Aspects of Freeboard-Design at Dams in Germany

The design of freeboard at dams is mainly ruled by security requirements facing the best economic utilization of the storage capacity. Therefore, it is desirable to estimate the indispensable freeboard as exactly as possible. Nevertheless, up to now, there are no homogeneous freeboard calculation formulae defined within the “technical standards generally accepted”, which specify the requirements to be followed concerning technical and security aspects. As a first step, a general method to estimate homogeneously and transparently the wind induced freeboard according to those technical standards with special regard for the use in practice is developed.