of natural hazard investigations – in Italy and elsewhere. Only 15 meters of concrete prevented the lake from spilling over. It was more than twice the volume of the largest earthen dam ever built, the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River in Montana. 3D simulation of Vajont disaster. The dam, however, stood. By Monica Ghirotti, rinaldo genevois, Laura Superchi, and M. Floris. (7) Paolini & Vacis. The case study has also been published by Solava and Delatte (2003). The elements of this system were linked by tunnels and pipelines (Ross 1984, p. 131). The dam was built in a steep and narrow limestone canyon, high in the Dolomite region of the Italian Alps, sculpted by downcutting and erosion of the river. On the 9 th October 1963 a catastrophic landslide suddenly occurred on the southern slope of the Vajont dam reservoir. As described in the following pages, the 1963 Vajont Dam overflow in Italy devastated the town of Longarone and surrounding hamlets, killing most of the inhabitants and literally sweeping away much of the material structure and natural features of the comunity. Residents who were able to evacuate escaped on foot, instinctively running uphill after hearing loud sounds. Because of the great volume, it was not practical to remove the material from the reservoir to restore the dams function (Ross 1984, p. 134). Vajont Dam is a double-curved, thin-arch dam, and at 860 feet high, it remains one of the tallest dams in the world. Influence of filling-drawdown cycles of the Vajont reservoir on Mt. page, 2005-01-16 - last revised and updated: 2009-09-03 - Recent photos, thanks to Eirik Linder & Francesca Casciarri, official photoreporters in the FNCA project, for Vajont case study Imagery of Vajont Rockslide. The flood occurred at night when many downstream residents were in bed. Merlin T., 1997, Sulla pelle viva, Cierre Edizioni, Verona. A slope stability failure occurs when the weight of a soil and rock mass overcomes the soil’s shear resistance along a failure plane. The water first arrived in Longarone at 10:43 pm, around 4 minutes after the rockslide. The population of Longarone before the disaster had been about 4,600. From April to July 1963 the reservoir was raised 16 feet (to elev. Sintesi Degli Studi Geologici Sulla Frana Del Vajont, Meseo Tridentino Di Scienze Naturali, Trento. The town was completely leveled due to the depth and speed of the flood wave (high severity flooding). External independent peer review of designs and decisions is an effective means of providing quality assurance with design oversights and deficiencies. 2,043 people were killed, including 58 of the utility’s employees (Wearne 2000, pp. Association of State Dam Safety Officials. Washington, DC: Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Volume 55, No. Movements at this time were measured at over 1.2 inches per day, thus another reservoir drawdown was commenced. Vajont Dam, Italy, 1963 The Vajont Dam Disaster is one of the world’s great examples of failure at the cutting edge, and has the distinction of being both the worst dam failure and the most deadly landslide in Europe’s recorded history. Typically, dam failure events that occur at night are more fatal than events that happen during the day. The summer of 1963 was extraordinarily wet. It may be difficult to find except on loan from some large university engineering libraries. At the time of the incident, ownership had been transferred to ENEL, the national agency of electricity. The volume of the slide was about twice the volume of water impounded behind Vajont Dam and slid into the reservoir in less than 45 seconds. A seven foot wave propagated across the reservoir as a result of the landslide, but there were no injuries. Warnings issued prior to the Vajont rockslide were largely ineffective. (5) Ajemian, R. (1963). Vaiont Dam Reservoir Slope Stability Failure A slope stability failure is more commonly known as a landslide, particu- lariy among nonengineers. A clear, concise warning message with specific details are more likely to be heeded during an emergency situation. (11) Semenza, E. (1966). After the discovery of the landslide on the northern slopes of Monte Toc, it was decided to deepen the studies on the following effects: This case study can remind us of the hazards that exist at dams, even if a structure is considered safe and does not fail. The reservoir capacity was designed for 138,000 acre-feet. The Vaiont Dam case study is covered in pages 206 through 225 of collapse by Wearne (2000) as well as pages 127 and 130 through 139 of Ross (1984). This peculiar shape made the valley a perfect site for a dam and a hydroelectric power station nearby. During the summer of 1963, another precipitation event similar to the one experienced the previous year caused the water surface elevation of the reservoir to increase to the highest recorded level, 814 feet deep, 50 feet from the dam crest elevation (elev. The Vaiont Dam Overflow: A Case Study of Extra-Community Responses in Massive Disasters, Disasters, Volume 