Abstract
Earthquake motion is one of the extreme loads acting on large dams. Dam owners and regulators must therefore ensure that dams are safely operated and present minimal risk to the public in case of extreme loads such as floods and earthquakes. Owners of many dams or officials in charge of dam safety programs may consider comparative assessment of the seismic risk associated with their dams and establish priorities for detailed evaluation. South Africa has in excess of 100 large state-owned dams and the characteristics of these dams have been used to perform a basic seismic hazard assessment and rank the vulnerability of these dams from the lowest to highest. One of the most decisive factors that contributes to the risk of a dam is the wall type; with gravity and earthfill dams being the most vulnerable to earthquake motion. Another aspect that needs further investigation is the downstream hazard potential which, if known to a better degree of accuracy, can provide more reasonable estimates of the risk factors.
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Singh, M., Kijko, A. & van den Berg, L. Seismic risk ranking for large dams in South Africa. Acta Geophys. 59, 72–90 (2011). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11600-010-0044-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11600-010-0044-3