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The statistics of embankment dam failures and

accidents
Mark Foster, Robin Fell, and Matt Spannagle

Abstract: The paper describes the results of a statistical analysis of failures and accidents of embankment dams, spe-
cifically concentrating on those incidents involving piping and slope instability. The compilation of dam incidents in-
cludes details on the characteristics of the dams, including dam zoning, filters, core soil types, compaction, foundation
cutoff, and foundation geology. An assessment of the characteristics of the world population of dams was also carried
out. By comparing the characteristics of the dams which have experienced failures and accidents to those of the popu-
lation of dams, it was possible to assess the relative influence of particular factors on the likelihood of piping and
slope instability.

Key words: dams, failures, piping, instability database.

Résumé : Cet article décrit les résultats d’une analyse statistique des ruptures et accidents dans les barrages en terre,
se concentrant spécifiquement sur ces incidents impliquant la formation de renard et l’instabilité des talus. La compila-
tion des incidents de barrages inclut des détails sur les caractéristiques des barrages incluant le zonage du barrage, les
filtres, les types de noyau, le compactage, le rideau d’étanchéité de fondation, et la géologie de la fondation. Une
évaluation des caractéristiques de la population mondiale des barrages a également été réalisée. En comparant les
caractéristiques des barrages qui ont été affectés par des ruptures et des accidents avec celles de la population des bar-
rages, il a été possible d’évaluer l’influence relative que des facteurs particuliers ont sur la vraisemblance de renards et
de l’instabilité des talus.

Mots clés : barrages, ruptures, renard, base de données sur l’instabilité.

[Traduit par la Rédaction] Foster et al. 1024

Introduction or any dam between 10 and 15 m in height which meets one

Embankment dam engineering has evolved over many
centuries, with the major developments occurring since the
1940s with the development of soil mechanics and
geotechnical engineering. Some aspects are now readily ana-
lysed, e.g., the stability of the embankment slopes. Others,
e.g., piping failure through a dam foundation, remain more
difficult to quantify, and the measures taken in design and
construction are more experience based. It is particularly dif-
ficult to assess the safety of dams which do not meet modern
design and construction criteria, e.g., dams with no or inade-
quate filters.
Recognising the value of the historic performance of dams
in assessing dam safety, the International Commission on
Large Dams (ICOLD) has carried out extensive surveys of
dam incidents (ICOLD 1974, 1983, 1995). The ICOLD sur-
veys are for large dams, a large dam being defined as a dam
which is more than 15 m in height (measured from the low-
est point in the general foundations to the crest of the dam)
Received February 5, 1999. Accepted February 10, 2000.
Published on the NRC Research Press website on October 6,
2000.
M. Foster. URS, Level 3, 116 Miller St., North Sydney,
Australia 2060.
R. Fell. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2052.
M. Spannagle. Department of Land and Water Conservation,
GPO Box 39, Sydney, Australia 2001.
Can. Geotech. J. 37: 1000–1024 (2000)
of the following conditions: (i) the crest length is not less
than 500 m, (ii) the capacity of the reservoir formed by the
dam is not less than 106 m3, (iii) the maximum flood dis-
charge dealt with by the dam is not less than 2000 m3/s, or
(iv) the dam is of unusual design.
ICOLD carried out analyses of the data compiled to deter-
mine the most common cause of dam incidents. Others, in-
cluding USCOLD (1975, 1988), USCOLD Committee on
Dam Safety (1996), ANCOLD (1992), Charles and Boden
(1985), Olwage and Oosthuizen (1984), and Gomez et al.
(1979), have compiled data on incidents for various coun-
tries. There have been attempts to use the statistical analysis
of dam incidents to predict the likelihood of failure of dams,
including those by Silveira (1984, 1990), Blind (1983),
Serafim (1981a, 1981b), Tavares and Serafim (1983), Ingles
(1988), Gruner (1963, 1967), and Von Thun (1985). All of
these analyses are limited to the statistics of height, year of
construction, and only basic descriptions of the dam type.
For example, the embankment zoning classification is re-
stricted to two categories in the ICOLD dam incident and
dam population databases, namely earthfill embankment
(TE) and rockfill embankment (ER).
Embankment zoning would be expected to have a signifi-
cant influence on the likelihood of failure, particularly for
structural modes of failure which include slope stability and
piping. As is well recognised in dam engineering, and de-
scribed in Fell et al. (1992), different embankment zoning
types have varying degrees of control of embankment seep-
age. These give varying degrees of control of the potential
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Foster et al.
for piping failure through the embankment and foundation
and the pore pressures which affect slope stability.
This paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of
embankment dam incidents, specifically concentrating on in-
ternal erosion and slope instability. While the data can be
used in a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) framework,
they also provide useful insights into the factors which con-
tribute to dam incidents and can therefore be used in a non-
QRA, dam safety context. The study has been done as part
of a larger research project studying methods for estimating
the probability of failure of embankment dams for use in
QRA. This paper describes only part of the research project.
Foster et al. (2000) describe the application of these data to
estimating the relative likelihood of failure of embankment
dams by internal erosion and piping, Foster and Fell (2000a)
discuss the assessment of filters which do not satisfy modern
design criteria, and Foster and Fell (2000b) use event trees
to estimate the probability of failure of embankment dams
by internal erosion and piping. All components are described
in Foster (1999).
The principal components of the study were as follows:
(i) extension of the existing compilations of dam incidents to
include more details on embankment zoning, including the
presence or absence of filters, foundation geology, and em-
bankment material characteristics such as core soil types and
compaction; and (ii) analysis of the dam incident database
and comparison to a dam population database to estimate
historic frequencies of failure for different modes of failure
and dam zoning types and identify factors, such as founda-
tion geology types and core embankment characteristics, that
have an influence on the likelihood of embankment dam fail-
ure for piping and slope instability modes of failure.
Establishment of databases
Compilation of dam incident database
A list of dam incidents was compiled primarily from the
three ICOLD studies (ICOLD 1974, 1983, 1995) supple-
mented with additional incidents from the other existing
compilations, from the literature, and from the project spon-
sors. The criteria set for the selection of the dam incidents to
be entered into the database are (i) embankment dam failures
for all modes of failure for large dams; (ii) failures of em-
bankment dams (not necessarily large) by piping and slope
instability; and (iii) accidents involving piping, slope insta-
bility, and seepage. The definitions of failures, accidents,
and incidents used are consistent with ICOLD (1983).
The first criterion was used to keep the dam failure and
dam population datasets consistent for proper statistical
analysis. The other two criteria were set to maximise the
amount of data for the detailed analysis of piping and slope-
instability failures.
Data on the dam and incident details were obtained from
(i) incident descriptions in ICOLD (1974, 1983) and other
compilations of dam incidents; (ii) published data from an
extensive search through the literature; and (iii) reports col-
lected from the sponsor organisations and from the United
States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), British Columbia
Hydroelectric and Power Corporation (BC Hydro), and the
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.
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1001
Information on the dam and incident details was extracted
from the data gathered and entered into a database called
ERDATA1.
The ERDATA1 database is divided into seven main cate-
gories: (i) dam details, e.g., dam name, country, height, year
constructed; (ii) dam zoning category, including dam zoning
and description of filters; (iii) foundation cutoff category;
(iv) foundation geology; (v) earthfill core characteristics;
(vi) incident details; and (vii) references. Sketches of the
dam zoning categories used are shown in Fig. 1. A full de-
scription of the variables in the ERDATA1 database is given
in Foster et al. (1998) and Foster (1999).
Population of embankment dams database
The population of embankment dams database is required
to determine whether an overrepresentation of a particular
dam characteristic in the incident cases, such as a particular
zoning type, is due to this characteristic being common in all
existing dams, or whether dams with this characteristic tend
to be more susceptible to dam incidents. The data from the
population of dams database are combined with those from
the incident database to estimate the frequencies of failure
and accidents for the various dam zoning types.
The ERDATA1 classification system has been used for
collating data on the population of dams, so the databases
are consistent. The ideal situation for a sound statistical
analysis would be to have the characteristics of the
ERDATA1 classification system for all the existing embank-
ment dams as listed in the World register of dams (ICOLD
1984). However, there are insufficient data in the ICOLD
register to obtain data on dam zoning, foundation geology,
and other characteristics in the ERDATA1 classification sys-
tem, so it was necessary to select sample populations of em-
bankment dams in an attempt to represent the characteristics
of the world population. Sample populations of embankment
dams which were used include 356 dams in Australia, 44 in
New Zealand, 246 in the United States (from the USBR),
174 in Norway, and 642 described in papers in the ICOLD
congresses up to 1982, giving a total of 1462 embankment
dams, or about 13% of the total population.
These datasets were primarily selected due to the avail-
ability of sufficient data required for the ERDATA1 classifi-
cation system. Information for the Australian and New
Zealand dams was obtained from the project sponsors and
from questionnaires sent out to dam owning authorities. The
zoning characteristics for the dams in the United States were
obtained from USBR (1994) and the foundation geology
characteristics from the Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams
(SEED) databooks held at the USBR office in Denver, Colo-
rado. Data on the Norwegian dams were limited to the dam
zoning category which was obtained from K. Senneset (per-
sonal communication, 1996). Dams described in the ICOLD
congress papers from 1933 to 1982 were used to obtain a
representative set of dams to take account of the range of
trends in dam construction with time and for various coun-
tries.
Information was also collected from the literature, provid-
ing additional data on the distribution of dam zoning categories
in different parts of the world and describing general trends
in dam design. Literature sources included Snethlage et al.
(1958), Leps et al. (1978), Building Research Establishment
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Fig. 1. Dam zoning categories.
(1990), Sherard (1953), ICOLD (1984), Skempton (1990),
Cooke (1984), ICOLD (1989), and Schnitter (1994).
The following approach was used for each of the main
categories: (i) dam zoning; (ii) foundation geology; and
(iii) core material geological origin, soil classification, and
compaction.
Dam zoning
The general approach used to make the estimates of the
world distribution of zoning types was to subdivide the data
into tables according to the country, dam height range
(<20 m, 20–29 m, 30–49 m, and >50 m), and construction
year period (before 1900, 1900–1929, 1930–1949, 1950–69,
and 1970–1986).
The dam zoning distribution estimates were made for
Australia, France, India, Japan (post-1950 only), New Zea-
land, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States. These
countries had sufficient data in the sample population avail-
able to give reasonably reliable estimates of the zoning char-
acteristics of the population. The dams from remaining
countries were grouped into a category called other coun-
tries. Dams constructed in China, and in Japan prior to 1930,
were excluded from the analysis of the population due to the
lack of information in the literature on these dams and low
reported failure rates despite them making up a significant
proportion of the dam population.
The number of earthfill (TE) and rockfill (ER) dams for
each of the countries, construction periods, and height cate-
gories were obtained from the ICOLD register (ICOLD
1984). The information from the sample populations and
data gathered from the literature were used as a basis to
make estimates of the number of dams for each of the dam
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Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000
zoning categories. A considerable degree of judgement was
required to make the estimates, but this was facilitated by
breaking down the data into the smaller units of construction
years and dam height ranges. The analysis was by a trial and
error process in which the estimated percentages were modi-
fied so that they reflected the expected trends in dam design
with time and dam height.
Table 1 shows the assessed distribution of dam zoning for
the world population of dams accounting for construction
period. Rockfill dams, comprising zoned earth and rockfill
dams, central core earth and rockfill dams, concrete face
rockfill dams, and rockfill with corewall dams, make up 21%
of the world population based on the dam zoning categories.
This is significantly higher than the proportion of rockfill
dams (ER), namely 9%, given by the ICOLD register
(ICOLD 1984). This difference is attributed to the differ-
ences in classification of rockfill dams of the ERDATA1 and
ICOLD systems. Zoned earth and rockfill dams with less
than 50% rockfill by volume are classified as TE by ICOLD.
Foundation geology
The distribution of foundation geology types was assumed
to be dependent on the spatial distribution of dams. Esti-
mates were made for countries where sufficient data were
available from the sample population, namely United States,
India, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zea-
land. This subset of countries was carried through into the
analysis of the dam incidents when comparing the distribu-
tion of foundation geology types of the accident and failure
cases to the population. The distributions of geology types
from the sample population database were determined for
each of the countries and were used as a basis together with
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Foster et al. 1003

