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THE
ST. FRANCIS DAM
DISASTER
“The Worst American Civil Engineering Disaster of the 20th Century”
OVERVIEW
St. Francis Dam was a curved concrete
gravity dam constructed in order to create a
large regulating and storage reservoir for the
Los Angeles Aqueduct system. It was
designed and built between 1924-1926 by
the Bureau of Water Works and Supply under
the supervision of the organization's chief
engineer William Mulholland.
At 11:57 p.m. on March 12, 1928, the dam
catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood took the
lives of what is estimated to be at least 431 people.
The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be
one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of
the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of
life in California's history, after the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake and fire. The disaster marked the end of
Mulholland's career.
RESULTS OF THE
INVESTIGATION
Prior to the design and construction of the St. Francis
Dam, Mulholland had only participated in the design of
one other concrete gravity dam. Which was named in his
honor. Mulholland dam is a curved concrete gravity dam
with similar height to the St. Francis dam, constructed
between 1923-1925. William Mulholland ‘s experience in
concrete dam design, however, was lacking.
Although his experience resided primarily in the design
of embankment dams, Mulholland still proposed that a
concrete gravity dam would be the proper structure for
the canyon terrain across which St. Francis would be built.
Multiple instances of poor judgement by Mulholland
and several of his subordinates significantly contributed
to the cause of the failure of St. Francis Dam.
The Plans for the dam were based upon those
previously prepared by Mulholland for the Mulholland
Dam with little regard for site-specific investigations.
When the plans were finalized and after the
construction began, the height of the dam was raised by
ten feet on two separate occasions in order to provide
additional reservoir storage needed to sustain the
growing community surrounding the dam.
Despite of the changes made in the dam’s height
which was increased by 20 ft. from its original plan, NO
changes were made to its base width. As a result, the
intended safety margin for structural stability decreased
significantly.
St. Francis Dam failed at Midnight on March 12-13,
1928 only 12 hours after its last inspection by Mulholland.
For a considerable period leading up to the last
inspection, leaking cracks were observed within the main
dam and at its abutments which were dismissed as
conditions typical of the dam type.
Upon investigating the cause of failure, it was clear
that the proposed St. Francis Dam design was not
reviewed by any independent party. It was also clear
that it was designed to prevent small foundation stresses
only and not accommodate full uplift.
Also upon investigating, it was estimated that the
design exhibited a safety factor less than one while
Mulholland claimed it was designed using a safety factor
of four.
More thorough investigations assign the ultimate
failure mode to weakening of the left abutment
foundation rock due to the saturated condition created
by the reservoir which essentially reactivated a large
landslide. Which also leads to the failure of the dam’s left
end.
In quick succession as catastrophic failure was
occurring at the left end, the maximum height section
tilted and rotated which destabilized the right end of the
main dam causing catastrophic failure at the right end as
well. The incident marked the end of Mulholland’s career.
HAZARDS
AND ITS SEVERITY
Mulholland’s subordinates
designed the two concrete
dams using the methods then
Overturned railroad tracks Debris and overturned cars Damaged pecan fields
SOLUTION AND
PROCESS DESIGN
Check the site thoroughly and the stability of the
dam foundation.