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The article deals with the issues of improving hydraulic retain-ing structures of the gravity (massive) type. In order to reduce the cost of building gravity (massive) dams and increase their efficiency, a constant search for new, more efficient design solutions is underway. The purpose of the research is to analyze the main directions of improving hydraulic re-taining structures of gravity type. The article suggests a more effective method for improving concrete gravity dams, based on the idealization of structural and technological solutions. Its peculiarity is that on the basis of the identified solutions of the traditional method, an effective design of a concrete dam and the technology of its construction are selected, and then promising, patentable solutions are developed, which in their properties approach the ideal structures. In accordance with the method, the structural and technological solutions of the gravity dam with the use of coarse-pored concrete were developed. The design is high-tech and allows cooling of the dam mass by filtering water through large pores of concrete.

Concrete gravity dam is a very important civil engineering structure from hydro power and irrigation point of view. It stores a massive amount of water in its reservoir. Dam failure can cause enormous destruction in the downstream. That is why, the safety of dam has paramount importance. The objective of this paper is divided into two categories. First of all a cost based dam section optimization or design program, named “Optidam”, is presented. The Optidam program is able to design an optimized concrete gravity dam section based on pseudo static analysis proposed in Indian standard. Then one dam section, which is designed using the “Optidam”, is checked and analyzed by non-linear seismic analysis to ensure its safety. Finally, a parametric analysis is performed to propose a dam design guidelines. Empirical relationships between the different geometric parameters of an optimized concrete gravity dam section with cohesion and internal friction angle of soil/rock foundation are evaluated after designing 1080 number of dams, having height ranges from 50–300 m, and situated on different foundation characteristics.

On a global scale, the demand for mineral products has increased substantially with economic development. Consequently, the mining of mineral resources results in the production and accumulation of a large number of tailings, causing many problems with respect to mining, the environment, and the economy. In the mining process, tailings must be reasonably treated to prevent them from entering the water cycle through rivers. The storage of tailings under water can effectively hinder the chemical reactions that they undergo. Therefore, it is a critical practice to store these substances in ponds or impoundments behind dams. However, tailings dams frequently fail, resulting in the discharge of significant quantities of tailings into the natural environment, thereby causing grievous casualties and serious economic losses. This paper discusses reasons including seepage, foundation failure, overtopping, and earthquake for tailings dam failures and explores failure mechanisms by referring to the available literature. This research has determined that the failure of tailings dams is closely related to the state of the country’s economy. Most of the tailings dam breakages in developed countries occurred decades ago. In recent years, the proportion of tailings dam failures in developing countries has been relatively high. Considering the serious damages caused by tailings dam breakage, it is important to understand the main reasons and mechanisms for their failure. The purpose of this review is to provide a reference for the design and construction to the building of the tailing dams and to reduce the occurrences of their failure.

Seepage is a main cause of dam failure, and its stability analysis is the focus of a dam’s design, construction, and management. Because a geological survey can only determine the range of a dam foundation’s hydraulic conductivity, hydraulic conductivity inversion is crucial in engineering. However, current inversion methods of dam hydraulic conductivity are either not accurate enough or too complex to be directly used in engineering. Therefore, this paper proposes a new method for the inversion of hydraulic conductivity with high application value in hydraulic engineering using an improved genetic algorithm coupled with an unsaturated equivalent continuum model (IGA–UECM). This method is implemented by a new code that fully considers engineering applicability. In addition to overcoming the premature convergence shortcomings of traditional genetic algorithms, it converges faster than Bayesian optimization and tree-structured Parzen estimator inversion algorithms. This method is verified by comparing the water head from drilling exploration and inversion. The results of the inversion are used to study the influence of a cement grouting curtain layout scheme on the seepage field of the Hami concrete-face rockfill dam in China, which is used as an engineering application case of the IGA–UECM. The law of the seepage field is reasonable, which verifies the validity of the IGA–UECM. The new inversion method of hydraulic conductivity and the proposed cement grouting curtain layout in this study offer possible strategies for the design, construction, and management of concrete-face rockfill dams.

Rivers are one of nature's most vital energy sources, and their power can be efficiently harnessed through the construction of dams. But now dams have become a controversial engine in the race toward technological advancement, so much so that the World Commission on Dams convened in 1998 to debate the issue. Are dams a help to society or an agent of environmental destruction? Trevor Turpin explores the answers to that question here in his comprehensive historical chronicle. Among the most amazing feats of human engineering, a dam can sustain societies in a multitude of ways, as40, 000 of themaround the world provide such things as electricity, water for farms and cities, and canals for boat navigation. Turpin traces their development, design, and consequences from the Industrial Revolution to now, examining edifices in China, Las Vegas, and places in between. The often contentious debate between environmentalists, architects, and engineers, Dam shows, is a complex one that pits the benefits of dams against the long-term ecological health of nations. Neither a polemic against dams nor a defense of their proliferation, Dam offers a judicious and in-depth account of this cornerstone of our modern age.

