Safety of Dams: Flood and Earthquake Criteria

From earth tectonics and meteorology to risk, responsibility, and the role of government, this comprehensive and detailed book reviews current practices in designing dams to withstand extreme hydrologic and seismic events. Recommendations for action and for further research to improve dam safety evaluations are presented.

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Extreme Floods and Earthquakes -- The Nature of the Problem
• Summary of Present Practices on Dam Safety Standards
• History of Development
• Design Flood Estimates: Methods and Critique
• Design Earthquake Estimates: Methods and Critique
• Considration of Risk in Dam Safety Evaluations
• Risk and the Calculus of Legal Liability in Dam Failures
• Proposed Hydrologic Criteria
• Proposed Earthquake Criteria
• Continuing Development of Hydrologic and Earthquake Engineering Technologies
• Appendix A: Design Criteria in Use for Dams Relative to Hazards of Extreme Floods
• Appendix B: Design Criteria in Use for Dams Relative to Earthquake Hazards
• Appendix C: Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) Estimates
• Appendix D: Concepts of Probability in Hydrology
• Appendix E: Risk Analysis Approach to Dam Safety Evaluations
• Appendix F: Glossary
• Appendix G: References and Bibliography
• Appendix H: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
• Index