BASEbreach
BASEbreach is a dam breach modelling framework that incorporates the quantification of both model and parameter uncertainties in peak discharge estimation.
Hazard assessment due to a dam failure is an important task in risk management. The assessment of the related hazard potential is based on a workflow consisting of (i) the analysis of possible dam failure and estimation of the outflow hydrograph, (ii) the calculation of the flood wave propagation and consequently (iii) the quantification of the hazard. For the first step various approaches with different level of detail with regard of modelled physical processes are available. The simplest approaches are parameter models. Such models are often used due to their easy and efficient application.
The BASEbreach software provides a suite of dam failure parameter models allowing for comparison of the different approaches. The model setup and comparison are supported by an intuitive graphical user interface. All configuration data and model results can be saved for reuse or further evaluation, respectively. For uncertainty quantification, Monte-Carlo simulation is available in combination with the Peter parameter models.
Download and Install
The BASEbreach software can be downloaded for free and is available in the Releases section of the project repository.
For Windows, a standard MSI installer package is published for each release. Additionally, the project documentation covers the build process from source.
System Requirements
BASEbreach is built on top of Qt5/Qt6 and shares its runtime system requirements.
Please refer to the Qt documentation regarding system requirements for external page Windows and external page Linux based systems, respectively.
Additional information regarding build time dependencies can be found in the project build instructions.
User Manual
The project Wiki contains detailed usage instructions, parameter references and tutorials for common simulation workflows.
Acknowledgments
This software has been developed at VAW, ETH Zurich, and was financially supported by the Office of Waste, Water, Energy and Air (AWEL) of the canton of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Office for Energy (BFE). BASEbreach software is part of the BASEMENT software framework.
Contributors (alphabetical)
References
Peter, S. J., Vetsch, D. F., Siviglia, A., Boes, R. (2018) Probabilistische Dammbruchanalyse, Wasser Energie Luft, 110 (3), pp.179-185.
Peter, S., Nagel, J., Marelli, S., Boes, R. M., Sudret, B., Vetsch, D. F. and Siviglia, A. (2018) 'Development of probabilistic dam breach model using Bayesian inference', Water Resources Research, 54(7), pp.4376-4400.
Vetsch, D. F. and Boes, R. M. (2016) 'Vereinfachte Modellierung des progressiven Bruchs bei kleinen Erdschüttdämmen', Wasserwirtschaft, 106(6), pp.140-143.
Vonwiller L., Vetsch, D., Peter, S. and Boes, R. M. (2015) 'Methode zur Beurteilung des maximalen Breschenabflusses bei progressivem Bruch homogener Erdschüttdämme an kleinen Stauhaltungen', Wasser, Energie, Luft, 107(1), pp.37-43.