Johnstown Flood Case Study
Table of Contents
1. The Details of the Project 3
What was the project?3
Where was the project located?3
What type of structure?3
Was the project unique?3
What was the function of the project?4
2. The Design4
What was/were the design parameters of the project?4
Was the design something new?5
Was the design based on previous designs of a similar nature?6
Who designed the project?6
Were they experienced in this type of design or was the project new to them?6
3. Construction7
What were the construction procedures?7
Were they standard procedures for this type of project?8
Were any new or innovative procedures used in the construction?8
Was the contractor experienced in this type of project?8
4. The Failure9
When did the failure occur?9
What are the details of the failure?9
What were the conditions that led to the failure?10
Was there a loss of life or just property/structure damage?10
5. The Investigation10
What was the makeup of the investigation?10
What were the details of the investigation?11
What were the steps in the investigation?11
Who did the investigation?12
How did the investigation proceed?12
What were the finding of the investigation?12
Did they determine the cause of the failure?13
Did they determine the responsibility for the failure?14
6. Lessons learned16
What were the lessons learned from this failure?16
Were there changes made to design procedures or codes as a result of the investigation?16
7. My thoughts18
Works Cited19
Johnstown Flood Case Study
Johnstown, Pennsylvania is known as a “Flood City”, because it had suffered from more than 47 floods since the beginning of 18th century. The most notable was the one that took place on May 31, 1889, caused by the failure of the South Fork Dam and led to more than 2,000 deaths. The catastrophe happened due to the fatal combination of poor maintenance, inadequate design, improper repair, and unusually strong rainfall. At the time of the accident, there was an investigations run by Francis (1891), which concluded that it was an inevitable natural disaster. but he current reports relies on the most recent studies, such as the one done by Coleman et al., which contested this notion and concluded that the dam would have withstood the load, if there had not been deviations from the original design. Here are presented the contributing factors that had led to the disaster. In addition, the study examines the resulting changes of engineering and law practices, as a response to the accident (Coleman).
1. The Details of the Project
What was the project?
The South Fork Dam.
Where was the project located?
The Dam was located 10 miles SE Johnstown, PA
What type of structure?
The dam was an embankment / earthfill type.
Was the project unique?
Dams had been built for centuries before, thus the project was not unique.
What was the function of the project?
The Dam was intended for water supply for the western division of the Pennsylvania Canal (Rose). After the repair and modification done in 1881, the dam served to keep the lake for a fishing club.
2. The Design
What was/were the design parameters of the project?
According to Frank (1988), the original earth and rock dam was 72 ft high and 918 ft long. The crest width was …