3, No. This type of failure occurs when the weight of a soil mass overcomes the soils shear resistance along a failure plane. Toc slope stability. The rock fell into the reservoir of the Vajont Dam, producing an enormous wave of at least 50 million cubic metres of water Impacts? A tremendous wave of water blew over the dam, virtually the entire reservoir, sending a 70 m (230 ft) wall of water down Vaiont gorge. The Vaiont Dam case study is covered in pages 206 through 225 of collapse by Wearne (2000) as well as pages 127 and 130 through 139 of Ross (1984). During first filling there were differing opinions on whether the reservoir bank along Mount Toc was the site of an ancient rockslide. (3) Hendron, A. J. Jr. & Patton, F.D. Following the slide, hydraulic models were performed, and exploration wells and piezometers were installed to monitor conditions. The rock slide in the Vajont Valley, Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology, International Society for Rock Mechanics, Volume 2, p 148-212. In October 1961, construction of a bypass tunnel was completed to connect the upper and lower reaches of the reservoir in case they were separated by another slide. Most structures were either completely destroyed or buried. This case study summary was peer-reviewed by Giorgia DeWolfe, Geotechnical Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation. (1) Delatte, Norbert J. Translated from Italian, Bordighera Press. On October 9, 1963, at 10:39 pm 260 million cubic meters of rock broke off from the top of Monte Toc, on the border between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The mayor of Casso ordered people to evacuate slopes and posted notice of an expected wave from an anticipated landslide. The Story of Vajont. A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of failure characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. (9) Paronuzzi, Rigo & Bolla. (Photo Source: United Press International, 1967. Beyond Failure, Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers. The key document on this case study is The Vaiont Slide: A Geotechnical Analysis Based on New Geological Observations of the Failure Surface, Volume I, Main Text, Technical Report GL-85-5, published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi (Hendron and Patton 1985). In 1960, the Vajont Dam was finished being constructed by a team of engineers and geologists to generate hydroelectric power for the valley, as this area of the Italian Alps was known for its hydroelectric power generation. Vajont Dam (Italy, 1963) | Case Study | ASDSO Lessons Learned Roman technology is the collection of antiques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made possible the expansion of the economy and military of ancient Rome The flood wave completely destroyed the town, resulting in one of the highest known fatality rates ever recorded due to flooding from a dam failure or incident. Of an estimated 1,328 people in Longarone who were at risk at the time of the floodwave, 1,269 fatalities occurred, resulting in a fatality rate of 94 percent. Thorough geotechnical investigations are needed during dam design, specifically reservoir slope stability analyses for dams in mountainous areas. This case study is discussed in Chapter 7 of the book Beyond Failure: Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers, Delatte, Norbert J., ASCE Press. A very similar mechanism caused the 2005 Bluebird Canyon landslide near Los Angeles, California. In this valley there was a town, Longarone, which was the … This type of failure occurs when the weight of a soil mass overcomes the soil's shear resistance along a failure plane. “There the Dam Stood, Proud and Beautiful.” LIFE Magazine. The slide mass moved as a block, slipping on one or more saturated clay layers, continuous throughout large areas in the basin. The dam is a thin concrete wedge in a narrow gorge. Vajont Dam Disaster (1963) It was the perfect place to build a dam. Forty people were killed in an office and hotel buildings near the right abutment, 300 feet above the reservoir level. The Vaiont Dam was part of an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric powerhouses located in the Piave River Valley, high in the Italian Alps. Cracks in the dam and sluice gates appeared after completion due to construction and engineering errors. There can also be hesitation to warn and evacuate people before an outcome is certain. It destroyed the town of Longarone downstream, and severely damaged or destroyed the hamlets and villages of Villanova, Codissago, Pirago, and Fraseyn. The maximum discharge of the reservoir was 1742 m3/s. Wearnes chapter contains accounts from engineers and survivors of the disaster. The Vajont dam in 1963, a few months before the tragedy. From November to December 1960, the reservoir was lowered to a depth of about 450 feet (elev. 17, p 31-41. Vajont Dam is located on the Vajont River, a tributary of the Piave River, just upstream of Longarone in northeast Italy. The Vajont slide is an example of a landslide