Assessing the Safety of Existing Embankment Dams

Many existing embankment dams were designed and constructed to standards below current requirements, potentially posing risks to downstream populations. Dam owners must assess whether these structures provide adequate safety or require upgrades to reduce risks to acceptable levels. This book provides in-depth analysis of dam failure mechanics alongside relevant engineering assessment methods.

The book provides comprehensive methods for assessing embankment dam safety across four critical failure modes: overtopping, slope instability, deformations under seismic loading, and internal erosion and piping. Assessment approaches include deterministic (standards-based), risk enhanced deterministic, quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and simplified QRA methodologies. These approaches represent current industry practice, drawing from the authors' extensive experience in dam safety assessment and upgrade design across more than 200 dams in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Panama.

The book is designed to help dam owners, their consultant engineers and engineering geologists develop defensible safety assessments and upgrade designs for existing dams.