Civil Engineering Forum Volume XXII/1 - January 2013

HYDRAULIC SIMULATION OF FLASH FLOOD

AS TRIGGERED BY NATURAL DAM BREAK

Yanuar Tri Kurniawan

Directorate General of Water Resources, Ministry of Public Works, INDONESIA
yanuar_civil_gama@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

On January 1st, 2006 flash flood disaster (in Indonesia is known as banjir bandang) occurred in Kaliputih River, Jember
District of East Java Province. This disaster resulted in more than 80 people were killed and hundreds were injured. The
disaster was caused by natural dam break. The natural dam was formed by landslide due to heavy rainfall. After the January
2006 disaster, new cracks and crevices were found in the upstream area of Kaliputih River. Based on this condition, it cannot
be disregarded to avoid repetition of similar disaster in the future. Therefore, it is required to conduct mitigation efforts in
order to anticipate similar disaster in the future. One of the mitigation efforts is modeling simulation of the past event. The
understanding which is obtained from the simulation can be used as reference to arrange other mitigation efforts plan and
action .
Modeling simulation of the January 2006 flood was conducted by involving 1-D model of HEC-RAS version 4.1.0 software.
Flood hydrograph was obtained by analyzing related hydrologic aspects using Nakayasu method. The natural dam model was
interpreted from field observation and related references. Some assumptions related to study constraints were taken. Model
calibration was conducted by repeating simulation using fixed discharge and parameter values in a certain range. The
observations were carried out to the maximum water surface elevation and it was traced to the downstream river.
Calibration model result showed that the height of natural dam significantly influence changes of water surface elevation at
control point. Tracing of flood result in reconstruction of January 2006 flood showed the conformity with the real event. It was
observed from the arrival time of flood at certain location. From obtained results, it can be concluded that simulation modeling
gave the acceptable results.
Keywords: flash flood, simulation, natural dam.

1 INTRODUCTION anticipate of similar disaster in the future. The

On January 1st, 2006 flash flood disaster (in Indonesia
is known as banjir bandang) occurred in Kaliputih
River, Jember District of East Java Province. This
disaster resulted in more than 80 people were killed
and hundreds were injured. According to an
investigation, this disaster was caused by natural dam
break. This natural dam was formed by landslide due
to heavy rainfall for several days in a row. A few days
after the event, a field investigation was conducted by
ISDM Project Urgent Survey Team of Japanese
Experts in cooperation with Directorate General of
Water Resource and Agency of Research and
Development, Ministry of Public Works. The
investigation results stated that the trace of landslide
heaps was found in upstream area of Kaliputih River.
The landslide blocked mainstream of Kaliputih River
and formed the natural dam. In 2007, a study was
conducted by Naryanto, H.S., Wisyanto, and
Marwata, B. from BPPT. The study results stated that
after the January 2006 disaster, new cracks and
crevices were found in the upstream area of Kaliputih
River. Based on this condition, cannot be disregarded
repetition of similar disaster in the future. Therefore, it
is required to conduct mitigation efforts in order to
mitigation effort is aimed to reduce as much as
possible the risk of losses which potentially occur.
Flash flood (in Indonesia is known as banjir bandang)
is flood disaster that occurs quickly or abruptly with
large flood volume. Besides water, flash flood also
mixed with fine and coarse material in the form of
sand, pebbles, gravel, rock, and fallen trees. This
disaster is very dangerous and destructive because of
the high velocity and its mixture.
Landslides, which are often found on steep slope in
mountainous and hilly area, often show early
indication of flash flood event. It’s based on the
estimation that landslide material fall and accumulated
in river valley. The fallen landslide material block
mainstream and form the natural dam (Utami and
Hermawan, 1998). The high rainfall intensity will
increases the flow and forms the reservoir in the
upstream side of natural dam. If water surface
elevation in the reservoir exceeds natural dam
elevation (overtopping), it will erodes the top part of
natural dam and causes the natural dam break.
Similar study about the flood due to natural dam break
was conducted by Chjeng-Lun Shieh, et al (2007) in
“Study on Warning Criteria of Rainfall and Hazard

