<p>Are there any recognized studies on the effectiveness of sand-bags in protecting property in some disaster or flood? Many times on the major news they talk about how sand-bags are used in a flood , how many people 'pull' together and make a great effort to save various properties. The thing is in many such instances the News people do not follow up on whether the sand-bags held. There has been a few mentions of it being successful but they do not mention much if or when the sand bags actually fail. So have there been any official studies in the effectiveness of sand bags?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-08T09:17:52.873Z
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2010.11.010 Not sure I'd call this a recognized ref, though.
Deer Hunter
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T00:01:36.113Z
Is anyone working on an alternative to sand-bags? I heard some group is working on bigger portable 'blocks' that fit together like big 'jig-saw' pieces forming a kind of portable wall.
201044
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T03:47:25.890Z
[Sandbags](http://advancedbarriers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/flood4.jpg) [definitely](http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/redriver_03_27/r17_18436477.jpg) [work](http://www.sosavebag.com/images/Mississippi-River-Flooding.jpg). How well the work will be very dependant on lots of factors - how they are stacked, how big they are, what pressure head they are holding back against, what they are made of etc. Of course, none are going to work perfectly, so it also depends on the severity and duration of the flood, as well as the ability to pump water out.
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T03:50:55.613Z
Sandbags work if all the relevant conditions are right. But in real usage how often do they fail?
201044
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T04:01:55.317Z
Whenever all of the relevant conditions are not right? Maybe your question is too broad? Maybe something like "What are the most common causes of sandbag failure?" would be more answerable? But then, a common, small failure might be less relevant than an uncommon catastrophic failure.
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T04:05:30.810Z
I haven't read [this article](http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA194519), but it looks like a good place to start.
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T04:19:14.450Z
If sandbags fail 10% of times that are documented ( if any failures are recorded) then in this modern era where the concept of sandbag has been around a long time would there be room for alternative methods?  It may be greatly effective but it seems like a primitive method.
201044
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-29T03:30:38.283Z
Are there any practical alternatives to sandbags?
201044
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-22T02:57:45.333Z
Are there any practical alternatives to sandbags that don't fail as much?
201044
<human-influence><severe-weather><environmental-protection>
About the effectiveness of sand-bags
201044
# About the effectiveness of sand-bags

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-01-08)

Are there any recognized studies on the effectiveness of sand-bags in protecting property in some disaster or flood? Many times on the major news they talk about how sand-bags are used in a flood , how many people 'pull' together and make a great effort to save various properties. The thing is in many such instances the News people do not follow up on whether the sand-bags held. There has been a few mentions of it being successful but they do not mention much if or when the sand bags actually fail. So have there been any official studies in the effectiveness of sand bags?

**Tags:** human-influence, severe-weather, environmental-protection

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2010.11.010 Not sure I'd call this a recognized ref, though.  
> **username_0**: Is anyone working on an alternative to sand-bags? I heard some group is working on bigger portable 'blocks' that fit together like big 'jig-saw' pieces forming a kind of portable wall.  
> **username_2**: [Sandbags](http://advancedbarriers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/flood4.jpg) [definitely](http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/redriver_03_27/r17_18436477.jpg) [work](http://www.sosavebag.com/images/Mississippi-River-Flooding.jpg). How well the work will be very dependant on lots of factors - how they are stacked, how big they are, what pressure head they are holding back against, what they are made of etc. Of course, none are going to work perfectly, so it also depends on the severity and duration of the flood, as well as the ability to pump water out.  
> **username_0**: Sandbags work if all the relevant conditions are right. But in real usage how often do they fail?  
> **username_2**: Whenever all of the relevant conditions are not right? Maybe your question is too broad? Maybe something like "What are the most common causes of sandbag failure?" would be more answerable? But then, a common, small failure might be less relevant than an uncommon catastrophic failure.  
> **username_2**: I haven't read [this article](http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA194519), but it looks like a good place to start.  
> **username_0**: If sandbags fail 10% of times that are documented ( if any failures are recorded) then in this modern era where the concept of sandbag has been around a long time would there be room for alternative methods?  It may be greatly effective but it seems like a primitive method.  
> **username_0**: Are there any practical alternatives to sandbags?  
> **username_0**: Are there any practical alternatives to sandbags that don't fail as much?  

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## 0 answers

