ASCE just published a reconnaissance report on the failures of the Edenville and Sanford Dams that occurred on May 19 2020 in Michigan. The report presents the results of an investigation immediately after the failure using a range of techniques, includes geophysics, and optical and infrared UAV-based surveys. Work conducted at Cal also involved the digital image analysis of the video that captured the moment of the failure of Edenville dam, a description of which can be found here.

The reconnaissance was conducted under the Auspices of the Embankments and Dams Technical Committee of the ASCE Geo-Institute. Prof. Adda Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, Prof. Dimitrios Zekkos and PhD student Weibing Gong participated in the investigation and co-author the report that was released as a Geotechnical Special Publication.

Soil samples are currently being tested in the UC Berkeley Geotechnical Laboratories as part of a continued investigation.

The publication is available by ASCE here:

https://sp360.asce.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Merchandise/Product-Details/productId/274480464