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Zone Mapping for Landslide Dam Hazards’, which

simulated the flood due to natural dam break in Lung-
Chuian River, Taiwan using HEC-RAS software. The
flood propagation to the downstream was simulated
by fixed bed hydraulic simulation method to estimate
the hazard area. The natural dam break was simulated
for 1 hour due to overtopping with 4 scenarios of
rainfall intensity as inflow hydrograph. River
geometry data was interpreted from topographic map
and aerial photo because of limited fund and time. The
simulation results showed that from 3 villages as the
observation area, only 1 village potentially affected by
the flood. The simulation result is very useful in
providing information to arrange the emergency
action plans.
One of the mitigation efforts is by modeling
simulation of the past event. The understanding which
is obtained from the simulation can be used as
reference to arrange plan and action of other
mitigation efforts. This paper presents the result of the
study related to the flash flood phenomena, and
comprises of two focuses as follows;
a). To reconstruct the January 2006 disaster through
the natural dam break and flood modeling
simulation using field observation approaches,
secondary data, desk study, realistic and acceptable
assumptions.
b). To study the sensitivity of peak discharge resulted
from natural dam break by changing breach
parameters.
The upstream area of Kaliputih River is located at
southern slope of Argopuro Mountainous (see Figure
Figure 1. Watershed of kaliputih river.
1). At the downstream river, Kaliputih River meets
Dinoyo River. In this study, Kaliputih Watershed was
divided to Kaliputih Hulu and Kaliputih Hilir The simulation was carried out based on the hydraulic
Watershed. Modeling simulation was conducted at scheme as sketched in Figure 2. Several assumptions
Kaliputih Hilir with the length of river is about 13.8 were adopted as follows;
Km. a) The methods was limited to the hydrology and
hydraulic aspects;
Related to the study constraints, especially lacking of b) The simulation was carried out by using data
sufficient data and information, some assumptions available from field observation as well as from
were applied in this study, among others were: measurement,
a) Before and after the disaster, the topography c) Some assumptions were taken relating of study
condition was assumed not to change significantly, constraints,
b) The modeling simulation ignored the sediment d) The scenarios of the simulation were as follows:
transport in the river, 1) Flow simulation on existing condition
c) The natural dam break was assumed to be triggered (without natural dam),
by overtopping, 2) Flow simulation on the conditions of before
d) The modeling simulation ignored obstruction natural dam formed, during natural dam
structures in the river. formed, and the natural dam break.
e) Boundary conditions in the simulation were as
2 METHOD OF SIMULATION follows:
The flash flood here in this study was studied by 1) The flood hydrograph of January 1, 2006 was
applying flow simulation technique involving 1-D used as upstream boundary condition;
model of HEC-RAS version 4.1.0 software.