Table 1. Estimated dam zoning (%) for the world population of embankment dams by construction period.
Zoning category Before 1900 1900–1930 1930–1950 1950–1970 1970–1986 All years
Homogeneous earthfill 16 14 16 9 6 10
Earthfill with filter 0 1 11 18 18 15
Earthfill with rock toe 5 5 6 7 6 6
Zoned earthfill 7 18 37 37 40 36
Zoned earth and rockfill 0 7 8 10 10 9
Central core earth and rockfill 0 0 5 8 12 8
Concrete face earthfill 5 4 5 5 3 4
Concrete face rockfill 1 5 2 2.5 3 3
Puddle core earthfill 58 24 4 0.5 0 5
Earthfill with corewall 5 11 4 2 1 2
Rockfill with corewall 0.5 3 1 1 1 1
Hydraulic fill 2 8 1 0 0 1
Number of embankment dams 370 819 1167 4436 4400 11 192

the use of geology maps of the countries to make estimates
of the percentage distribution of foundation geology types.
Core material geological origin, soil classification, and
compaction
Estimation of the distribution of the geological origin of
the core material was made on the assumption that the core
geology would be influenced by the regional geology and
was therefore analysed by country. The distributions of core
geological origin types from the population database and the
foundation geology distributions described above were used
as a basis to make estimates of the core geology distribu-
tions for United States, Australia, New Zealand, United
Kingdom, Canada, India, Norway, and other countries. The
final world distribution was then obtained by applying a
weighted sum of the distributions from the countries based
on the number of large embankment dams in each country in
1982 (from ICOLD 1984).
The distribution of core soil types, classified by the
Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), was determined
directly from the percentages of core soil types from the
population database. It was assumed that there were suffi-
cient data in the population database to give a representative
sample of core soil types. Typically, the core material com-
prises more than one soil type and so the percentages in the
distribution do not necessarily sum to 100%. The percent-
ages were normalised such that they sum to 100% for com-
parison with the incident statistics.
Estimates of the distribution of the degree of compaction
of the core materials were made using the population data-
base, assuming it to be dependent mainly on the period of
construction. Hydraulic fill and puddle core dams were not
included in the analysis because their compaction is inherent
in the dam zoning. Information provided by Sherard (1953)
and Skempton (1990) was used to adjust the database values.
An attempt was made to estimate the relative abundance
of the presence of dispersive soils in the cores of embank-
ment dams due to their prominence in the piping failure
cases. There was insufficient information in the population
database on which to make such an estimate and so informa-
tion from the literature was used. ICOLD (1990) lists parts
of the world which have experienced problems with
dispersive soils, and combined these countries have approxi-
mately 35% of large embankment dams. There is no basis on
which to estimate the proportion of dams in these countries
with dispersive soils actually present in the core, but the
value is probably less than 25%. If it is assumed that say 5–
10% of the dams in these countries have dispersive soils
present in the core, then a very approximate estimate of the
proportion of dams in the world with dispersive soils is 2–
4%.
Other dam characteristics
Estimates for the distributions of the other dam character-
istics, such as foundation cutoff details, embankment and
foundation filters, and the location of conduits, were deter-
mined directly from the population database. Details are
given in Foster et al. (1998) and Foster (1999). The statistics
of year of construction, cumulative dam embankment years,
and dam heights were calculated from ICOLD (1984, 1983)
and used in the analysis. More details on the databases are
given in Foster (1999) and Foster et al. (1998).
Analysis methodology
There are two components of the analysis of the
ERDATA1 database, namely analysis of the overall statistics
of failure, and detailed analysis of piping and slope-instability
failures.
Mode of failure
The philosophy of the analysis of the ERDATA1 data was
to categorise dam accidents and failures into modes of fail-
ure as opposed to causes of failure. This is compatible with
the methods used in event-tree analysis.
The failure mode categories used are flood overtopping,
gate–spillway failure, piping, slope instability, and earth-
quake. Piping failures were further subdivided into piping
through the foundation and piping from the embankment
into the foundation. Slope-instability failures were subdi-
vided into upstream slides and downstream slides.
Dam incidents sometimes involve more than one failure
mode, so for example, development of piping through the
embankment may cause saturation of the downstream slope
which then initiates a downstream slide. In these cases, all
the modes of failure that were involved in the dam incident
are assigned in the database.
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Fig. 2. Stages of development of piping failure.
Overall statistics of failure
The frequencies of failure are estimated from the number
of dam incidents compared with either the total number of
large (i.e., >15, high) embankment dams (or dams of a par-
ticular zoning) up to 1986 to give the average frequencies of
failure over the life of the dam, or the total number of em-
bankment dam-years, allowing for the estimated average age
of each zoning type (up to 1986) to give annual frequencies
of failure.
Analysis of piping and slope instability incidents
This analysis involved comparing the frequency of occur-
rence of the dam characteristics such as dam zoning type,
foundation geology, and embankment core type in the dam
incidents to that in the dam population. An overrepre-
sentation of a particular feature, such as a particular dam
zoning or foundation geology type, in the dam incidents rel-
ative to the dam population suggests dams with that particu-
lar feature are possibly more vulnerable to that failure mode.
The analysis method utilises the concept that piping and
slope-instability failure modes can be broken down into sev-
eral stages of development. Typically these stages are taken
to be initiation, progression, and breaching, as shown in
Fig. 2 for piping through the embankment. This concept has
been suggested by several authors, including Von Thun
(1996). Accidents involve initiation of piping, but the pro-
gression stage is limited and breaching does not occur.
Therefore, by comparing the characteristics of the accident
cases to the failure cases of a particular failure mode, it may
be possible to identify factors that influence the progression
stage of the failure mode.
The analysis of the data has kept all failures as one
dataset, rather than, for example, separating dams by zoning,
separating first-filling failures from those which occur later,
or separating failures due to piping around conduits from
other piping failures. An initial assessment of the data
showed there did not appear to be big differences in the geo-
logical and core material characteristics for these sets, but
this was not proven in a rigorous statistical way. Separation
of the data had the major disadvantage that already small
samples (of the dams which had failed or had accidents)
would become smaller.
Overall statistics of failure of embankment
dams
Table 2 gives the overall statistics of failure for all failure
modes, separating for all failures and failures during opera-
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tions. The historical average frequency of failure of large
embankment dams is estimated to be 1.2% over the life of
the dam (136 embankment dam failures out of 11 192 large
embankment dams constructed up to 1986, excluding China
and Japan pre-1930). This reduces slightly to 1.1% over the
life of the dam for dam failures occurring only while the
dam was in operation. The historical annual probability of
failure of large embankment dams is estimated to be 4.5 ×
10–4 per dam per year (136 embankment dam failures in an
estimated 300 400 embankment dam-years up to 1986). This
reduces slightly to 4.1 × 10–4 per dam year if failures occur-
ring during construction are excluded. These figures would
reduce by about 30% if none of the dams in the 11 192 had
failed up to 1999.
Table 3 presents the statistics of failure by failure mode
and dam zoning. These overall statistics are useful if one
makes the assumption that the performance of dams in the
past is a reasonable prediction of what may happen in the fu-
ture. It is apparent from the statistics combined with the con-
ventional understanding of dam stability and piping that
factors such as dam zoning and core material properties have
an influence on the likelihood of failure or accidents and can
be used to get an idea of which dams are more or less likely
to experience stability and piping problems.
An analysis was carried out of the frequency of embank-
ment dam failures for each mode of failure for the failures
occurring before and after 1950 (excluding failures during
construction). The failure statistics for dams constructed be-
fore and after 1950 are shown for all modes of failure and
structural modes of failure in Table 4. Structural modes of
failure are those involving piping, slope instability, or earth-
quake. The analysis showed the proportion of failures by
piping increases from 43% before 1950 to 54% after 1950.
Over the same period, the proportion of failures by flood
overtopping and appurtenant works modes of failure de-
creases from 53% to 41%. There is a significant reduction in
the proportion of failures due to sliding with time, reducing
from 7% before 1950 to only 1.5% after 1950.
The following sections present the outcomes of further
analysis of the incidents for piping and slope instability to
further assess the factors affecting the frequency of incidents
of piping through the embankment and slope instability. The
population database consists of over 11 000 dams, with over
300 000 dam-years of performance, so the analysis of the re-
lationship of zoning to incidents is based on a large sample.
For the assessment of other factors, e.g., core material prop-
erties, there is a greater reliance on the characteristics of the
dams that have experienced incidents, and the sample size is
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Table 2. Overall failure statistics for large embankment dams up to 1986, excluding dams constructed in Japan pre-1930 and in China.
% failures Average frequency of
No. of cases (where known) failure (×10–3)
All Failures in All Failures in All Failures in
Mode of failure failures operation failures operation failures operation
Overtopping and appurtenant
Overtopping 46 40 35.9 34.2 4.1 3.6
Spillway–gate 16 15 12.5 12.8 1.4 1.3
Subtotal 62 55 48.4 47.0 5.5 4.9
Piping
Through embankment 39 38 30.5 32.5 3.5 3.4
Through foundation 19 18 14.8 15.4 1.7 1.6
From embankment into foundation 2 2 1.6 1.7 0.18 0.18
Subtotal 59 57 46.1 48.7 5.3 5.1
Slides
Downstream 6 4 4.7 3.4 0.54 0.36
Upstream 1 1 0.8 0.9 0.09 0.09
Subtotal 7 5 5.5 4.3 0.63 0.45
Earthquake–liquefaction 2 2 1.6 1.7 0.18 0.18
Unknown mode 8 7
Total no. of failures 136 124 12.2 (1.2%) 11.1 (1.1%)
Total no. of failures where mode of failure known 128 117
No. of embankment dams 11 192 11 192
Note: Subtotals and totals do not necessarily sum to 100%, as some failures were classified as multiple modes of failure.

