Brochure (Page 07)

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     To facilitate the analysis we assume that the inner tubes are generally rectangular when filled. We also assume that the water level on one side of the dam has reached the top of the dam. This assumption is a worst case scenario.

     When the water is removed from one side of the AquaDam®, the horizontal force exerted on the dam per unit length of wall is given by:

F=½pgH²

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The Tipping Model:
Having determined the force on the side of the AquaDam®, we can evaluate the tendency of the AquaDam® to tip. We assume point A, the quarter point of the dam, as the pivot point and sum moments about this point. The moment created by each force, is a measure of how much the force contributes to rotating the first column of water around point A as the approximate fulcrum point.

M_A=½WD-½pgH².H/3=0

M_A=½pgHD.½D-½pgH².H/3=0

Simplifying the above expression we see that the stability of the AquaDam® is dependent upon the relationship between its width (D) and the depth (H) of water it must resist. If the pressure term is greater than the gravity term the dam will be unstable.

The relationship below indicates the minimum width of the AquaDam® necessary to prevent it from tipping when resisting water with a depth (H) equal to the height of the AquaDam® itself. The height for the dam to prevent tipping would be described as follows:

D > 0.82 H

Further, we can define a Safety Factor, SF, as follows:

SF = 1.224 D/H

where a value greater than one (1) indicates that the AquaDam® is stable.