of an enormous magnitude where the consequences of the disaster were both severe and prolonged and the lives of approximately 2000 people were lost (Petley, 2008). Vajont dam's disaster story over Internet, TODAY (Orig. An updraft of air, rocks, and water climbed the canyon walls to around 850 feet above the reservoir. Even those most familiar with the facility, including engineers who worked at the dam site did not seem to understand the risks. (Photo Source: Paronuzzi and Bolla, 2012); Google Earth View: http://ow.ly/Uyxp30nzTss. Rock Engineering, The Development of Rock Engineering, Chapter 2. Water within soil increases its unit weight while reducing the shear strength. The construction of the Vajont dam and the … that overtopped the dam, flooding the valley below and killing over 2000 people (Tika and Hutchinson 1999). (11) Semenza, E. (1966). During this event, measured earth movements (creep) increased to 0.5 inches per day within the basin. A slope stability failure is more commonly known as a landslide, particularly among non-engineers. It is common for people to revert to recent, observed history to try and predict the future, while normalizing observations. The slide moved a 250 m (820 ft) thick mass of rock about 300-400 m (980-1300 ft) horizontally. The reservoir continued filling until November 4, 1960 when, with the reservoir water level at a depth 600 feet (elev. The purpose of this case study is to analyze data from previous investigations of the slope failure in order to provide further explanation of the method of failure. Longarone before and after the flood event, 1963. The 1963 Vaiont Landslide, Gironale di Geologia Applicata, p 41-52. Geomorphology Journal. Mount Toc, located within the Vajont basin, towers 4,800 feet above the valley floor. The dam is still there, but there is no water behind it (Wearne 2000, p. 217-219). The Vaiont Slide, A Geotechnical Analysis Based on New Geologic Observations of the Failure Surface. (2009). Though the dam structure appears to have been well designed (only the top several feet of the dam suffered damage), designers didn’t understand the geology in the valley basin. The Vajont disaster was caused in 1963 by a landslide of about 270 mill ion cubic meters that fell into a … Purchased in 2013 on eBay). The engineer of the dam, Marico Pancini, was summoned in the court to answer a few questions about the geology of the area. It fell into the reservoir of the Vajont Dam, producing an enormous wave of at least 50 million cubic meters of water. Part 1: Numerical formulation and validation ... a numerical method for the simulation of landslides generated impulse waves and its application to the historical Vajont case study. The volume of the slide was slightly larger than the working volume of the Vaiont Reservoir. There are 16 gates on the crest with an underground powerhouse and three outlets in the abutment. 2 The Vajont Valley is located in Northern Italy roughly 100 kilometers north of Venice. The Vaiont dam was constructed by Societa Adriatica Di Elettricita (SADE) as part of extensive hydroelectric system in northeastern Italy. Officials thought the reservoir was drawn down enough to not cause harm, but they grossly underestimated the resultant size of the rockslide. Residents were assured of safety, but they continued to distrust the stability of Mount Toc, nicknaming it “the mountain that walks”. The reservoir was again lowered from December 1962 to March 1963, causing the movements to cease. (1985). It was a man-made disaster. On the night of October 9, 1963, a massive rockslide occurred with the reservoir 782 feet deep (elev. Introduction: Background After WWII, Italy began to develop industry, at the same time; some cities located in north require more and more electric power and power source. (8) Paronuzzi, P. & Bolla, A. Approximately 20,000 acre-feet of water went over the dam, creating a flood depth at the mouth of Vajont River of about 230 feet, one mile downstream. Wearnes chapter contains accounts from engineers and survivors of the disaster. The Vajont reservoir disaster is a classic example of the consequences of the failure of engineers and geologists to understand the nature of the problem that they were trying to deal with. The full extent of damage was not obvious until early the next morning. The disaster also provided the tragic impetus that spurred the growth of a new field of science: engineering geology. This case is featured on the Modern Marvels Engineering Disasters 17 DVD/video. Several days before the disaster, the mayor of Erto issued a manifesto urging villagers to evacuate. (2012). (6) Muller, L. (1964). The October rockslide was over 400 times larger than the slide three years prior. In 1962, the Italian National Electric 705 meters), again causing movements to return to 0.2 inches per day. |, A Guide to Public Alerts and Warnings for Dam and Levee Emergencies, Tragedy in the Italian Alps, 50th Anniversary, Vajont Dam, Association of State Dam Safety Officials. Dam construction was completed