smaller. For this reason it has been necessary to group all
the dams experiencing incidents together, rather than keep-
ing them separate, for this part of the analysis.
Factors affecting the frequency of incidents
of piping through the embankment
Incidents have been classified as piping through the em-
bankment if the incident involved any type of internal ero-
sion process occurring primarily through the embankment
dam. Cases of piping along and into conduits through dams
are included. Cases where piping initiated at the embank-
ment–foundation contact are not included but analysed sepa-
rately under piping from the embankment into the
foundation.
Dam zoning
The failure and accident statistics for piping through the
embankment are summarised in Table 5. It is evident that the
dam zoning categories with high average frequencies of fail-
ure by piping through the embankment tend to be the zoning
types with inherently poor control of seepage through the
embankment. Homogeneous earthfill dams, which have no
zoning of materials, have the highest frequency of failure,
nearly five times higher than the average of all dams com-
bined. Other dam zoning categories with higher than average
frequencies of failure by this mode of piping are earthfill
with rock toe, concrete face earthfill, and puddle core
earthfill dams. These four zoning categories combined make
up nearly 80% of the failure cases but only 25% of the pop-
ulation. For homogeneous earthfill dams, earthfill dams with
rock toe, and concrete face earthfill dams, there are the same
number or more failures than accidents. It is possible that
many piping accidents have not been reported to the ICOLD
studies or in the literature, but this trend suggests that these
dams are more likely than other dams to fail (i.e., breach)
once piping initiates.
Embankment dams with downstream rockfill zones have a
particularly low incidence of failure due to piping through
the embankment. There is only one dam failure due to pip-
ing through the embankment for zoning categories with
downstream rockfill. This was Avalon Dam, a zoned earth
and rockfill dam which failed in 1904. It had no filter be-
tween the core and the dumped rockfill. The large number of
piping accidents but no failures of central core earth and
rockfill dams indicates that these dams have a low frequency
of failure because they are less likely to progress to breach-
ing if piping initiates compared with dams with earthfill ma-
terials in the downstream zones. Review of the descriptions
of the accidents to rockfill dams suggest that this is probably
due to the inherent stability of the downstream rockfill zones
under large seepage flows.
Some specific points about the failures are as follows:
(1) Failures of homogeneous earthfill dams have generally
been associated with one or more of piping around conduits
passing through the dam (in nine cases), piping through
poorly compacted fill materials (in 12 cases), and piping
through dispersive fill materials (in four cases). The average
frequency of failure of homogeneous earthfill dams con-
structed prior to 1900 is about 10 times higher than that for
dams constructed after 1950.
(2) The failures of earthfill dams with filter drains have
generally been associated with piping through dispersive fill
materials around outlet conduits passing through the dam (in
three cases) or at the contact with concrete spillway struc-
tures (one case). Embankment filters were present in two of
the failures, and in both cases failure was attributed to piping
around the outlet conduit where locally there were no filters
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Table 3. Failure statistics for large embankment dams by dam zoning categories (up to 1986).
Mode of failure
Piping Slope instability
No. of % of From Spillway–
% of failure failure Through Through embankment Downstream Upstream gate
Dam zoning type population cases cases embankment foundation into foundation slide slide Earthquake Overtopping failure Unknown
Homogeneous earthfill 9.5 23 (17) 28 (32) 14 2 0 1 0 1 6 0 0
Earthfill with filter 15 4 (2) 5 (4) 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Earthfill with rock toe 6.1 9 (9) 11 (17) 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Zoned earthfill 35.9 7 (5) 9 (9) 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Zoned earth and 9.3 4 (3) 5 (6) 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
rockfill
Central core earthfill 8.4 4 (1) 5 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0
and rockfill
Concrete face earthfill 4.1 4 (4) 5 (8) 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Concrete face rockfill 2.8 1 (0) 1 (0) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Puddle core earthfill 4.7 5 (4) 6 (8) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Earthfill with concrete 2.4 11 (3) 13 (6) 0 2 0 0 1 0 4 3 1
corewall
Rockfill with concrete 0.9 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
corewall
Hydraulic fill 0.9 5 (3) 6 (6) 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0
Other — 5 (3) 6 (6) 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Unknown — 54 (13) 6 5 0 1 0 1 26 9 7
Total 100 136 (66) 100 (100) 39 19 2 6 1 2 46 16 8

Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Note: The values in parentheses refer to statistics for structural modes of failure, comprising piping, slope instability, and earthquake modes of failure. The number of failure cases for the modes of failure do not necessarily sum
to the total number of failure cases because some dams were classified as multiple modes of failure.
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Foster et al. 1007

Table 4. Average frequency of failure for large embankment dams constructed before and after 1950.
Dams constructed Dams constructed
Class of dams before 1950 after 1950 All dams
No. of large embankment dams constructed 2356 8836 11 192
No. of large embankment dam failures by all modes of failure 88 48 136
No. of embankment dam failures by structural modes of failure 41 25 66
Average frequency of failure over life of dam 3.8×10–2 0.5×10–2 1.2×10–2
Average frequency of failure over life of dam by structural modes of failure 1.7×10–2 0.3×10–2 0.6×10–2
Average annual frequency of failure by all modes of failure 8.6×10–4 2.7×10–4 4.1×10–4
Average annual frequency of failure by structural modes of failure 3.6×10–4 1.6×10–4 2.0×10–4

Table 5. Average frequency of failure due to piping through the embankment by dam zoning categories for large dams up to 1986.

Average Average Average annual frequency of

frequency frequency of failure (×10–6)*
No. of No. of of failure accident First 5 years After 5 years
Zoning category failures accidents (×10–3) (×10–3) of operation of operation
Homogeneous earthfill 14 9 16.0 9.2 2086 188
Earthfill with filter 2 1 1.5 0.6 189 37
Earthfill with rock toe 5 5 8.9 8.0 1160 158
Zoned earthfill 4 9 1.2 2.4 158 25
Zoned earth and rockfill 1 7 1.2 7.3 152 24
Central core earth and rockfill 0 (1) 19 (<1.1)† 22.0 (<143)† (<34)†
Concrete (or other) face earthfill 2 1 5.3 2.4 691 75
Concrete (or other) face rockfill 0 1 (11)‡ (<1)§ 3.5 (<130)§ (<17)§
Puddle core earthfill 4 10 9.3 20.7 1205 38
Concrete corewall, earthfill 0 2 (<1)§ 8.1 (<130)§ (<8)§
Concrete corewall, rockfill 0 2 (<1)§ 21.6 (<130)§ (<13)§
Hydraulic fill 0 3 (<1)§ 32.4 (<130)§ (<5)§
Zoning type unknown 7 6
All dams 39 75 3.5 6.7 453 56
*The percentages of failures by piping through the embankment occurring at the different times after construction are as follows: 49% during first
filling, 16% during the first 5 years operation, and 35% after 5 years operation. Calculations of annual frequencies of failure are made as follows: annual
frequency of failure (all years) = (average frequency of failure)/(average age); annual frequency of failure (first 5 years) = (average frequency of
failure)0.65/5; and annual frequency of failure (after 5 years) = (average frequency of failure)0.35/(average age – 5).
†
Upper bound value of the average frequency of failure determined by assuming one dam failure.
‡
Eleven accidents to concrete face rockfill dams involving leakages through the concrete face (not included in % statistics).
§
Assume average frequency of failure of < 1 × 10–3.

provided. For the other three failures, only foundation filters
were present.
(3) Earthfill dams with a rock toe have one of the highest
frequencies of failure by piping through the embankment.
The failure and accident cases have generally been the result
of outlet conduits passing through the dam, piping of the fill
materials into coarse rockfill materials, or piping through
cracks which formed through the dam over irregularities in
the foundation or steep abutments. Zoned earthfill dams have
a relatively low probability of failure; three of the four dams
failed on first filling and the other dam (Walter Bouldin
Dam) failed after 8 years operation. The construction peri-
ods for the dams that failed range from 1947 to 1975.
(4) In four of the seven accidents to zoned earth and
rockfill dams, no embankment filter was provided and core
materials were eroded into the downstream rockfill. The pip-
ing incidents at McMillan and Scofield dams demonstrated
the high discharge capacity of rockfill zones (in both cases,
dumped rockfill zones). At Scofield Dam, leakage during the
piping incident was estimated to be in the range 1400–
5000 L/s through the rockfill. It took 2 days to stabilise the
flow through the dam by placing sandbags on the crest.
(5) There are a total of 21 piping accidents to central core
earth and rockfill dams, 15 of these involving piping of
broadly graded core materials of glacial origin into coarse or
segregated filters. At Matahina and Bullileo dams, no down-
stream filters were present and the core and transition mate-
rials were eroded into the downstream rockfill zone.
(6) In all three cases of failures of concrete face earthfill
dams, piping occurred around the conduits. The cause of
failure was attributed to problems associated with the con-
nection of the conduit to the upstream face in two of the
cases and in the other case as a result of settlement and rup-
ture of the conduit within the embankment.
(7) Concrete (or other impervious) face rockfill dams have
a low incidence of piping through the embankment, with no
failures and only two piping accident cases. Both accident
cases were attributed to internal erosion of the bedding layer
of the upstream face into the rockfill zone. Neither of the
two dams had concrete upstream faces: one was constructed

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1008 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 6. Geological origin of core material of dams with poor control of erosion experiencing piping incidents.
Dams with poor control of erosion Dams with good control of erosion Population
No. of No. of No. of No. of with core
Core geology failures accidents failures accidents geology
Aeolian 0 (0) 1 (5) 0 (0) 2 (10) 7
Alluvial 9 (38) 6 (31) 0 (0) 2 (10) 22
Colluvial 2 (8) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 6
Glacial 3 (12) 2 (11) 0 (0) 15 (70) 22
Residual 10 (42) 10 (53) 0 (0) 2 (10) 38
Lacustrine 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2
Marine 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) <1
Volcanic 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2
Unknown 19 28 2 14
No. of piping incidents 41 35 2 28
No. of soils 24 (100) 19 (100) 0 (100) 21 (100) 100
Note: Percentages are given in parentheses. Zoning categories with poor control of erosion through the dam are homogeneous earthfill, earthfill with
filter (foundation filter), earthfill with rock toe, zoned earthfill (with no filter), concrete face earthfill, and puddle core earthfill. Zoning categories with
good control of erosion through the dam are earthfill with filter (embankment filter), zoned earthfill (with filter), zoned earth and rockfill, and central core
earth and rockfill.

