Numerical simulation of concrete face rockfill dams’ failure due to overtopping

In this paper, a mathematical model of concrete face rockfill dams’ failure due to overtopping is established to simulate the interaction between water flow characteristics and rockfill materials, which is used to simulate and calculate face rockfill dams’ failure due to overtopping. The results show that the RNG k-ε turbulence model and the volume-of-fluid method (VOF method) can accurately simulate the reverse erosion of the dam caused by the vortex flow during the failure process. The whole process of concrete face rockfill dams’ failure due to overtopping mainly goes through a gradual erosion stage and a severe failure stage, for which the simulation results further reveal the failure mechanism of the face rockfill dam.