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2) The friction slope (slope of the energy grade
line) was used as downstream boundary
condition due to lacking of data. The friction
slope was set at 0.031;
f) Modeling simulation was set from January 1, 2006
at 10.30 am to January 2, 2006 at 10.30 am or for
24 hours.
Figure 4. River geometry identification through survey.
Figure 2. Sketch of hydraulic simulation.
d) In this study, some modifications were taken
3 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
3.1 Natural Dam
In the January 2006 disaster, the actual natural dam
geometry was unknown. In this study, the natural dam
model was interpreted from field observation result
and related references. The methods for modeling the
natural dam were as follows:
a) The bottom width of natural dam was assumed
equal to the average width of river valley. It was
interpreted from field observation and Google
Earth image as is shown in Figure 3.
b) The height of natural dam was roughly estimated
from the landslide volume. By estimating the
dimension of the landslide, it can be estimated that
the landslide volume was about 50,000 m3. In this
study, the height estimation of the natural dam was
in ranging 15 meters to 25 meters.
c) The height of natural dam was roughly estimated
from the landslide volume. By estimating the
dimension of the landslide, it can be estimated that
the landslide volume was about 50,000 m3. In this
study, the height estimation of the natural dam was
in ranging 15 meters to 25 meters.
Volume XXII/1 - January 2013
Figure 3. River geometry identification through map.
concerning various aspects in the modeling of
natural dam. The modifications are shown in
Figure 5 and explained as follows:
1) Spillway with reasonable dimensions
When water surface elevation in reservoir
reaches the natural dam elevation, it will erode
the top part of natural dam and forms natural
spillway.
2) Gate at the bottom of natural dam
This modification was aimed to simulate the
blockage of river flow by the natural dam. Due
to the limitation facility in the software, at the
beginning of simulation, the natural dam had
been modeled. At 10:30 am, the gate was in the
fully open condition. The rain was started at
1:30 pm and then the landslide was assumed
instantaneously occurred at 2:30 pm. The
landslide was modeled by closing gate
gradually. The gate dimensions were obtained
by trial and error method in order to allow the
flow before 2:30 pm was not distracted by the
natural dam. In this study, the shape of gate was
assumed in the rectangular shape. The width of
gate is 4 m and the height is 3.5 m.
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3) The pilot flow
This modification was caused by the limitation
of the software. In the HECRAS software, the
simulation can't be conducted at the zero
discharge. The pilot flow was obtained by trial
and error method. The pilot flow should be as
small as possible in order to not significantly
affect to the simulation result. In this study, the
pilot flow was 0.05 m3/seconds.
Figure 5. Natural dam characteristic by assumptions.
Another modification was conducted towards the
downstream of natural dam. This modification was
applied by assuming of the lateral inflow in the steady
flow form at 1 m3/s. This modification was aimed to
the numerical stability in the simulation. The lateral
inflow also should be as small as possible in order to
not significantly affect the simulation result.
The mechanism of the dam break is known as break
parameters, which consists of:
a) Bottom width of breach (b). In this study, bottom
width of breach was set at 30 meters, it is equal to
the width of river valley
b) Breach slope (z). In this study, breach slope was
set at (h/v)=1,88. It is characteristic of the internal
angle friction of landslide material
c) Break duration (t). In this study, break duration (t)
was estimated by using the Froelich formula for
dam break (Fread, 1988). In estimating the break
duration, the characteristic of reservoir in the
upstream side of natural dam was interpreted from
topographic map by using ArcGIS software. The
estimation result of the break duration was about 9
minutes.
3.2 River Geometry
The river geometry data was obtained from Balai
Sabo-Yogyakarta in the form of river cross section
data. In this study, the cross sections of river were
made wider using the topographic map.
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The coefficient of riverbed roughness used the n
Manning value. In this study, the n Manning value
was interpreted from photos which describe the
situation of the Kaliputih River after the disaster. In
determining of the n Manning value, the used
reference is the “Open Channel Hydraulics” book
(Chow, V.T., 1997). According to the book, natural
river with sandy loam soil, lot of roots, shrubs, fallen
trees in the stream because of landslide, and other
sediment in the river bed has the n Manning value =
0.15. In this study, the n Manning values were set as
follows:
a) In the upstream side of natural dam, the n Manning
value was set at 0.15;
b) In the downstream side of natural dam, the n
Manning value was set in ranging0.15 to 0.17.
3.3 Flood Hydrograph
To conduct the modeling simulation, flood data was
required from the catchment area as input data at
upstream boundary. The flood data was obtained by
analyzing related hydrologic aspects. In this study, the
hydrologic analysis was carried out through the
following descriptions:
a) Calculation of hourly rainfall distribution from
daily rainfall data available using the Alternating
Block Method (ABM) Rainfall Distribution,
b) Daily rainfall data available was obtained from the
Gentong Hydrology Station, daily rainfall on
January 1, 2006 was amounted to 160 mm,
c) The rainfall intensity was calculated using the
Mononobe formula,
d) The duration was set to 10 hours, it was based on
information from local people,
e) The effective rainfall was calculated using the
runoff coefficient, which was adopted from the
Mononobe Table. For steep mountainous and river
in mountain area, the runoff coefficient was set to
0.85,
f) Elaborating of hourly rainfall distribution to be the
flow using The Nakayasu Synthetic Unit
Hydrograph (HSS Nakayasu) Method,
g) The base flow was calculated using HSS GAMA I.
From calculation result, it was obtained equal to
1.77 m3/s,
h) In elaborating the rainfall to be the flow, the
Nakayasu parameter was obtained from the
characteristics of Kaliputih Hulu Watershed as
catchment area.
The effective rainfall distribution and calculation
result of the flood hydrograph on January 1, 2006
from Kaliputih Hulu Watershed is shown in Figure 6.
Civil Engineering Forum Volume XXII/1 - January 2013