with a plastic membrane (Martin Gonzalo Dam), and the
other with a bituminous concrete membrane (Scotts Peak
Dam). There are also 11 cases involving leakages through
the concrete face in the dam incident database, but these are
classified as seepage accidents because they did not involve
piping of materials. An upper bound average frequency of
failure of <1.0 × 10–3, as shown in Table 5, for concrete face
rockfill dams is selected on the basis that the frequency of
failure would be expected to be lower than those of any of
the other dam zoning categories due to the effect of the
rockfill zone.
(8) Puddle clay core dams have relatively high average
frequencies of failure and accidents due to piping through
the embankment. Of the four failures of large dams, three
are early British dams constructed before 1865 and in each
case failure was attributed to piping of puddle core materials
into permeable shoulder fill following hydraulic fracturing
of the thin puddle cores. After the failure of Dale Dyke in
1864, nearly all puddle core dams constructed in the United
Kingdom used zoning of materials against the puddle clay
core (Skempton 1990). However, it is evident from the acci-
dents that problems still persisted even after this period, but
they generally did not lead to failure of the dam. Deteriora-
tion of the dams appears to have been a factor in many of
the accident cases, with more than half of the piping acci-
dents occurring after 50 years of operation. Failure of the
5 m high Clandeboye Dam, which occurred after 80 years of
operation, was attributed to collapse of a wooden conduit
that passed through the embankment. The majority of the ac-
cidents to puddle core dams involved either piping of thin
puddle cores into the shoulder fill or piping of fill materials
into cracks in old masonry conduits passing through the
dam. At Yan Yean Dam in Australia, a leak developed
through the puddle core after 92 years of operation due to
the presence of tree roots in the embankment.
(9) Hydraulic fill dams have a low incidence of piping
through the embankment, with no recorded failures and only
4% (three cases) of the accidents to large dams, but the pop-
ulation of these dams is small (less than 1% of the total pop-
ulation). An average frequency of failure of <1.0 × 10–3 is
suggested for hydraulic fill dams on the basis that the hy-
draulic filling process would tend to give good zoning of
materials similar to that of zoned earthfill dams.
(10) Only two dams, Zoeknog and Ghattara, are known to
have failed by piping through the embankment despite an
embankment filter being present. Both were earthfill dams
with a chimney filter, and in each case failure was attributed
to piping through dispersive backfill materials around the
outlet conduit. It is evident from the descriptions of these
cases that no filters were present to protect against piping
through the backfill material of the outlet conduit. Approxi-
mately 30% of accidents involving piping through the em-
bankment occurred in dams with no embankment filters. In
21 of the 31 accidents where embankment filters were pres-
ent, the initiation of piping was due to coarse or segregated
filters being placed adjacent to broadly graded core materials
(generally of glacial origin).
(11) About half of all piping failures and a quarter of acci-
dents through the embankment are associated with the pres-
ence of conduits. Conduits influence the likelihood of piping
because they can increase the likelihood of initiation (partic-
ularly if there is poor compaction of the soil around the con-
duit) and progression (by providing a wall for the pipe to
form against). A review of the case data shows that virtually
all failures for which there are data occurred where poor
compaction was a contributing factor. Erosion into the con-
duit was a common cause of accidents but is not by itself
likely to lead to failure.
Core material properties
Geological origin
The statistics of failures and accidents for dams with dif-
ferent geological origin of the core material and for zoning
which gives good and poor control of erosion are shown in
Table 6. By comparing the percentage of failures and acci-
dents to the percentage of the population, one can assess
whether the geological origin of the core has any influence
on the incidence of piping.

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Foster et al. 1009

Table 7. Statistics of compaction of the core for the dams experiencing piping incidents.
No. of cases in the piping % of % of % of total
incidents piping piping population
Method of compaction Failures Accidents failures accidents of dams
No formal compaction 11 8 38 17 8
Rolled, modest control 13 25 45 52 32
Rolled, good control 5 15 17 31 60
Unknown 17 35
Total (where known) 29 48 100 100 100

Table 8. Summary of data relating piping incidents to internal erosion control and compaction of the core material.

Class of dams % of piping failures % of the population

All dams (excluding hydraulic fill and puddle core)
Well compacted 38 60
No or poor compaction 62 40
Dams with limited internal erosion control
Well compacted 24 60
No or poor compaction 76 40
Note: Dam types with limited zoning are homogeneous earthfill, earthfill with foundation filter only, and earthfill with rock toe.

It is evident that dams with core materials of glacial origin
have experienced more piping accidents (i.e., initiation of
piping) than those built from other materials but have experi-
enced fewer failures. The erodibility of some glacial soils
has been shown by pinhole tests (Ravaska 1997) to be simi-
lar to that of highly dispersive clays (category D1). It is pos-
sible that these glacial soils are more erodible because their
fine silt and clay size fractions are finely ground rock, rather
than more common clay minerals. The piping accidents in-
volving glacial core materials have mostly occurred in dams
where embankment filters were present. Review of these
cases indicates problems have been attributed to the use of
coarse or segregated filters adjacent to the broadly graded
glacial core materials in central core earth and rockfill dams.
Failures involving piping of glacial core materials have only
occurred where no filters were present.
Dams with core materials of alluvial origin have experi-
enced more than the average number of piping failures but
an average number of piping accidents. In all but one of the
nine failure cases involving alluvial soils, low-plasticity silts
(ML) or silty and clayey sands (SM, SC) were present.
Dams constructed of residual soils experience an average
number of piping failures. However, in three of the 10 piping
failures, the residual soils were dispersive, and therefore the
frequency of piping failures in nondispersive residual soils
tends to be less than the average.
Dams constructed of dispersive clays are particularly sus-
ceptible to piping failures. Dispersive clays are recorded as
present in 18% (nine out of 51 cases) of the piping failures.
However, the actual proportion is likely to be higher, as the
majority of piping failures occurred prior to knowledge of
the nature of dispersive clays. All nine of the piping failures
where dispersive clays were known to be present occurred
on first (and usually rapid) filling of the reservoir. In six of
the cases, piping occurred around conduits or adjacent to
spillways. In one spectacular case, La Escondida Dam, 50
independent piping tunnels and eight breaches formed
through the dam on first filling.
Compaction of the core material
Tables 7 and 8 present the statistics of the incidence of
piping related to the compaction of the core material. The
piping incidents for hydraulic fill or puddle dams are not
considered in the analysis because these forms of compac-
tion are directly related to the zoning of the dams, which is
analysed separately.
It is concluded that dams with no or poor compaction of
the core material experience many more piping incidents
than the average, and those with good compaction somewhat
less than the average. Dams with limited control of erosion
through the dam and with no formal compaction are more
likely to fail than experience accidents.

Factors affecting the frequency of incidents

Unified Soil Classification and dispersivity
The relationship between the classification of the embank-
ment core materials and the incidence of piping through the
embankment was analysed. Dams constructed of low-
plasticity silts (ML) experienced more piping failures than
average, those constructed of low-plasticity clays (CL) mar-
ginally less failures than average, and those constructed of
high-plasticity clays marginally less incidents than average,
but if dispersive soils are excluded dams experienced much
fewer incidents than average.
of piping through the foundation
Incidents are classified as piping through the foundation
where they involved any type of internal erosion process oc-
curring primarily through the foundation of the dam. The in-
cidents have been classified into categories depending on the
nature of the internal erosion as shown in Table 9. The ratio
of the number of accidents to the number of failures by pip-
ing through the foundation (77 accidents to 19 failures) is
significantly higher than that for piping through the embankment,

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1010 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 9. Incidence of piping through the foundation.

Type of piping No. of failures No. of accidents
Piping through soil foundation
Dam foundation 7 16
Abutment 1 10
Reservoir foundation 1 3
Subtotal 9 (43) 29 (34)
Piping foundation soil into foundation rock
Dam foundation 0 5
Reservoir foundation 0 1
Subtotal 0 (0) 6 (7)
Piping through rock foundation 6 (28) 7 (8)
Piping spillway foundation 1 (5) 10 (12)
Piping foundation soil into relief wells – toe drains 0 (0) 9 (11)
Sand boils in foundation 0 (0) 22 (26)
Unknown 5 (24) 2 (2)
Total 21 (100) 85 (100)
Note: Percentages are given in parentheses.

Table 10. Average frequency of failure due to piping through the foundation by dam zoning types for large dams up to 1986.
Average annual frequency of
Average Average failure (×10–3)
No. of No. of frequency of frequency of First 5 years After 5 years
Zoning category failures accidents failure (×10–3) accident (×10–3) of operation of operation
Homogeneous earthfill 2 9 3.0 11.2 447 25
Earthfill with filter 0 5 3.9
Earthfill with rock toe 3 2 7.0 3.9 1044 88
Zoned earthfill 1 14 0.4 4.6 59 6
Zoned earth and rockfill 0 6 7.6
Central core earth and rockfill 0 7 9.8
Concrete (or other) face earthfill 3 2 10.4 5.8 1553 105
Concrete (or other) face rockfill 0 0
Puddle core earthfill 0 0
Concrete corewall, earthfill 2 1 11.8 4.9 1768 68
Concrete corewall, rockfill 0 0
Hydraulic fill 1 7 15.7 91.8 2358 61
Unknown 7 17
All dams 19 70 1.7 6.2 255 19
Note: The percentage of failures by piping through the embankment occurring at the different times after construction are as follows: 25% during first
filling, 50% during first 5 years of operation, and 25% after 5 year of operation. Calculations of annual frequencies of failure are made as follows: annual
frequency of failure (all years) = (average frequency of failure)/(average age), annual frequency of failure (first 5 years) = –(average frequency of
failure)0.75/5, and annual frequency of failure (after 5 years) = (average frequency of failure)0.25/(average age – 5).

suggesting that this mode of piping is less likely to progress
from the initiation stage of piping to breaching of the dam.
Self-healing of the piping processes by collapse of the pipe,
or self-limitation by the finite width of open joints in the
case of rock foundations, may partly explain the relatively
low number of failures by this mode of piping.
Dam zoning
Table 10 shows the statistics of failures and accidents by
piping through the foundation for each of the zoning catego-
ries and for all embankment dams combined. The low num-
ber of failure cases for foundation piping makes
comparisons between the dam zoning categories somewhat
doubtful, but the dam zoning categories with above-average
frequencies of failure are homogeneous earthfill, earthfill
with rock toe, concrete face earthfill, earthfill with corewall,
and hydraulic fill. These zoning categories would be ex-
pected to have relatively poor control of seepage and pore
pressures within the downstream foundation, and therefore it
is concluded that the zoning of the dam does appear to have
some influence on the frequency of failure by foundation
piping. The high incidence of piping failures for these zon-
ing categories is not reflected in the accidents, so it is likely
the poor zoning of these dams contributes to the progres-
sion of piping. However, as discussed in the following sec-
tions, it is evident from the failures that other factors such as
the type of cutoff and foundation geology are more influen-
tial.
The significant proportion of rockfill dams in the founda-
tion piping accidents (25%) but not in the failures suggests

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Foster et al. 1011

Fig. 3. Foundation cutoff categories: (a) partially penetrating cutoff where cutoff does not extend to bedrock; (b) fully penetrating cut-
off where cutoff extends to bedrock.

