I remember ARAMCO practice ; top width = 1200 mm, max . height =2000 mm, max. slope = 1.0 V; 1.5 H ; the dike surface is covered with asphalt concrete 50 mm .
If together with access road, the top width 6000 mm.
Does my comment answer to your post ? If not, provide some data , the reason for earthen dike etc..
But the picture you have posted seems 2.0 m high dike. The dike ht should be decided acc.to availability of area, fill material etc.. The info. that i provided from ARAMCO standard dwg.
Our small environmental firm is involved in tank inspections as well as filling inspection reports for our State in which the tank is located. Obviously the paper work concerning tank inspections gets into secondary containment as required by our State. Now our customer has contacted us that he had work done on his earthen dyke walls which was originally build during the field erection of the tank back in 1959. We have no information, yet, as to the type of work done on the secondary containment and the owner has no original blue prints that would have been generated about the earthen dyke. I am trying to find references about design practices along with specifications of earthen dykes built in 1959 or thereabout that I would like to review to edify myself. The current SPCC also needs to be UPGRADED due to the work done on the earthen dyke, a requirement of our State where the tank is located. References will give a history of past design practices about building earthen dykes and if the upgrade is consistent with past and current practices.
A tank farm dyke wall is sized by containment volume required by code. As a containment measure, it should be constructed by soil with low permeability, or lined with fabric liners. Structural wise, it is just a retaining wall. I think you should consult with a geotechnical engineer to explore the materials, and slop stability, if that's what you need to bring it to date.
I think you'll be looking for a long time.... As said before, earthen dykes are basically just compacted lumps of stone, sand, mud and whatever else the builder had lying around which he then hopefully covered with something relatively impermeable, or grass, to stop it getting washed away. They really are the forgotten child of tank farm design.
Pipe entry though the bunds were allowed, but following a number of failures, nowadays are frowned on unless incorporated into a concrete wall or something a bit more substantial.
What's an SPCC?
If the work involved any removal and replacement of material I would be very concerned about the re-instatement and the join between existing and new creating a failure plane.
It is not uncommon for tank repairs to remove a section of the bund for easy ground level access, but replacement is sometimes an issue.
Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
SPCC is the EPA-required Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures Plan, part of the Clean Water Act, and intended to prevent oils from reaching public waters. More information can be found below.
Chicopee - make sure your local state authority is okay with just earthen dikes (i.e. permeability through the soil is acceptably low). Especially with lower molecular weight materials, liners are often needed to control permeability.
Also, if you are in the USA, you may want to revise spelling to dike, instead of dyke. The former word is the common spelling for a containment while the latter word is typically a pejorative term.