Upstream Natural Dam

Boundary (RS 12+980)
(RS 13+784)

Figure 6. Sketch of hydraulic simulation.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Model Calibration Control
The model calibration is adjustment of uncertainty Point
(RS 6+984)
model parameter to the obtained solution. The
uncertainty is caused by applying immeasurable data
or containing errors in measurement. In this study, the
model calibration was conducted by repeatedly
simulation using fixed discharge and the parameter
values in a certain range. The obtained solution was
compared of its conformity to the measured data. In
this study, the calibration of model using the
parameters as follows: Downstream
Boundary
a) The height of natural dam (hd) in ranges of 15 (RS 0+000)
meters to 25 meters;
b) The break duration (t) in ranges of 6 minutes to 18
minutes.
Figure 7. Control point location.
The observation was carried out to the maximum
water surface elevation. The flood mark from field
observation was used as the measured data. The
observation location is located at a distance of 6 Km
from the natural dam (see Figure 7). Figure 8 shows
the results of the model calibration. As in Figure 8, the
maximum water surface elevation close to the
measured data in ranges of the natural dam height (hd)
of 22 meters to 24 meters. In the model calibration
process, the break duration (t) was not significantly
influenced.

4.2 Reconstruction of January 2006 Flood

In this study, reconstruction of the January 2006 flood Figure 8. Calibration result at control point.
the height of natural dam (hd) was set at 23 meters
and the break duration (t ) was set at 15 minutes. The The simulation results show that the natural dam
used data is shown in Table 1. break was started at 8:27 pm. Peak discharge resulting
from the natural dam break was 891.94 m3/s and the
Table 1. Reconstruction of the January 2006 flood maximum velocity was 4.74 m/s at a distance of 60
Parameters Magnitudes meters from natural dam.
Base of natural dam elevation, (+m) 697.02
Base of Spillway elevation, (+m) 717.02 4.3 Flood Routing of Reconstruction of January 2006
Center top of natural dam elevation, (+m) 720.02 Flood
Water surface elevation as triggering of natural
dam break, (+m) 720.15 The routing of flood results show that the flood
Base of breach elevation, (+m) 698.02 reached the Km 4.06 (RS 8+920) at 8:52 pm or 0.42
Base of breach width, (m) 30 hours (25 minutes) from the start of the natural dam
Break duration, (minutes) 15 break. The peak discharge arrived at 8:56 pm or in

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0.48 hours (29 minutes). This results close to the real The natural dam blocked the mainstream river and
event. It was based on information from the local formed a reservoir in the upstream side. When the
people. In Table 2 is shown the routing of flood at 5 natural dam break occurred, the water was released
locations and in Table 3 is shown the quantitative rapidly through the crack. This condition increases the
comparison between the simulation results and the water volume and the peak discharge drastically in
data. short period. In propagating to the downstream, the
peak discharge was damped due to the influence of
Table 2. Routing of flood at 5 locations river floodplain changes and deceleration of flood
Max velocity.
Distance Time River Time
water Peak Max Max
from to bed arrival
Stationing surface dis- Velo- water
natural achieve eleva- of
(RS) elevation charge city depth
dam MWSE tion flood
(MWSE)
(km) (+m) (m3/s) (hour) (m/s) (+m) (m) (hour)
12+918 0.06 695.35 891.53 0.22 4.74 689.77 5.58 0.07
8+920 4.06 436.13 699.72 0.48 2.61 432.51 3.62 0.42
6+984 6.00 328.56 562.04 0.72 1.70 324.03 4.53 0.65
3+513 9.47 177.40 378.81 1.30 0.94 174.09 3.31 1.15
0+000 12.98 89.64 283.60 1.97 1.61 86.57 3.06 1.70