Table 11. Presence of foundation filters in piping through foun- etrating. Here cutoff has been taken as cutoff trenches and
dation accident and failure cases. other cutoff types such as cutoff walls as shown in Fig. 3.
The number of foundation piping incidents in which the two
Presence of foundation filter No. of failures No. of accidents general types of foundation cutoff were present is listed in
No foundation filter 13 33 Table 12.
One foundation filter 1 23 The presence of grouting does not appear to have had a
Two foundation filters 0 2 significant influence in reducing the likelihood of initiation
Unknown 7 27 of piping through rock foundations or piping of foundation
Total 21 85 soils into foundation rock, with grouting carried out in ap-
proximately 50% of the incidents. There are five accidents
the high seepage gradients allow initiation of piping, but the where piping occurred through the soil foundation despite
rockfill prevents progression of piping to breaching. fully penetrating cutoffs being present. In these, foundation
erosion occurred through fractured foundation rock below
Foundation filters the cutoff (in two cases), due to an improper seal between
The effect of the presence of foundation filters is summa- the cutoff wall and bedrock (in one case), or due to seepage
rised in Table 11. Comparison with the population suggests through the abutment under the cutoff (in two cases).
they are important in preventing failures but not accidents.
Foundation geology
Foundation cutoff
Foundation cutoff descriptors and other cutoff types used Piping in soil foundations
in the ERDATA1 classification system have been simplified Foundation soil geology types that were involved in inci-
for analysis of the foundation piping incidents into two dents of piping through soil foundations are shown in
broad categories, namely partially penetrating and fully pen- Table 13 with the distribution of foundation geology types
Table 12. Incidence of piping through the foundation related to foundation cutoff types.
No. of failures No. of accidents
Partially Fully Partially Fully
penetrating penetrating penetrating penetrating
Type of piping cutoff cutoff cutoff cutoff
Piping through soil foundation 9 0 23 5
Piping of foundation soil into rock 0 0 1 5
Piping through rock foundation 1 4 0 7
Foundation sand boils 0 0 14 5
Piping of foundation soil into drainage systems 0 0 7 2
Piping in spillway foundation 0 0 5 1
Unknown 1 0 0 0
Total 11 4 50 25
% of piping incidents 73 27 67 33
% of population 15 85 15 85

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1012 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 13. Soil geology types involved in foundation piping inci- Table 14. Statistics of failures and accidents for piping from the
dents. embankment into the foundation for large dams up to 1986.
No. of No. of Population Average annual
Soil geology type failures accidents (%) frequency
Alluvial 5 (50) 10 (32) 56 Average First 5 After 5
Glacial 1 (10) 9 (29) 19 Number frequency years years
Aeolian 0 (0) 3 (10) 6 Failures 2 1.8×10–4 1.9×10–5 3.9×10–6
Colluvial 0 (0) 5 (16) 7 Incidents 22 2.1×10–3 2.3×10–4 4.6×10–5
Lacustrine 0 (0) 2 (6) 3 (accidents and
Residual 3 (30) 1 (3) 8 failures)
Volcanic 1 (10) 1 (3) <1
Unknown 0 2 —
Total no. of incidents 10 (100) 29 (100) 100 Table 15. Characteristics of foundation cutoff for incidents of
Note: Percentages are given in parentheses. Where incidents have piping from the embankments into rock foundations.
involved piping of more than one soil geology type, all the soil types
have been counted (percentages are relative to the total number of soils, Cutoff No. of No. of % of piping % of
where known). Percentages of the population are for the following characteristics accidents failures incidents population
selected group of countries only: United States, India, Canada, Australia, Cutoff, shallow 9 2 52 66
and New Zealand.
Trench, deep 9 1 48 34
Descriptor, 6 0
for the selected group of countries in the embankment dam unknown
population. Grouting
The data suggest dams founded on glacial and colluvial No grouting 12 2 54 42
soils are more likely to experience piping accidents than Grouting 9 1 46 58
other dams but less likely to experience piping failures. Unknown 3 0
Therefore it appears that these soils are more susceptible to Total 24 3
the initiation of piping, but the soil properties and structure
give them good self-healing characteristics or a high likeli-
hood of collapse of the pipes, so the progression of piping is latter case, vertical fractures, with joint openings 50–300 mm
less likely when compared to other soils. wide, were present in the foundation sandstone in the abut-
Table 13 also suggests dams with residual soils in the ments of the dam.
foundation are more likely to experience piping failures than
the average. However, there are limited data, and in two of
the three failures involving piping of residual soils, namely Factors affecting the frequency of incidents
Baldwin Hills Reservoir and Laguna Dam, the residual soils of piping from the embankment into the
were dispersive. Residual soils are not common in the piping foundation
accidents. Therefore dams with residual soils present in the
foundation are less likely to experience piping incidents in Incidents have been classified as piping from the embank-
the foundation unless the soils are dispersive. ment into the foundation in the cases where embankment
materials, including the cutoff trench fill, have been eroded
Piping in rock foundations into the foundation of the dam due to seepage through the
Not unexpectedly, dams constructed on limestone rock foundation or embankment. Table 14 summarises the statis-
foundations appear to be particularly susceptible to piping tics of failures and accidents for piping from the embank-
incidents. Review of the accident and failure cases with ment to the foundation. There are insufficient failure cases
limestone foundations shows that seven of the eight cases in- (four in total) for this type of piping to assess the signifi-
volved piping through infilled solution channels, joints, or cance of the various factors on failures alone, so the analysis
karstic cavities in the limestone. The other incidents were in uses failures and accidents and is likely to identify the fac-
sandstone (one failure) and shale (one failure, one accident). tors that have the most influence on the frequency of initia-
tion of piping.
Piping of foundation soil into foundation rock The statistics given in Table 15 may underestimate the ac-
Foundation soils were piped into granite rock in three of tual frequencies of piping from the embankment into the
the five incident cases involving piping of foundation soil foundation. All of the failure cases for this mode of failure
into foundation rock. These three cases occurred in glaciated occurred after 1976, and it is likely that failures occurring
valleys. Stress-relief effects on granite rocks due to glaci- prior to this were classified by the investigators of the fail-
ation may have contributed to fracturing of the bedrock in ures as piping through the embankment or foundation. The
these cases. These are described in Fell et al. (1992) and dis- well-investigated and well-publicised case of Teton Dam
cussed further in this paper in relation to piping of embank- failure in 1976 highlighted this mode of piping as a possible
ment soils into rock foundations. In the other two cases, the mode of piping for other failures occurring after 1976.
foundation soils were piped into a karstic limestone founda- Piping of embankment materials into rock foundations is
tion (at Walter F. George Lock Dam) and into open fractured more common (24 accidents, three failures) than piping into
sandstone (at Bad Axe Watershed Structure No. 33). In the soil foundations (seven accidents, one failure), possibly

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Foster et al.
Table 16. Foundation rock into which core material piped.
No. of
Foundation rock failures
Sandstone
1 6
Sandstone and shale
Sandstone and limestone
Limestone
Granite
Quartzite
Schist
Tuff 1 4
Basalt
Unknown 1 4
* For sandstone.
because of the presence of continuous, open joints in some
rock foundations. It is also likely to be easier to identify than
piping into soils.
Dam zoning
The analysis of incidents shows that dam zoning has little
influence on the initiation of piping. However, it would be
expected that dams with good downstream discharge capac-
ity, e.g., free-draining rockfill, would be less likely to prog-
ress to breach compared with dams with downstream zones
with poor discharge capacity (e.g., zoned earthfill with silty
sandy gravel in the downstream zone).
Foundation filters
Foundation filters were present in six of the 31 accidents
and one of the four failures. In two of the accidents with
foundation filters, the accident was partly attributed to the
presence of coarse filters. All cases where foundation filters
were present involved piping into rock foundations, so it ap-
pears the seepage bypassed the filters, or the filters were
washed into the joints.
Foundation cutoff
All accidents and failures involving piping of embank-
ment materials into rock foundations have fully penetrating
cutoff trenches to and into rock. The characteristics of the
foundation cutoff present in these incidents are summarised
in Table 15. The presence of deep, narrow cutoff trenches
and poorly treated open joints were believed to have been
important contributing factors in the failure of Teton Dam
and in accidents involving six puddle core dams. In all of
these cases, it was considered highly likely that hydraulic
fracturing within the cutoff trenches had contributed to the
initiation of piping. Even without fracturing, the gradients
are often high. These conditions can also make compaction
of the earthfill materials difficult and thereby potentially give
areas of poorly compacted earthfill materials against the
foundation.
The majority of incidents involving piping from the em-
bankment into soil foundations have occurred in dams with
partially penetrating cutoff trenches with no other cutoff
present. Two accidents with fully penetrating cutoff trenches
involved puddle core earthfill dams with deep and narrow
trenches.
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1013
No. of % of failures % in
accidents and accidents population
3 14 
 21*
33 
2 9 
3 14 7
3 14 7
1 4 3
1 4 7
2
1 4 5
Erosion control at the core–foundation contact
Erosion-control measures, in the form of either concrete
covering or filter protection, at the embankment–foundation
contact are present in only two of the incidents involving
piping from the embankment into the foundation. Both of
these are accidents involving piping into fractured bedrock.
At Brodhead Dam, glacial core materials were eroded into a
coarse foundation blanket layer which covered an area of
highly weathered and fractured shale bedrock. At Hallby
Dam, glacial core materials were eroded into granite bed-
rock despite the presence of foundation treatment in the
form of sealing of cracks and partial covering with concrete
slabs. The cause of this incident was attributed to the flush-
ing out of montmorillonitic clay material in the open joints
of the granite bedrock.
Foundation geology
Table 16 presents the geology of the rock foundations into
which piping occurred. Interbedded sandstone and shale
foundations are relatively common in the incidents involving
piping into rock foundations. It is known that the presence
of interbedded layers of sandstone and shale can give rise to
open joints due to stress-relief effects, as described in Fell et
al. (1992). All six of the incident descriptions involving pip-
ing into interbedded sandstone and shale foundations noted
the fractured nature of the bedrock and the presence of open
joints. At Fontenelle Dam, open stress-relief joints in the
abutment were up to 300 mm wide, and at Cowm Dam very
wide (estimated to be at least 0.5 m), open stress-relief joints
are visible in the construction photographs of the foundation
bedrock. Piping of embankment materials into limestone
foundations was also relatively common. In two of the cases,
Wolf Creek Dam and Apa Dam, embankment materials were
piped into solution channels in the limestone foundation. At
Taibilla Dam, core materials were piped into open joints, up
to 100 mm wide, in the limestone foundation.
At least 10 of the 24 accidents involving piping into rock
foundations occurred in geological environments previously
affected by glaciation. The presence of highly fractured bed-
rock and open joints is noted in all 10 of these cases. Fell et
al. (1992) describe the open fractured nature of bedrock be-
neath glacial deposits at several sites. The formation of these
features is attributed to the effects of stress relief or
glacitectonic thrusting. The four accidents involving granite
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1014 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 17. Statistics of failures and accidents for downstream slides on large dams up to 1986.

