Masters Theses
Abstract
"The Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir was built in the early 1960's as a water storage reservoir for hydro-electric energy production. The reservoir was created by blasting the top off of Proffit Mountain located in Reynolds County Missouri near the town of Lesterville. The debris generated by the blasting was then used to construct a kidney shaped rock and earthen fill reservoir atop the mountain. The Upper Reservoir was approximately 95 feet in depth and covered a surface area of 55 acres. The reservoir had the capacity to hold nearly 1.5 billion gallons of water and, on the morning of December 14th, 2005, underwent a catastrophic failure releasing most of its stored water down the northwest side of Proffit Mountain. An approximate 700-foot wide breach occurred along the northwest radius of the rock-fill dike shortly after 5:00A.M. that morning.
This thesis analyzes and evaluates different failure mechanisms of the reservoir by defining three distinct failure hypotheses. Each hypothesis is analyzed, evaluated, and discussed in terms of its relevance to the failure events and probability of occurrence by using theories, analytical solutions, and computer based iterative analytical solutions. Conclusions are then made based on the analyses discussion and each mechanism is categorized in terms of its individual likelihood of contribution to the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir failure"--Abstract, page iii.
Advisor(s)
Luna, Ronaldo
Committee Member(s)
Ge, Yu-Ning (Louis)
Hoffman, David J.
Mendoza, Cesar
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Degree Name
M.S. in Civil Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Publication Date
Summer 2006
Pagination
x, 130 pages
Note about bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-129).
Geographic Coverage
Missouri
Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir
Rights
© 2006 Quentin Paul Gehring, All rights reserved.
Document Type
Thesis - Restricted Access
File Type
text
Language
English
Subject Headings
Dam failures -- MissouriEarth damsReservoirs
Thesis Number
T 9036
Print OCLC #
85861127
Electronic OCLC #
905661135
Recommended Citation
Gehring, Quentin Paul, "Evaluation of the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir failure" (2006). Masters Theses. 5929.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/5929
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