Table 3. Quantitative comparison between the simulation

results and the data
Simula- Relative A. First location (RS 6+984), 6 Km from natural dam;
B. Second location (RS 0+000), 12.98 Km from natural dam.
Observation Data
tion Deviation deviation
result (%) Figure 9. Flow hydrographs at two locations
The roar of flood was at 8.30 pm at 8.27 -3
started at around pm minutes
8.30pm (assumed as It is seen from Figure 9 at Point A, due to the presence
natural dam break) of natural dam break, the peak discharge increased
Flood reached RS 0.5 hour 0.42 hour -0.08 approximately 5 times as much of original peak
8+920 in 0.5 hours hour discharge. Similar phenomena occurred at Point B
(assumed as time where the increase of the peak discharge was about
arrival of flood) 2.4 times.
Mark of max. flood
elevation
4.5 Sensitivity of the Discharge due to the Change of
1. Pondok pesantren
building at Kemiri Breach Parameters
Village, Panti sub- In this analysis, the height of natural dam was set to
district
22 meters and the nonlinearity rate of the breach
- River bed 324.03 m
elevation growth was set to 2.5. The sensitivity analysis results
- Mark of max. 328.61 m 328.56 m show that the peak discharge resulting by the natural
flood elevation dam break is sensitive to changes of the break
- Water depth 4.58 m 4.53 m 0.05 m -1.09 duration (see Table 4 and Figure 10).
2. Trees at
downstream
Table 4. Simulation results of varies breach parameter
boundary
- River bed 86.57 m Breach parameter
Peak
elevation Bottom
Scenarios Duration Breach discharge
- Mark of max. 89.57 m 89.63 m breach
(minutes) slope (m3/s)
flood elevation width (m)
- Water depth 3m 3.06 m 0.06 m 2.00 1 30 9 1.88 1,078
2 30 9 0.47 1,136
3 30 9 0.94 1,129
4.4 Impacts of Dam Break to Discharge 4 30 9 1.41 1,114
A comparison between the flood hydrograph of 5 30 12 1.88 814
reconstruction of the January 2006 flood and the flood 6 30 15 1.88 677
hydrograph on existing condition (without natural 7 30 18 1.88 575
dam) is shown in Figure 9. The comparison was 8 22.5 9 1.88 1,061
9 15 9 1.88 1,022
conducted at 2 locations.
10 75 9 1.88 1,014

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Figure 10. Sensitivity of peak discharge to changes of the
breach parameters
5 CONCLUSIONS
The followings are the conclusions of the study;
a. The modeling of natural dam break and flow
simulation with some assumptions were applied
with acceptable results,
b. The peak discharge resulted from the natural dam
break is sensitive to changes of the break duration
(t),
c. Results of the tracing of flood in reconstruction of
January 2006 flood showed the conformity with
the real event,
d. Assumptions and justifications which were taken
in this study, allowing errors and deviations in the
result compared to the real event.
By considering the results of these studies then some
related suggestions are forwarded as follows:
Volume XXII/1 - January 2013
a. Development of modeling simulation using other
scenarios. It is aimed to obtain the worst possibility
in extreme condition,
b. The further study of modeling simulation involving
the transport sediment simulation to obtain the
closer result to the real event,
c. Development of modeling simulation using the 2-
D simulation method to obtain the area affected by
the flooding.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to express gratitude to the
Directorate General of Water Resources, Ministry of
Public Works upon data and field survey facilities
those have been provided to the author.
REFERENCES
Chjeng-Lun Shieh, dkk, 2007, Study on Warning
Criteria of Rainfall and Hazard Zone Mapping for
Landslide Hazards, 2nd International Conference on
Urban Disaster Reduction, November 27-29, 2007.
Naryanto, H.S., Wisyanto, Marwanta, B., 2007,
Landslide and Flash Flood Potential and their
Analysis of Disaster Event at 1 January 2006,
Argopuro Mountaineous Area, Jember District,
Alami, Vol. 2, 2007.
Salukh, F.I., 2004, Analysis of Flood Routing of Flash
Flood due to Dam Failure (Case Study on Tilong
Dam, Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara Province),
Master Thesis (in Bahasa), Magister in Natural
Disaster Management, Post Graduate Programme,
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.
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