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Design and Construction of Levees
Vincent Reynolds, P.E.
Overview
Levees are used to provide flood protection along waterways. Levees protect
agricultural land as well as urban areas. Unfortunately, levees gained notoriety
following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when several levees failed in
Louisiana causing mass flooding to the city of New Orleans.
Levees can fail for several reasons, some can be man-made and some by events of
nature. This course will review the types of failures and how to design and
construct levees to avoid failures. The student will review the entire process
of levee design from the initial investigation to final design and construction.
There
are several steps to the design and construction of levees. These steps have
been implemented in order to produce levees that will perform as effective as
possible to protect low-lying areas. There are different types of levees that
protect different types of property or areas, such as agricultural and urban.
Although different types of levees exist, they all are intended to protect
against water damage.
The
design and construction of levees is a very important field or specialty within
engineering and construction. This online course will explore the various types
of levees along with their uses in flood protection. It will provide the reader
the information to investigate the proper location, types, and size of levees.
This
course will provide the reader with the knowledge to understand what levees are
and why they perform correctly and why they fail. This course will probably be
read by the engineer gaining valuable pdh credits; however it is presented so
that anyone with an interest in this important subject can be educated. For the
engineer, please share this valuable information with your colleagues. For the
lay person or general audience, please share this information with your friends
and coworkers.
The course materials are based solely on the informational report “Design and
Construction of Levees” as found on the Website of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
The student must take a
multiple-choice quiz consisting of thirty-seven (37) questions at the end of
this course to obtain PDH credits.
Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained
This course teaches the following specific knowledge and
skills related to the design and construction of levees:
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How Levees Differ from Earth Dams
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Several Different Types of Levees
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Principal causes of Levee failures
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Geological investigations for levee design
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Exploration process for designing a levee
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Materials to use when designing levees
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Definition of a foreshore
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Use of pressure relief wells
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Maximum slopes for levees
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Factor of safety for levees
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How pipes are used with levees
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How levees are compacted
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The use of Patrol roads on levees
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When to use turnouts on levees
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Definition of I Floodwalls
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Categories of soil used in Levee design
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Using agricultural pumps and how to select them
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How to determine the sewage demand and
infiltration
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Definition of Sand Boils and why they occur
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Pipe capacity of corrugated metal used in levees
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Treatment of soil cement as it cures
Course
Click on the following
PDF attachment to review the
document in its entirety prior to
taking a quiz for credit.
Design and Construction of Levees (5.4 MB)
Or:
Click the following links for a direct link to
each subject:
Cover
Transmittal Letter
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Field Investigations
Chapter 3 - Laboratory Testing (File size: 1.4 MB.)
Chapter 4 - Borrow Areas
Chapter 5 - Seepage Control
Chapter 6 - Slope Design and Settlement
Chapter 7 - Levee Construction
Chapter 8 - Special Features
Appendix A - References
Appendix B - Mathematical Analysis of Underseepage and Substratum Pressure
Appendix C - Design of Seepage Berms
Appendix D - Filter Design
Appendix E - Drainage Trench
Appendix F - Emergency Flood Protection
Appendix G - Use of Soil Cement for Levee Protection (File size: 2 MB.)
Appendix H - Notation
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