Reticulately reinforced earthen dams and method for providing reinforcement

In an earthen dam comprising a lofty crest located immediately forwardly a water reservoir and including a crest-top transversely extending along a dam-axis, a downstream side including a substantially planar downstream-face sloping longitudinally forwardly and downwardly from said crest-top and having a transversely extending finite-extent defined by downstream-face gutters, and a dam toe portion including a toe-surface at the natural terrain, the improvement of reticulate dam reinforcement commencing at the crest-top and extending longitudinally downwardly therefrom and also extending generally parallel thereto for at least said finite-extent, said reinforcement being indefinitely thereafter capable of preventing breach of the earthen dam during overtopping by water flood flows and comprising:

• A. a plurality of transversely extending and longitudinally separated upright check-walls and each check-wall including:
• i. opposed transversely extending upright rear-surface and front-surface,
• ii. a transversely extending bottom-edge embedded into the earthen dam, the bottom-edges of the check-walls being substantially parallel to each other and to a vertical plane passing through the dam axis, and
• iii. a transversely extending substantially horizontal top-edge and defining with said bottom-edge an upright height, the check-walls top-edges being substantially horizontal and parallel to each other and to a vertical plane passing through said dam-axis;
• the majority of said check-walls at their top-edges being recessed below the adjacent surfaces of the earthen dam;
• the longitudinally separated consecutive check-walls within the region of the dam downstream-face being of progressively lower elevation whereby the top-edge of an immediately forward upright check-wall has an elevation between the top-edge and bottom-edge of the rearwardly neighboring check-wall;
• and
• B. a plurality of intervening longitudinally, extending spacer-walls located between and attached to consecutively neighboring check-walls and for braceably maintaining the longitudinal spacing therebetween, each of said spacer-walls having an upper-edge and a lower-edge, said spacer-walls providing in concert with the check-walls a plurality of tetragonal pocket-like stilling-basins for said dam reinforcement, said spacer-walls being at least partially embedded into the earthen dam and the majority of said spacer-walls at their upper-edges being recessed below the adjacent surfaces of the earthen dam.