Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference

December 22-24, 2013, Roorkee

USE OF GEOBAGS FOR RESTRICTING THE FLOW OF RIVER DIBANG,

A TRIBUTARY OF RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA, ASSAM - A CASE STUDY

S. S. Maurya, Scientist B, CSMRS New Delhi, maurya_suresh@yahoo.co.in

N. Kumar, Scientist E & GH, CSMRS New Delhi, nipendra@nic.in
M. Gupta, Scientist D, CSMRS New Delhi, manish009@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Flood management and bank erosion control has become a prime matter of concern due to its
devastating impact in life and property. Major rivers in north and East part of India originates from Himalayan
ranges and through its course of flow over terrains it have an eroding impact which needs to be controlled at River
junctions. The Brahmaputra Board, Dholla project, 2070 m long tie-bund along the River Brahmaputra is designed
to restrict the flow of River Dibang in its original course and allow River Lohit to flow in its regular channel. The
paper describes the protection measures successfully implemented with geosynthetics solution at Dholla area. The
Geosynthetics materials used were tested at CSMRS, New Delhi as per project QA plan and presented in this paper
along with advantages of using Geosynthetics materials.

INTRODUCTION Table 1 Flood damage data in the Brahmaputra

Brahmaputra River is one of the major and Valley
aggressive rivers in Asia. It flows in countries like Period Avg. annual Avg.annu Affecte
China, India and Bangladesh. In India, it enters area flooded, al d Popul.
North East state of Arunachal Pradesh and then mha populatio /ha of
widens as high a 10 km in the state of Assam. The Tota cropp n affected flooded
study area is located at confluence of Dibang River l ed area
and Lohit River also known as head of Assam 1980- 1.43 0.40 45,50,000 3.2
valley. 88
1999- 1.07 0.38 45,86,000 4.3
The Brahmaputra river valley in Assam is the 05
home of about 22.65 million people and contains 2006- 0.26 0.17 10,28,000 4.0
more than 100 key urban centres, vast tract of 11
fertile agriculture land, many tea gardens and the
world famous heritage sites like Kaziranga Table 2 Overall damage due to bank erosion in
National Park. In recent decades, annual flooding Assam
and river bank erosion in the flood plains has Year Area Nos. of Family Value
become a serious threat to the population and eroded Village affected of
highly cultivable fertile land. Table 1 shows Flood in Ha affected in No. property
damage trends in the Brahmaputra valley [1]. A in No with
large part of landmass in Assam state has already land
been lost and the process is still continuing. Every loss in
year, unpredictable shifts of the river; severe Cr
erosion and flooding have affected the economy 2001 5348 227 7395 3.77
and ecology of the state as shown in Table 2 [1]. 2002 6803 625 17985 27.48
The problem has become more acute with the 2003 12589.6 424 18202 98.85
gradual aggradations of the river along with its 2004 20724 1245 62258 83.37
major tributaries due to the continuous deposition 2005 1984.27 274 10531 15.34
of sediments in the river bed.
2006 821.83 44 2832 1.07

Page 1 of 6
S.S.Maurya, N.Kumar & M.Gupta
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
The combined flow of Dibang and Lohit Rivers
was originally falling into Dihang (Brahmaputra)
River at about 25 km downstream of Dibru-
Saikhowa National Park at Kobo. Avulsion of left
bank of River Lohit occurred at confluence of
Lohit with Dibang near Dhola-Hatighuli located in
Dumdooma of Tinsukia district in the year 1989.
As a result, River flow of Lohit diverted towards
south. The breach was plugged in the year 1990.
The breach erupted again. Initially, the breach
developed in a length of 1 km in the year 1992 and
then increased to 1.3 km in the year 1993. This
problem was further aggravated due to pushing of
flow of Lohit towards south by River Dibang,
flowing from north to south direction and joining
Lohit from the opposite direction as shown in Fig 1
During the year 2001-02, offshoots channel of
Lohit and Dibang was carrying to the extent of 90
% of their combined discharge and falling into
Brahmaputra at North Balijan instead of Kobo.
This resulted in formation of a channel of about 1
km wide and 55 km long, eroding away large area
Fig.1 Map showing location of River Brahmaputra tributaries.
of agriculture and homestead lands along with tea
gardens in the way. Gradual widening of the
channel with time was threatening existence of
more areas of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh District of
Assam, situated all along the newly developed
channel. Thousands of hectares of rich cultivated
land of 49 villages were eroded away before the
year 2002. An approximately 48,000 people of the
area are adversely affected. By the end of year
2010, length of breach portion increased to 3.6 km.
Most of the embankments in Assam were
constructed during the fifties, sixties and seventies.
The total embankments length in Assam is 4473.82
km out of which length of Brahmaputra is 1023.8
km and that of tributaries is 3450 km. The total
length of extremely vulnerable and vulnerable
embankments is 950 km and 2390 km respectively
and of reasonably safe is only 1134 km. Most of
the embankments have already out lived their safe
periods. This is a very serious issue. The
embankments systems need to be selected and
fortified phase wise by extensively using
Composite Geosynthetics solution.
Page 2 of 6
 Use of geobags for restricting the flow of river Dibang, a tributary of river Brahmaputra, Assam - A case study