No. of Average Average annual frequency

Category cases frequency First 5 years After 5 years
Failures 6 5.4×10–4 4×10–5 1.5×10–5
Incidents (failures and accidents) 59 5.3×10–3 5.2×10–4 1.2×10–4
Incidents in operation 50 4.4×10–3 4.4×10–4 1.0×10–4

Table 18. Incidence of downstream slide type and dam zoning (failure and accident cases combined).
Embankment
Zoning type Sloughing Embankment and foundation Unknown
Homogeneous earthfill 5 (1) 12 6 (1) 3 (2)
Earthfill with filter 1 4 4 0
Earthfill with rock toe 1 3 0 0
Zoned earthfill 1 2 3 0
Zoned earthfill and rockfill 1 (1) 0 0 0
Central core earth and rockfill 1 (1) 0 2 0
Concrete face earthfill 0 0 0 0
Concrete face rockfill 0 0 0 0
Puddle core earthfill 0 1 3 0
Earthfill with concrete corewall 1 4 0 0
Rockfill with concrete corewall 0 0 0 0
Hydraulic fill 3 (1) 2 0 1 (1)
Other 0 1 0 1 (1)
Unknown 0 5 (1) 0 2 (1)
Total 14 (4) 34 (1) 18 (1) 7 (5)
Note: Values in parentheses are the number of failure cases.

foundations were in geological environments that had been
affected by glaciation. The presence of horizontal stress-
relief joints in the granite bedrock was found to be the cause
of the piping incident at Churchill Falls GJ-11A Dyke.
The three soil foundation types present in piping into soil
foundation, namely glacial (four accidents), colluvial (three
accidents), and alluvial (four accidents), are all characterised
by the potential for great variability, high permeability, and a
large range in grain sizes. In two of the accidents, the pres-
ence of “open-work” gravel layers in the foundation was
noted. Soil foundations of glacial and colluvial origin appear
to be overrepresented, which is not surprising because they
often have cobbles and boulders with large voids.
Embankment core characteristics
The effects of the geological origin, Unified Soil Classifi-
cation, and compaction on the frequency of piping incidents
are similar to those for piping through the embankment.
Factors affecting the frequency of incidents
of downstream sliding
Incidents have been classified as downstream slides where
the incident has involved any form of sliding movement of
the downstream slope of the dam. Dams which have shown
signs of incipient sliding of the downstream slope have also
been included. Downstream slides that have occurred to
dams during construction have been classified as accidents
unless they have resulted in uncontrolled release of reservoir
water. This is consistent with the definition used in the
ICOLD (1995) study.
The downstream slide incidents have been classified ac-
cording to the location and type of sliding movement. These
are sloughing (progressive sliding of the downstream slope
due to seepage through the embankment), through the em-
bankment (slide surface passes through the embankment
only), and through the embankment and foundation (base of
slide surface passes through the foundation).
Table 17 summarises the statistics of failures and acci-
dents for downstream slides. The fact that there are rela-
tively many accidents compared to failures may reflect the
fact that movement usually occurs slowly, giving warning of
a slope-instability problem and allowing remedial action or
drawing down of the reservoir, or the slide is simply too
shallow to directly release the reservoir.
Dam zoning and type of sliding
Table 18 summarises the types of sliding and how these
relate to the dam zoning. There are very few failures in total,
and of these only one (Utica Dam) involved failure through
the embankment, and one (Fruitgrowers Dam) failure
through the foundation. As might be expected, the type of
embankment zoning appears to have a significant influence
on the frequency of initiation of sliding of the downstream
slope. Dam zoning types with poor control of pore pressures
and seepage within the dam and foundation, such as homo-
geneous earthfill, earthfill with foundation filter only,
earthfill with rock toe, and earthfill with concrete corewall
dams, all have average frequencies of initiation of sliding
greater than the average of all the dams combined. The
overrepresentation of puddle core earthfill, earthfill with
concrete corewall, and hydraulic fill dams in the slide

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Foster et al.
Table 19. Summary of data relating downstream slide incidents to the method of compaction of the
core material.
No. of
rotational-type
Compaction of core materials slides
Hydraulic fill 2 3
Puddle 6 0
No formal compaction 10
Rolled, modest control 8 2
Rolled, good control 7 0
Unknown 19
Total no. of slide incidents 52
Total no. of incidents (where known) 33
incidents may also be a reflection of the lower standards of
design and construction (particularly the lack of compaction
by rollers) of these older dams compared with more modern
dam types. Dam types which inherently have relatively good
control of pore pressures and high, reliable shear strength in
the downstream zone, such as zoned earthfill, zoned earth
and rockfill, central core earth and rockfill, and concrete
face rockfill, tend to have a relatively low frequency of
downstream slide incidents compared with the dam popula-
tion.
There is a recorded case of a failure of a recently con-
structed concrete face rockfill dam, Gouhou Dam, which is
believed to have failed by sliding of the downstream slope.
The incident is not included in the analysis because dams in
China are excluded from the accident and failure statistics in
this study. The cause of the failure is attributed to leakage
through the poorly constructed connection between the crest
wave wall and the concrete face which led to saturation of
the gravel fill downstream slope and probable sliding. Poor
zoning of the sandy gravel fill forming the body of the dam
is believed to have been a major contributing cause of the
failure.
Foundation geology
The relationship of downstream sliding incidents to foun-
dation geology has been assessed and shows that sliding
through the foundation has occurred mainly on soil founda-
tions (16 out of 18 cases). Sliding through rock has only
been noted in two cases. The type of rock, or origin of the
soil, has little influence, but the presence of high-plasticity
clays in the foundation does seem important, with these be-
ing present in 12 of the 18 incidents involving sliding
through the foundation. High-plasticity clays are generally
characterised by relatively low shear strength and, probably
more importantly, a large reduction from peak to residual
shear strength. The presence of fissured high-plasticity clays
was noted in two of the incidents involving sliding through
the foundation.
The presence of soft sedimentary rocks and residual soils
of sedimentary origin in the foundation appears to be a com-
mon feature of both upstream and downstream slide inci-
dents where sliding has occurred through the foundation;
40% of upstream and downstream foundation slides com-
bined (i.e., 14 out of 35 cases) involved sliding through
these materials. The presence of low-strength bedding fea-
tures such as surface bedding shears in this geological envi-
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1015
No. of
sloughing-type % of % of
slides incidents population
— —
— —
6 48 8
30 32
21 60
3 — —
14 — —
11 100 100
ronment, particularly in interbedded sandstone and shales,
may explain why foundation slide incidents are so common.
Embankment core characteristics
Geological origin
The geological origin of the core material appears to have
some influence on the frequency of slide incidents, with
cores of lacustrine origin more susceptible, cores of glacial
origin less susceptible, and cores of residual and alluvial
soils neutral. Sloughing incidents are more likely with soils
of alluvial and glacial origin, and rotational slides are more
likely to occur in cores built of residual, glacial, and lacus-
trine soils.
Unified Soil Classification
Dams embankments comprised of high-plasticity materials
are much more likely than average to experience rotational-
type slide incidents. Half of the high-plasticity core materi-
als were of either glacial or lacustrine origin, with the other
half unknown. No cases of sloughing-type incidents are
known to have occurred in dams with high-plasticity materi-
als. Dams with embankment materials of low-plasticity clays
and silts (CL, ML) are also more likely to experience slide
incidents by both rotational- and sloughing-type slides. Ap-
proximately 70% of the cases with low-plasticity core mate-
rials are of either residual or alluvial origin.
Embankment core materials comprised of clayey or silty
sands and gravels (SC, SM, GC, GM) are shown to be less
likely to experience slide incidents. The lower proportion of
sandy materials in the embankment core materials of the
slide incidents is probably indicative of the higher shear
strength of these materials compared to the more clayey core
materials. They may be generally more permeable, facilitat-
ing dissipation of pore pressures and giving less chance of
contractive behaviour in poorly rolled material.
Compaction
Table 19 summarises the compaction of dams that have
experienced downstream sliding incidents. Hydraulic fill and
puddle core dams are not included because the core compac-
tion is directly related to the zoning of the dam.
As might be expected, the degree of compaction of the
core materials appears to have a strong influence on the like-
lihood of initiation of sliding. Relatively poor compaction
conditions exist in the majority of the downstream slide
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1016
Table 20. Statistics of failures and accidents for upstream slides on large dams.
No. of
Category cases
Failures 1 9×10–5
Incidents (failures and accidents) 47
incident cases. The ratio of the percentage of incidents to
that of the population suggests dams which have no formal
compaction of the core materials are about seven times more
likely to experience slides than the average and about 25
times more likely than dams with good compaction of the
core. Poorly compacted core materials would be expected to
have considerably lower shear strengths and be more perme-
able compared with materials with poorly compacted clays.
The increased permeability of poorly compacted soils can
potentially allow wetting and softening of the core materials
and failure in undrained loading. Slides through the founda-
tion appear to be less influenced by the degree of compac-
tion of the embankment.
Factors affecting the frequency of incidents
of upstream sliding
Incidents have been classified as upstream slides where
the incident has involved any form of sliding of the upstream
slope of the dam. The upstream slide incidents have been
classified according to the location and type of sliding move-
ment in the same way as that for downstream slides. In addi-
tion, upstream slide types have been classified according to
whether or not the slide was initiated by a drawdown of the
reservoir.
Table 20 summarises the statistics of failures and acci-
dents for upstream slides. There is only one large embank-
ment dam that is known to have failed (i.e., breached) due to
sliding of the upstream slope. The incident description of
Kaila Dam (ICOLD 1974) describes settlement and piping
around the conduit giving rise to “the slip of the entire up-
stream bank up to the corewall.” It has been assumed the in-
cident at Kaila Dam is a failure (i.e., was breached), which
is consistent with the classification given by both ICOLD
(1974) and ICOLD (1995).
The average frequency of failure occurring once sliding of
the upstream slope has initiated is one failure out of 46
cases, giving a ratio of approximately 2%. This is five times
lower than that for downstream slides. This is considered to
be an upper bound, as one might expect that a large number
of upstream sliding accident cases have not been reported in
the ICOLD studies or in the literature and the failure of
Kaila Dam might just as well be classified as a piping fail-
ure.
A total of 57% of all the upstream slide incidents were
initiated by a drawdown of the reservoir. The one failure
case does not appear to be a drawdown slide. Of the 19 inci-
dent cases which are not drawdown slides, 10 occurred dur-
ing construction prior to reservoir filling. Therefore, 73% of
upstream slides which occurred in operation (i.e., excluding
construction slides) were initiated by drawdown of the reser-
voir. This helps explain why so few upstream slides have
caused breaches: the water level in the reservoir is low, so
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Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000
Average Average annual probability
frequency First 5 years After 5 years
3×10–6 all years
4.2×10–3 4.1×10–4 1.0×10–4
Table 21. Incidence of upstream slide incidents.
No. of No. of
Type of slide failures accidents
Sloughing 0 1
Through embankment only 0 26
Through embankment and foundation 0 17
Unknown 1 2
Total 1 46
freeboard is large. The number of cases for each of the three
different types of downstream slides are listed for the acci-
dent and failure cases in Table 21.
Sloughing-type slides are relatively uncommon in up-
stream slide incidents, with only one accident to Holmes
Creek Dam, which was constructed of very uniform, fine,
cohesionless sand. In this case, progressive sloughing of the
upstream face was initiated by an explosion and within 5 h
the sloughing had cut 9 m into the crest of the dam (Sherard
1953).
Dam zoning and type of sliding
An analysis of the relationship of dam zoning to upstream
slides shows the following embankment dam zoning catego-
ries which have average frequencies of initiation of upstream
slides higher than or similar to the average of all dams com-
bined and the approximate ratios of the average frequencies
of the dam zoning categories to the average frequency of all
dams (for example, homogeneous earthfill dams are about
three times more likely to experience upstream slides than
all dams combined): homogeneous earthfill 3×, earthfill with
rock toe 1×, concrete face earthfill 1.5×, puddle core earthfill
2×, earthfill with concrete corewall 2.5×, and hydraulic fill
12×. All of these dam zoning types generally have earthfill
material in the upstream slope, making them more suscepti-
ble to upstream slides under drawdown conditions. The older
dams are also likely to have been poorly compacted.
All of the dams with rockfill zoning have a low incidence
of upstream slide incidents. This is related to the relatively
high shear strength and high permeability of rockfill materi-
als. Only one of these three incidents was initiated by
drawdown of the reservoir (old Eildon Dam), which was a
concrete corewall dam with an earthfill core and rockfill
shoulders. The other two cases were a construction slide of a
central core earth and rockfill dam founded on “soft fat”
clays (Clendening Dam) and an upstream slide initiated by
an earthquake (La Calera Dam).
Zoned earthfill dams are less likely to experience up-
stream slide incidents than the population of dams by a fac-
tor of approximately 0.5. The majority of upstream slide
incidents to zoned earthfill dams have been foundation
slides, making up six of the nine incidents to this dam type.
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Foster et al. 1017

