Dam failure mechanisms and risk assessment

Dam risk management requires not only a good understanding of dam failure mechanisms and probability, but also rapid evaluation of flood routing time and potential flooding areas. For instance, in the mitigation of the risks of the Tangjiashan landslide dam in June 2008, three likely overtopping failure modes were considered, the dam breaching impact area for each failure mode was evaluated and the flooding routing time was forecast. Consequently, approximately 250,000 people downstream of the dam were evacuated before the breaching of the large landslide dam.
The book Dam Failure Mechanisms and Risk Assessment by Zhang, Peng, Chang, and Xu covers the widespectrum of knowledge required for such a complex dam risk analysis and management case.
This book is unique in that:1. It is the first book that introduces the causes, processes, consequences of dam failures and possible
risk mitigation measures in one nutshell;
2. It integrates the physical processes of dam failures and the mathematical aspects of risk
assessment in a concise manner;
3. It emphasizes integrating theory and practice to better demonstrate the application of risk
assessment and decision methodologies to real cases;
4. It intends to formulate dam‐failure emergency management steps in a scientific structure.