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Which Are More Efficient in Flood Prevention: I-wall or Earthen Levees?

CSEF · 2006 Environmental Engineering

Caitlin A. McCarthy · Sierra Canyon Middle School, Chatsworth

Overview

Objectives/Goals In my experiment I tested which type of levee is more efficient in flood prevention, an I-wall or an earthen levee. I hypothesized that the I-wall levee would hold longer. Methods/Materials To test this question I built each type of levee in a separate container. Each container was separated into a river side and a land side by the levee. I poured water into the river and checked the moisture level on the land side every 0.95 liters. I repeated each experiment three times to insure the accuracy. Results My hypothesis was proved incorrect. Surprisingly the earthen levee held longer than the I-wall levee. It took an average of 8.2 liters of water for the I-wall levee to fail, and the earthen levee 15.1 liters of water to fail. Conclusions/Discussion The earthen levee failed due to the soil and peat moss above the clay giving way. The I-wall levee failed from below through the aggregate. I am surprised my project turned out this way.

Summary statement

My project analizes the stability of I-wall and earthen levees in order to compare their flood prevention capabilities.

Help received

Mother supervised on-line research; Mother helped shop for materials; Father cut aluminum I-wall;Cousin and mother helped me form clay core; Mother poured water while I made observations and documented results; Mother emptied heavy container after every test.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2006 Environmental Engineering · Entry J0811

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