Assessment of Risk for a Gravity Dam

The operation of a device or structure which may fail entails a risk which is defined as the product of the likelihood of failure and the magnitude of the consequences of failure. For dams, the purpose of risk assessment is twofold. First, to enable a cost/benefit analysis to be made of alternative actions, the benefit being a relative risk reduction; the alternative actions may include several proposals for modifying the existing dam, or at the design stage a comparison of several configurations and/or dimensional details. Second, to rank existing dams; high-risk dams may then be chosen for further investigation and remedial works. Furthermore, risk comparison based on a uniform standardized method could also serve as a guide to setting dam insurance premiums.