Inspection and Assessment of Dams

This seminar provides comprehensive instruction in inspection and evaluation techniques for dams. The principles, concepts and procedures taught will be readily adaptable to any organization conducting dam inspections and evaluating their compliance with current design standards. The target audience is state and federal dam owners/regulators, local and private dam owners/operators, consulting engineers and personnel responsible for the operation and maintenance of dams. Participants learn about a variety of dam types and their appurtenances, the function of typical dam features, and common dam failure modes and the conditions that can lead to these failure modes. Actual dam failure cases will be presented. Public safety, security, and liability will also be discussed along with approaches to responding to dam incidents.

Students will learn about:

1.  Historical perspective of dam construction methods for various dam types
2.  Common failure modes associated with various dam types
3.  Understanding of standards for maintaining dams
4.  Techniques for performing a comprehensive dam inspection
5.  Awareness of emerging issues related to inspection and assessment of dams

There are no specific education or experience prerequisites for this course, although some knowledge/experience in dam safety would be beneficial.