SOLUTION DESCRIPTION conventional techniques and available materials

In order to provide protection to the people in the
past, short & medium term measures were taken up
by the Brahmaputra Board, Ministry of Water
Resources under various policy initiatives. These
measures include construction of bank revetments,
stone spurs, timber dampeners, pile screens R.C.C
porcupines etc. During flood the phenomenon of
bank erosion become very complex. The cross flow
direction increases the scour near the bed material
and bank become unstable resulting sinking of
boulder, pile or R.C.C structure.
Till recently Department was using these
like earth and boulders etc. But due to increased
scarcity of available good quality stone aggregates
& boulders and to mitigate the problem of
combined discharge from two Rivers and gradual
widening of the channel, Brahmaputra Board,
proposed flood management and erosion protection
works by implementing non-woven geotextile bags
in Dholla area of Tinsukia District of Assam as
shown in Fig.1D and quality check plan at Central
Soil & Material Research Station, Ministry of
Water resources at New Delhi.

Fig. 2 Implementation of Non-woven Geotextile bags.

Page 3 of 6
S.S.Maurya, N.Kumar & M.Gupta

The quick and economic preventive measure protection work. Non-woven geotextile bags in
adopted by the department was to implement non- various lots were received at CSMRS for
woven geotextile bags in flood protection work. evaluating the properties at the laboratory. The
The scheme was to restrict the flow of River Geotextile bags of Type A (Size 1.03 m x 0.7 m)
Dibang in its original course and to avoid pushing made up of non-woven Geotextile having mass per
of Lohit River toward bank & habitat area. unit area in the range of 400 gsm manufactured
Constructing artificial barrier of 2070 m in length, from polypropylene or polyester, stitching the two
overall width of 15 m including apron width of 6 m sides of the bags with polyester thread were
and maintaining top height of bund at RL+129.5 m specified.
with respect to HFL of 128.8 m. Pitching of Tie
bund and launching apron with multiple layer of The Laboratory tests such as apparent opening size,
geotextile bags was a part of preventive measures. mass per unit area, tensile strength & elongation
This was followed by well dressed tie-bund at a (wrap), tensile strength & elongation (weft), CBR
stable inclined slope of 1V:1H. The Tie-bund Puncture strength etc were carried out on the non-
construction was a part of flood protection work woven geotextile bags received from the projects.
while launching apron was part of bed protection All these tests were carried out in accordance with
work as shown in Fig 2. Tie-bund barrier followed ASTM standard test methods [5-8]. The tests
by a suitable bed protection can be considered as results [4] are presented in the Table 3.
the key success for protection work. Creating such
type of integrated structure with greater area and Table 3 Laboratory testing on nonwoven geotextile
uniformity in construction reduces damage to the bags from Brahmaputra Board, Assam.
base of structure and chance of sinking Properties Test Method Result range
considerably. for various
lots tested
LABORATORY INVESTIGATION Mass per unit ASTM D
405 to 425
The materials used as preventive measures at area, g/m2 5261
Dhola-Hatiguli area for Brahmaputra Board were Tensile
tested for their quality as per project QA plan at Strength 20.5 to 21.9
Central Soil & Material Research Station, New ( MD), kN/m
Delhi (CSMRS). Tensile
Strength 20 to 20.5
CSMRS is a premier Institute in the country ( CD), kN/m ASTM D
located at New Delhi which deals with field and Tensile 4595
laboratory investigations, basic and applied Elongation 53 to 85
research on problems and also functions as an (MD), %
advisor and consultant in the field of Soil, Concrete Tensile
& Rock Engineering solutions. Elongation 43 to 89
(CD), %
A well established Geosynthetics material testing CBR Puncture ASTM D
laboratory at CSMRS has the capability of testing 3910 to3950
strength, N 6241
woven and nonwoven geotextiles, filters, Apparent
geomembranes, geonets, geogrids, glass fibre ASTM D 0.075 to
Opening Size,
paving mat, G.I wires, polymer rope gabions and 4751 0.150
mm
geocomposites that are used in drainage,
earthwork, erosion control and soil reinforcement SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION
applications. Non-woven Geotextile bags were filled with sand
to the specified height to ensure that appropriate
The Brahmaputra Board approached CSMRS for density is achieved by filling. At a given stretch,
testing the non-woven geotextile bags used at the

