Modelling breach parameters of embankment dams

Dams provide many benefits to the environment in which they are established and to the living creatures at there. These benefits can generally be grouped under the following headings; irrigation, drinking-utility water supply, industrial water supply, energy production. However, besides its advantages, of course there are also disadvantages. The most dangerous of these in terms of life and economy is the collapse of dams. It is very important to predict these failure parameters in order to predict these failures and to minimize the resulting damage. In this study, parameters such as breach width, peak discharge and collapse time were investigated. For this purpose, data of constructed dams obtained from different sources found in literature was used. Using the GMDH modeling system, both dimensional and non-dimensional models were created for each failure parameter. In addition, the data for all models are divided into test and training data. As a result of these studies, R2 and RMSE values were compared statistically and graphically with existing studies in the literature. Both dimensional and non-dimensional results modeled with GMDH gave far better results than the existing methods that used for comparison. Key Words: Dam Breach Parameters, Dam Failure, Risk Analysis, Dam Safety, GMDH Modelling