Assessing the potential for internal erosion of peat in Pennine canal dams Available to Purchase

Ongoing risk assessments on a series of dams built to supply water locks used to ascend and descend over the summit of the Rochdale Canal have indicated that they are particularly vulnerable to internal erosion. The dams were built between 1794 and 1857. The risk assessment method known as ‘Unified Method of Risk Analysis' (Internal Erosion Toolbox) uses a generic event tree approach to assessing potential seepage and piping failure paths. A number of potential initiation modes identified in the Toolbox, that could progress to failure of the dam, required assessments of the erodibility of peat, which was shown to be present either in the embankment fill material or the dam foundations. This paper reviews the available data on the properties of peat, in respect to internal erosion. It describes the method used to assess the properties of peat to undertake reasonable risk assessments of a variety of potential failure modes.