Application of the Limit equilibrium method to the headcut migration of levee breaching

The headcut migration describes the physical process of the levee side slope retreat and the headcut length governs the breach widening. As a typical mode of slope stability due to soil tensile failure, the limit equilibrium method was used for the calculation of the headcut length. By considering the soil tensile stress state, the Hoek-Brown failure criterion provides a reasonable description of the levee material response. Then, the headcut length was calculated by using LEM in Slope/W. The comparisons with a large scale test show that the calculated headcut length by using LEM in Slope/W has good agreements with the measured data.