Table 22. Summary of the factors influencing the frequency of failure by piping through the embankment.
General factors influencing frequency of failure
Factor Much more likely More likely Neutral Less likely Much less likely
Zoning Homogeneous earthfill, Concrete face Earthfill with Earthfill with Central core earth
earthfill with rock earthfill concrete corewall, filter, zoned and rockfill;
toe, puddle core hydraulic fill earthfill, concrete face
earthfill zoned earth rockfill; rockfill
and rockfill with concrete
corewall
Embankment filters No embankment Embankment filter
filter present
Core geological Alluvial Aeolian, colluvial Residual, lacustrine, Glacial
origin marine, volcanic
Core soil type Dispersive clays; low- Clayey and silty Well-graded and Clayey and High-plasticity clays
plasticity silts (ML); sands (SC, SM) poorly graded silty gravels (CH)
poorly graded and gravels (GW, (GC, GM);
well-graded sands GP); high-plastic- low-plasticity
(SP, SW) ity silts (MH) clays (CL)
Compaction No formal compaction Rolled, modest Puddle, hydraulic Rolled, good control
control fill
Conduits and other Conduit through the Irregularities in No conduit through
locations of piping embankment foundation or the embankment
abutment, steep
abutments

Foundation geology
The relationship of upstream sliding to incidents to foun-
dation geology has been assessed and shows that the major-
ity of the foundation slide incidents involve sliding through
soil foundations, making up 13 of the 17 cases. Sliding oc-
curred through rock foundations in only four incidents,
namely at Bear Gulch Dam, where sliding was initiated on
three occasions, and at Fort Peck Dam.
Embankment core characteristics
The relationship between geological origin and compac-
tion of the materials and incidence of slides is similar for
both upstream and downstream slides. Dams with core mate-
rials composed of clay materials are more likely to experi-
ence upstream slide incidents than the average. This is
evident for dams with low-plasticity clays (CL), which are
nearly two times more likely to experience slides than the
average. Embankment core materials comprised of clayey or
silty sands and gravels (SC, SM, GC, GM) are less likely to
experience slide incidents by both upstream and downstream
slides. This is probably indicative of the higher shear
strength of these materials compared with the more clayey
core materials.
Summary of the factors affecting the
frequency, timing, and location of piping
and sliding
Factors affecting the frequency of piping and sliding
Tables 22–24 summarise the factors influencing the fre-
quency of piping, and Tables 25 and 26 summarise the fac-
tors affecting the frequency of sliding. These tables have
been prepared from the analysis of the data, but also take ac-
count of general dam engineering principles and the nature
of soil and rock environments. The allocation into the cate-
gories “much more likely,” “more likely,” “neutral,” “less
likely,” and “much less likely” is somewhat judgmental. It is
recognised that some factors may be surrogates for the other,
e.g., the geological environment and soil classification prop-
erties may be linked. However, in some cases, particularly
for older dams, there may be little other than the geological
environment available to assess the dams, so we have in-
cluded both factors.
The analysis of dam zoning, filters, core properties, and
compaction from the dam failure statistics, as described in
the preceding sections, has assessed the factors individually.
An analysis was also carried out to assess what combination
of factors is more likely to lead to piping failure.
Dams which failed generally had several poor characteris-
tics, such as limited zoning, no filters, poor compaction, and
erodible soils. Dams which suffered accidents commonly
had fewer of the poor characteristics and more of the good
characteristics. The results of this simple analysis indicate
that dams which have a combination of several poor charac-
teristics are much more likely to fail by piping than those
with only one or two poor characteristics. As an example,
the presence of dispersive soils in itself may not necessarily
influence the likelihood of failure but is more likely to influ-
ence a dam with poor compaction around a conduit and ho-
mogeneous zoning.
Timing of incidents
The timing of piping incidents is summarised in Ta-
bles 27–29 and Fig. 4. The frequency of piping failures is
significantly higher on first filling and early in the life of the
dam. There does, however, appear to be a trend for older
dams to also experience piping incidents. This may reflect

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1018 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 23. Summary of the factors influencing the frequency of failure by piping through the foundation.
General factors influencing frequency of failure
Factor Much more likely More likely Neutral Less likely Much less likely
Zoning Homogeneous earthfill, Puddle core Earthfill with filter, Zoned earth and
earthfill with rock toe, earthfill zoned earthfill rockfill, central core
concrete face earthfill, earth and rockfill,
earthfill with corewall, concrete face rockfill,
hydraulic fill rockfill with corewall
Filters No foundation filter No foundation Foundation filter(s)
present when required filter present
Foundation type Soil foundation Erodible rock Non-erodible rock
(below cutoff)
Foundation cutoff Shallow or no cutoff Upstream blanket,
(soil foundation) trench partially penetrating
cutoff wall
Foundation cutoff Fully penetrating cutoff Cutoff trench
(rock foundation) wall
Soil geology type Dispersive soils, Residual Aeolian, Alluvial Glacial
(below cutoff) volcanic ash colluvial,
lacustrine,
marine
Rock type Limestone, Tuff, rhyolite, marble, Sandstone, shale, Conglomerate,
(below cutoff) dolomite, quartzite siltstone, andesite, gabbro,
soluble rocks claystone, granite, gneiss,
(gypsum), basalt mudstone, schist, phyllite, slate
hornfels,
agglomerate,
volcanic breccia

Fig. 4. Time after construction of incidents of piping through the embankment.

deterioration or the design and construction of the older
dams.
The time of the incident of piping in the embankment for
each of the dam zoning categories has been analysed for
failures and accidents. The results suggest that the time of
incident for failures may be related to dam zoning. Homoge-
neous earthfill, earthfill with filter, earthfill with rock toe,
and zoned earthfill dams all show a relatively high propor-
tion of failures on first filling, ranging from 50% failures for
homogeneous earthfill dams up to 70–80% for the other
three dam zoning types. Less than 25% of the failures in
concrete face earthfill and puddle core dams occurred on
first filling. For the accidents, less than half of the piping in-
cidents occurred on first filling for most of the dam zoning
categories. Piping accidents of puddle core earthfill dams
tend to occur generally after many years of operation.
The time of sliding incidents is summarised in Tables 30
and 31. An assessment of the different failure types shows
that slides through the foundation tend to occur at an earlier
age than slides through the embankment; 44% of the founda-
tion slides occurred during construction or on first filling
compared with only 15% of embankment slides. Sloughing-
type slides also tend to be more frequent in the early stages.
The potential for preexisting shear surfaces or other weak

