A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economic...

In 1891 a report was published by an ASCE committee to investigate the cause of the Johnstown flood of 1889. They concluded that changes made to the dam by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club did not cause the disaster because the embankment would have been overflowed and breached if the changes were not made. We dispute that conclusion based on hydraulic analyses of the dam as originally b...

Forensic studies of past hydraulic structure failures are rare despite their critical relevance to modern hydraulic design, and the writers (Dai et al., 2005) must be congratulated for their outstanding study. Herein the discussion is focused on two aspects of the conclusion. It is believed that dam overtopping was the primary cause of the Dadu river landslide dam failure, although aftershocks ...

Failure analysis of the dam-foundation interface in concrete dams is characterized by complexity, uncertainties on models and parameters, and a strong non-linear softening behavior. In practice, these uncertainties are dealt with a well-structured mixture of experience, best practices and prudent, conservative design approaches based on the safety factor concept. Yet, a sound, deep knowledge of...

Leakage is a major safety issue that, if left unchecked, may result in dam failure by various mechanisms. There is enormous pressure on dam operators to repair leaks without significant delays. Frequently, the need to reduce the risk of failure or control water loss has led to costly remedial repairs that are planned and executed without a complete understanding of the problem. A lack of approp...

Dam safety assessments rely on the skill and experience of dam engineers but such expertise is not always easily transferred to new staff or conveyed in written reports. Many old dams have outlived their creators and puzzle those that see them for the first time. Eliane Alves Portela and Joao Bento explain how expert system technology can help avoid this DAM construction started over 2000 years...