in September 1960. Vajont Dam in Current Years. (12) Superchi, L., Floris, M., Ghirotti, M., Genevois, R., Jaboyedoff, M., & Stead, D., (2010). Implementation of a geodatabase of published and non-published data on the catastrophic Vaiont landslide. The Dam did not suffer any serious damage, however, … The dam was made of clay and was 24.5 meters high. (10) Quarantelli, E.L. (1979). Vaiont Dam, also spelled Vajont Dam, disused concrete arch dam across the Vaiont River near Monte Toc in Italy. This was confirmed when a survey found that the mountain's slopes consisted of ancient landslide deposits and not solid rock. The prehistoric Vajont rockslide: An updated geological model. “Any damsite investigation should include a detailed study of the proposed reservoir slopes. By October 4, total movement reached almost 8 inches per day. The Vajont dam and reservoir on September 1963, one month before the disaster. The lesson afforded by (Vajont) need not be relearned by another generation.” – Hendron and Patton, 1986. 710 meters). The Vaiont Dam Overflow: A Case Study of Extra-Community Responses in Massive Disasters, Disasters, Volume 3, No. By Alberto Bolla. Trees and soil along the Vaiont Valley were removed as high as 235 m (770 ft) above the reservoir level (Hendron and Patton 1985, p. 8). Officials did not recognize the magnitude of the danger or the scale of a possible rockslide at Vajont. Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide. A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, that directs or slows down the flow, often … (2) Genevois, R. & Ghirotti, M. (2005). Title: Dam Levee & Civil Works Project Manager. Stability analyses were not conducted during dam construction or first filling, even after the appearance of the large slope instability in early November 1960. It is said that he killed himself before his scheduled appearance. Vajont Dam Case Study; Vajont Dam Case Study. 1446 Words 6 Pages. The story of the Vaiont dam, reservoir, landslide, disaster and subsequent scientific investigations into the landslide is well known in the scientific and engineering literature and has even featured in several television programmes including a joint Italian-French ‘docudrama’ film ‘Vajont: La diga del disonore/La Folie des hommes’ released in 2001. Vajont highlights the need for thorough geotechnical investigations during dam design, specifically reservoir slope stability analyses. Heavy downpour caused the water of the reservoir to rise to nearly 250 meters—30 meters more than the recommended depth. Even if officials and engineers understood the risk associated with a rockslide, there were few ways to remediate the situation after construction, outside of removing the Dam completely or evacuating and relocating towns downstream of Vajont. THE VAJONT DAM HISTORY THE DESIGN OF THE DAM: 1925 - JANUARY 1957 Preliminary studies for the Vajont dam construc-tion began as early as in 1920 and in 1928 two pos-sible cross sections were preliminarily individuated in derstood, has constituted and still constitutes a challenge to physicists, geologists and engineers over the last 50 years. There was extensive onsite monitoring at the dam when the rockslide occurred, with 20 technical personnel in the control center on the left abutment, all of whom perished. The flood also knocked out many access routes, hampering rescue operations (Ross 1984, p. 132). A few homes were evacuated, but there was little concern. Longarone is approximately 60 miles north of Venice, Italy. Engineering News-Record reported on the case on October 17, 1963, and December 7, 1967, issues, and published an editorial in the October 24, 1963, issue. All Italians of a certain age remember the Vajont disaster: a giant wave raised by a landslide into a brand new hydroelectric reservoir in the Italian Alps jumped over the dam that was supposed to contain it. At the time of slide, the reservoir level was 82 feet below the dam crest elevation and the reservoir volume was around 109,000 acre-feet. Vajont 9 ottobre 1963 - orazione civile (1997), directed by Marco Paolini and Gabriele Vacis. 2, p 199-212, University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center. Mountains in this area are characterized by nearly vertical cliffs. Prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers risk management center, ASDSO Decade Dam Failure Series Presentation, Author: U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of Energy & Tennessee Valley Authority, Best Practices in Dam and Levee Safety Risk Analysis, Author: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation & U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Best Practices and Risk Methodology, Chapter IV-3, Best Practices and Risk Methodology, Chapter VIII-2, Association of State Dam Safety Officials Construction began in July 1957, and the Vajont reservoir began filling in February 1960. As a result, water and water pressures often play a role in triggering a slope stability failure. 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