Page 4 of 6
 Use of Geobags for restricting the flow of River Dibang, a tributary of River Brahmaputra, Assam A case study
number of bags were filled and stacked suitably for
checking and verification. This was a part of
quality assurance and compliance procedure that
was followed during the installation activities.
After ensuring the bags were filled to the required
height, the open ends of the bags were closed by
stitching the bags at location using hand stitching
machines. Stitched bags were manually loaded on
boats for further transportation to the site location
for installation. The sequence followed for the
construction was placing of sand filled Geobags in
multiple layer for launching apron, key
construction and placement of sand filled Geobags
in multiple layer on the bund. Construction of
launching apron and key was carried out partly
underwater. This was carried out using suitable
vessels and appropriate placing methods. Further,
the tie- bund was dressed to the inclination of
1V:1H and over this a multiple layer of non-woven
geotextile bags filled with sand was laid. Fig 2
shows implementation of non-woven geotextile
bags at various stages.
On an average, 100 labors were deployed for
filling, stitching, loading and placing of bags.
Around five numbers of boats were used to
transport filled bags from filling area to installation
location. Total quantum of geotextile bags for the
protection works was approximately 2,00,000
numbers and these were placed at the rate of 1,000
numbers of bags per day. The work was completed
in 8 months from December 2012 to August 2013,
with an average placement of 25,000 numbers of
bags per month.
SOLUTION PERFORMANCE AND
CONCLUSIONS
The flood protection works carried out at the
Dhola-Hatighuli is quick, economic and somewhat
simple. By carrying out these protection works, the
Brahmaputra board has restricted the flow of River
Dibang in its original course and also avoided
pushing of Lohit River toward bank & habitat area
during the flood of June 2013. The Tie-bund
constructed with geobags served the purpose and
protected the banks. After flood, considerable
amount of silt deposits were noted on the bags.
Siltation on the bags indicates the achievement of
the desired function of tie-bund works along the
River. Natural growth of bushes all along the tie-
bund has added more stability to barrier. Creating
such type of tie-bund in a selected area has not
only provided stability but also reduces the sinking
of protection work as a whole.
Sometimes conventional system for solution will
not be sufficient for desired results. Use of a
composite system, such as protection work with
Geosynthetics material may prove effective and
economically viable. To keep this system to
perform in the long run, it is necessary to prevent
the erosion from bed and for that Geotextile bags,
filled with the locally available material, is the
ideal option. While designing the protection works
and choosing the products, due care has to be taken
for proper design, structural integrity of the system,
experienced designer and contractors who installs
the system in order to avoid negative criticism.
Following advantages with this application can be
outlined-
1. Filling, transportation and installing the Geobags
is quick, simpler & economic when required
infilling sand material is abundantly available at
site. Locally available unskilled labours for filling
the bags can add more economy in project.
2. It takes less time in procurement of the geotextile
bags than the boulders & aggregates and also
length of carriage distance. Therefore huge cost
for carriage of rock boulders would be saved.
3. Uniformity in material specification is also
achieved and maintained for the entire project.
4. Conventionally used boulders for protection
works has become scarce and also damage the
ecological balance. Using of sand filled geotextile
bags in various forms, size, shape is found perfect
replacement for boulder.
5. Restoration and maintenance work is easier than
other conventional methods.
6. Creating such type of integrated structure with
greater area and uniformity in construction
reduces damage to the base of structure and
chance of sinking considerably.
7. Such type of application replaces all other
methods for immediate protection in the region
where flood is a regular phenomenon and
construction is to be completed in a constraint
time period.
Page 5 of 6
 S.S.Maurya, N.Kumar & M.Gupta
8. Construction of such structure can be used to
restrict the flow towards habitat area, thereby
delaying the problem to complete the permanent
structure to safeguard the land against erosion.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the contributions of the
Chief Engineer, Brahmaputra Board and his team
for their valuable contribution in the presentation
of this paper by way of active cooperation at the
time of actual investigation and testing.
REFERENCES
1. Bhuyan.D.K, Flood Management activities in
Assam, Assam Water Conference -2013, 15-20.
2. Govt. of India, CWC (2012), Handbook for
Flood Protection, Anti-Erosion & River
Training Works.
3. M.Gupta, R.Chitra and Murari Ratnam,
Geosynthetics in River Bank Erosion Control,
Conf. on Geosynthetics in Infrastructure
Issues and Challenges, Aug. 25-26, 2012,
Osmania University, Hyderabad, 383-394.
4. CSMRS (2013), Report on Laboratory testing
on Geobags of Type-A (1.03 X 0.7 m) made of
non-woven Geotextile from Brahmaputra
Board, North Guwahati Circle, Rudreswar
Guwahati.
5. ASTM D 5261-1992 (2003), Test Methods for
Measuring Mass per unit area of Geotextiles.
6. ASTM D 4595-2005, Test Method for Tensile
properties of Geotextiles by the Wide Width
Strip Method.
7. ASTM D 6241-04, Test Method for the Static
Puncture Strength of Geotextiles and
Geotextile-Related Products Using a 50 mm
Probe.
8. ASTM D 4751-2004, Test Method for
Determining Apparent Opening Size of a
Geotextile.
Page 6 of 6