Climate change poses an escalating threat to the safety of high-hazard embankment dams, increases flood discharge impacting dam overtopping risk by altering the hydrological load of the original dam designed capacity. This paper’s primary aims are to evaluate climate change’s influence on extreme rainfall events and their impact on dam safety and to assess the overtopping risk of Batu Dam under various climate scenarios. This study focusses on assessing the overtopping risk of Batu Dam in Malaysia, utilizing regional climate model projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) spanning 2020 to 2100. Three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs)—RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5 as the scenario and divide into 3 period of study: early century (2020–2046), mid (2047–2073) and late-century (2074–2100) evaluated with hydrological analysis to access the dam safety. Using the Linear Scaling Method (LSM), we corrected the bias projection rainfall data from three Regional Climate Models (RCMs) for the RCPs. Future Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) was estimated using statistical analysis techniques developed by the National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM). Additionally, Rainfall Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves were updated based on climate scenarios outlined in the Hydrological Procedure 2021 and the associated Climate Change Factors. The HEC-HMS hydrological model was employed to simulate PMF and IDF for ARIs ranging from 1 to 100,000 years, providing a comprehensive analysis of risks under future climatic conditions. Across all future climate scenarios, inflow events were projected to exceed the dam design inflow, with RCP8.5 indicating the highest inflow values, particularly later in the century, highlighting probability of overtopping risks. Late-century projections show inflow for ARI 50 under RCP8.5 exceeding PMF by 20%, while mid-century RCP6.0 results indicate a 15% higher inflow for ARI 50000. Early-century RCP4.5 shows a 10% increase for ARI 100000 compared to PMF. The study advocates adaptive dam safety management and flood protection measures. This research provides crucial insights for embankment dam owners, stressing the urgent need to address Batu Dam’s vulnerability to extreme flooding amidst climate change and emphasizing proactive measures to fortify critical infrastructure and protect downstream communities.

A multivariate analysis on flood variables is needed to design some hydraulic structures like dams, as the complexity of the routing process in a reservoir requires a representation of the full hydrograph. In this work, a bivariate copula model was used to obtain the bivariate joint distribution of flood peak and volume, in order to know the probability of occurrence of a given inflow hydrograph. However, the risk of dam overtopping is given by the maximum water elevation reached during the routing process, which depends on the hydrograph variables, the reservoir volume and the spillway crest length. Consequently, an additional bivariate return period, the so-called routed return period, was defined in terms of risk of dam overtopping based on this maximum water elevation obtained after routing the inflow hydrographs. The theoretical return periods, which give the probability of occurrence of a hydrograph prior to accounting for the reservoir routing, were compared with the routed return period, as in both cases hydrographs with the same probability will draw a curve in the peak-volume space. The procedure was applied to the case study of the Santillana reservoir in Spain. Different reservoir volumes and spillway lengths were considered to investigate the influence of the dam and reservoir characteristics on the results. The methodology improves the estimation of the Design Flood Hydrograph and can be applied to assess the risk of dam overtopping.

Predictions of pore pressure and seepage discharge are the most important parameters in the design of earth dams and assessing their safety during the operational period as well. In this research, soft computing models namely multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN), support vector machine (SVM), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), genetic programming (GP), M5 algorithm, and group method of data handling (GMDH) were used to predict the piezometric head in the core and the seepage discharge through the body of earth dam. For this purpose, the data recorded by the absolute instrument during the last 94 months of Shahid Kazemi Bukan Dam were used. The results showed that all of the applied models had a permissible level of accuracy in the prediction of the piezometric heads. The average error indices for the models in the training phase were R 2 = 0.957 and RMSE= 0.806 and in the testing phase were equal to R 2 = 0.949 and RMSE= 0.932, respectively. The performances of all models except the M5 and MARS in predicting seepage discharge are nearly identical; however, the best is the MARS, and the weakest is the M5 algorithm.

Farm dams are a ubiquitous limnological feature of agricultural landscapes worldwide. While their primary function is to capture and store water, they also have disproportionally large effects on biodiversity and biogeochemical cycling, with important relevance to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the abundance and distribution of farm dams is unknown in most parts of the world. Therefore, we used artificial intelligence and remote sensing data to address this critical global information gap. Specifically, we trained a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) on high-definition satellite images to detect farm dams and carry out the first continental-scale assessment on density, distribution and historical trends. We found that in Australia there are 1.765 million farm dams that occupy an area larger than Rhode Island (4678 km2) and store over 20 times more water than Sydney Harbour (10,990 GL). The State of New South Wales recorded the highest number of farm dams (654,983; 37% of the total) and Victoria the highest overall density (1.73 dams km−2). We also estimated that 202,119 farm dams (11.5%) remain omitted from any maps, especially in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Three decades of historical records revealed an ongoing decrease in the construction rate of farm dams, from >3% per annum before 2000, to ~1% after 2000, to <0.05% after 2010—except in the Australian Capital Territory where rates have remained relatively high. We also found systematic trends in construction design: farm dams built in 2015 are on average 50% larger in surface area and contain 66% more water than those built in 1989. To facilitate sharing information on sustainable farm dam management with authorities, scientists, managers and local communities, we developed AusDams.org—a free interactive portal to visualise and generate statistics on the physical, environmental and ecological impacts of farm dams.

Recent innovation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its encouraged application in digitalizing design and construction within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry are essentially shifting the process by which structures are designed and constructed. For instance, larger infrastructures like dams have been associated with inherent complexity throughout its construction phases. Started with planning phase, continued by construction, and handed over into operation and maintenance phase, scheduling and monitoring progress require highly accurate data for input, process, and output to be coordinated between stakeholders. This study presents a systematic approach in tackling issues related to the integration of construction phases, specifically concerning construction monitoring efforts based on BIM. The analysis conducted was concentrated on integrating scheduling and monitoring into a BIM model of a dam, as this study also discusses the potential added value of BIM implementation on dam projects where the whole engineering process can be improved with digital tools, as well as explain and illustrate the modelling mechanism undertaken. The method exemplified in this study is expected to encourage the implementation of BIM in dam constructions and management to enhance effectiveness and encourage sustainability.