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Foster et al. 1019

Table 24. Summary of the factors influencing the frequency of piping accidents and failures from the embankment into the foundation.
General factors influencing frequency of initiation of piping
Factor Much more likely More likely Neutral Less likely Much less likely
Zoning Appears to be Appears to be Appears to be Appears to be Appears to be
independent of independent of independent of independent of independent of
zoning zoning zoning zoning zoning
Filters Appears to be inde- Appears to be inde- Appears to be inde- Appears to be Appears to be
pendent of pendent of pendent of independent of independent of
presence–absence of presence–absence presence–absence presence– presence–
embankment or of embankment of embankment or absence of absence of
foundation filters or foundation foundation filters embankment or embankment or
filters foundation foundation
filters filters
Foundation cutoff Deep and narrow Average cutoff trench Shallow or no
trench cutoff trench width and depth cutoff trench
Foundation type Founding on or Founding on or
partly on rock partly on soil
foundations foundations
Erosion-control No erosion-control No erosion-control Erosion-control
measures of core measures, open measures measures
foundation jointed bedrock, or present
open-work gravels
Grouting of No grouting on Soil foundation only, Rock foundations
foundations rock foundations not applicable grouted
Soil geology type Colluvial Glacial Residual Alluvial, aeolian,
lacustrine,
marine, volcanic
Rock type Sandstone interbedded Dolomite, tuff, Agglomerate, volcanic Sandstone, con- Shale, siltstone,
with shale or lime- quartzite, rhyo- breccia, granite, glomerate mudstone,
stone; limestone, lite, basalt, andesite, gabbro, schist, phyllite, claystone
gypsum marble gneiss slate, hornfels
Core geological Glacial Aeolian, alluvial, col- Residual
origin luvial lacustrine,
marine, volcanic
Core soil type Dispersive clays; low- Clayey and silty Well-graded and Clayey and silty High-plasticity
plasticity silts (ML); sands (SC, SM) poorly graded gravels (GC, clays (CH)
poorly graded and gravels (GW, GP); GM); low-
well-graded sands high-plasticity silts plasticity clays
(SP, SW) (MH)
Core compaction Appears to be inde- Appears to be inde- Appears to be inde- Appears to be Appears to be
pendent of pendent of pendent of independent of independent of
compaction compaction compaction compaction compaction
Foundation Untreated vertical Irregularities in Careful slope Careful slope
treatment faces or overhangs foundation or modification by modification by
in core foundation abutment, steep cutting, filling cutting, filling
abutments with concrete with concrete
Note: The ranking is designed to place those rocks which commonly have open joints, e.g., due to stress relief, as “much more likely” and those with a
low likelihood of open joints as “much less likely.” Some rock types, assumed to occur in large masses, e.g., andesite, sometimes occur as flows, so may
be better in a “much more likely” category in that case.

zones in the foundation of low shear strength may explain
the tendency of foundation slides to initiate at an early age.
The effect of pore pressures generated in high-plasticity
clay foundations during construction may also explain the
tendency of foundation soils to initiate sliding early. In six
of the eight foundation slide incidents that occurred during
construction or on first filling, sliding took place through
high-plasticity and (or) soft clays in the foundation. High-
plasticity and soft clays are generally characterised by low
permeability (giving slow dissipation of pore pressures), low
peak shear strength, and a large reduction in shear strength
from peak to residual once sliding is initiated. These all give
conditions conducive to initiation and progression of sliding.
Location of the initiation of piping
The location where piping originated for the piping
through the embankment and piping from the embankment
to the foundation was noted from the incident descriptions.
The number of cases where piping initiated for the different
types of location for both accidents and failures are plotted

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1020 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 25. Summary of the factors influencing the frequency of downstream slides, accidents and failures.
General factors influencing frequency of initiation of downstream slides
Factor Much more likely More likely Neutral Less likely Much less likely
Zoning Homogeneous Earthfill with rock Earthfill with filter Concrete face Zoned earthfill, zoned
earthfill, earthfill toe earthfill, puddle earth and rockfill,
with corewall, core earthfill central core earth
hydraulic earthfill and rockfill,
concrete face
rockfill, rockfill
with corewall
Foundation type Soil foundations Rock foundations
Geology type High-plasticity clays Residual soils of All other geology
(foundation in foundation, i.e., sedimentary types (due to low
slides) marine, lacustrine origin and “soft” number of founda-
sedimentary rocks tion slide cases)
Core geological Lacustrine Residual, alluvial, Glacial, aeolian
origin colluvial, volcanic
Core soil type High-plasticity clays Low-plasticity silts Clayey sands (SC) Clayey gravels Silty sands and
and silts (for rota- and clays (ML, (GC) gravels (SM, GM)
tional slides) CL)
Core compaction No formal Rolled, modest Puddle, hydraulic Rolled, well Rolled, well
compaction control (accounted for by compacted (for compacted
zoning) foundation (particularly for
slides) embankment slides
and sloughing)

Fig. 5. Piping initiation location of the incidents of piping through the embankment.

in Figs. 5 and 6. The presence of conduits through the em-
bankment and (or) through the trenches in the foundation
has an important influence on the initiation of piping
through the embankment for the reasons discussed earlier.
Other locations where piping has initiated, but much less
frequently than conduits, are at the contact between the em-
bankment and concrete structures such as spillways, over ir-
regularities in the foundation or abutments, and over steep
abutments. These are all locations in the embankment which
are particularly susceptible to hydraulic fracturing and (or)
differential settlement and where difficulties can be experi-
enced with compaction of the core materials.
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Foster et al. 1021

Table 26. Summary of the factors influencing the frequency of initiation of upstream slides, accidents and failures.
General factors influencing frequency of initiation of downstream slides
Much more
Factor likely More likely Neutral Less likely Much less likely
Zoning Homogeneous Concrete face earthfill, Earthfill with rock Earthfill with Zoned earth and
earthfill, puddle core earthfill, toe, rockfill with filter, zoned rockfill, central
hydraulic fill earthfill with corewall earthfill core earth and
corewall rockfill, concrete
face rockfill
Foundation type Soil foundations Rock foundations
Geology type High-plasticity Residual soils of sedi- All other geology
(foundation clays in foun- mentary origin and types (due to
slides) dation (i.e., “soft” sedimentary low number of
marine, rocks foundation slide
lacustrine) cases)
Core geological Glacial, Alluvial Residual, marine, Aeolian, colluvial Glacial
origin lacustrine volcanic
Core soil type Low-plasticity silts and High-plasticity Clayey sands and Silty sands and
clays (ML, CL) clays (CH) gravels (SC, gravels (SM, GM)
GC)
Core compaction No formal Rolled, modest control Puddle, hydraulic Rolled, well Rolled, well
compaction (accounted for compacted (for compacted (for
by zoning) foundation embankment slides
slides) and sloughing)

Fig. 6. Piping initiation location of the incidents of piping from the embankment into the foundation.

Conclusions for approximately half of the failures to large embankment

Overall statistics
The analysis of the dam incidents in the ERDATA1 data-
base has shown that structural modes of failure, i.e., those
involving piping, slope instability, or an earthquake, account
dams. Piping failure account for most of these. The inci-
dence of piping through the embankment is two times higher
than piping through the foundation and 20 times higher than
piping from the embankment into the foundation. Embank-
ment slides account for only 4% of embankment dam
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1022 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 27. Time after construction of incidents of piping through the embankment.

No. of No. of % of cases (where known)

Time of incident after construction failures accidents Failures Accidents
During construction 1 0 2 0
During first filling 24 26 48 26
After first filling and during first 5 years 7 13 14 13
After first 5 years 18 60 36 61
Unknown 1 3 — —
Total no. of piping cases 51 102 100 100

Table 28. Time after construction of incidents of piping through the foundation.

No. of No. of % of cases (where known)

Time of incident after construction failures accidents Failures Accidents
During construction 1 0 5 0
During first filling 4 23 20 30
After first filling and during first 5 years 10 19 50 24
After first 5 years 5 36 25 46
Unknown 1 7 — —
Total no. of piping cases 21 85 100 100

Table 29. Time after construction of incidents of piping from the embankment into the foundation.

No. of No. of % of cases (where known)

Time of incident after construction failures accidents Failures Accidents
During construction 0 0 0 0
During first filling 2 6 50 20
After first filling and during first 5 years 2 8 50 27
After first 5 years 0 16 0 53
Unknown 0 1 — —
Total no. of piping cases 4 31 100 100

Table 30. Time after construction of incidents of downstream slides.

No. of No. of % of cases (where known)

Time of incident after construction failures accidents Failures Accidents
During construction 2 9 18 15
During first filling 2 7 18 11
After first filling and during first 5 years 0 15 0 25
After first 5 years 7 30 64 49
Unknown 0 1 — —
Total no. of incidents 11 62 100 100

Table 31. Time after construction of incidents of upstream slides.

No. of No. of % of incident
Time of incident after construction failures accidents cases
During construction 0 10 21
During first filling 0 1 2
After first filling and during first 5 years 1 12 28
After first 5 years 0 23 49
Unknown 0 0 —
Total no. of incidents 1 46 100

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Foster et al.
failures. Upstream slide failures are uncommon, with only
one known failure of a large embankment dam. The fre-
quency of failures for embankment dams constructed prior
to 1950 is about seven times higher than that for dams con-
structed after 1950.
Piping and slope instability
The detailed analysis shows the embankment zoning has
an important influence on the frequency of initiation of pip-
ing and slope instability, with the exception of piping from
the embankment into the foundation. Dams with poor con-
trol of seepage and pore pressures in the embankment and
foundation have generally experienced more problems asso-
ciated with piping and slope instability compared with other
dam types. The dam types with these characteristics are ho-
mogeneous earthfill, earthfill with filter, particularly with
only foundation filter, earthfill with rock toe, concrete face
earthfill, earthfill with concrete corewall, and puddle core
earthfill.
Dams with downstream rockfill zones have a low fre-
quency of failure by all piping modes of failure but a high
proportion of piping accidents, suggesting that piping is less
likely to progress to breaching in rockfill dams than in dam
types with downstream zones of earthfill. This is attributed
to the inherent stability of the downstream rockfill zone un-
der large seepage flows.
From the results of this analysis, the type of geological
environment does not seem to have as strong an influence on
the frequency of failure by piping and slope instability as
one might expect. This may be due in part to the low num-
ber of incidents occurring in the foundation, making com-
parisons to the geology types in the dam population
inconclusive. However, dams in glacial geological environ-
ments appear to be susceptible to piping accidents. Dams
constructed of or founded on glacial soils are more likely to
experience piping through the embankment or through the
foundation, respectively. Dams founded on rock which have
been affected by glaciation appear to be more likely to expe-
rience piping from the embankment into the foundation.
A disproportionate number of the failures by piping oc-
curred on first filling, and at least two thirds of failures by
all three modes of piping occurred within the first 5 years of
operation of the dam.
Acknowledgements
The support of the 17 sponsors of the research project,
Dams Risk Assessment – Estimation of the Probability of
Failure, and the Australian Research Council is acknowl-
edged. The sponsors of the project are ACT Electricity and
Water, Department of Land and Water Conservation, Elec-
tricity Corporation New Zealand, Goulburn Murray Water,
Gutteridge Haskins and Davey (GHD), Hydro Electric Com-
mission Tasmania, Melbourne Water Corporation, NSW De-
partment of Public Works and Services, NSW Dam Safety
Committee, Pacific Power, Queensland Department of Natu-
ral Resources, Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation,
Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric Authority, South Australia
Water Corporation, Sydney Water Corporation (Australian
Water Technologies), and Western Australia Water Corpora-
tion. The assistance from other organisations that allowed
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1023
access to their reports for the research project is also
acknowledged. These include the United States Bureau of
Reclamation (USBR), British Columbia Hydroelectric and
Power Corporation (BC Hydro), Norwegian Geotechnical
Institute, and Alberta Dam Safety.
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