Dam breaking by wave-induced erosional incision

We present an experimental and theoretical study of whether a large displacement wave can lead to catastrophic erosional incision of a moraine damming a glacial lake. The laboratory experiments consist of reservoirs held by barriers of granular materials in a glass tank; the theoretical model combines the Saint-Venant equations of hydraulic engineering with an empirical prescription for erosion. The results of both the laboratory experiments and the numerical simulations indicate that a single wave is generally unable to break the dam, but a sufficiently large disturbance in an almost-filled reservoir creates a seiche that can repeatedly overtop the dam. In such a case, the combined effect of the multiple erosion events ultimately breaks the dam.