Preliminary Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams, Volume II - User Manual

This report is the second of a two volume series entitled, "Preliminary Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams". The first report in the series discusses the philosophy behind the method and the probabilistic formulation for solving the ranking problem. This second report is a user manual describing the steps to perform the analysis. The user is encouraged to read Volume I to gain a complete perspective of the methodology. The preliminary safety evaluation is intended as a framework to determine a ranking of the dams in the jurisdiction of a single owner or regulator which can be used to decide the order in which dams should be studied in more detail and upgraded. The methodology to accomplish this is called a screening process. Key features of the procedure include, an estimate of the probability of dam failure, loss of life in the event of failure, recommendations and costs for upgrading a dam, and an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of carrying out proposed remedial actions.

This manual describes each step in the procedure and provides tables and figures as aids to carry out the analysis. The methodology is presented in a way that deterministic procedures familiar to the user can be easily substituted for those suggested here. The user is encouraged to utilize methods they are most comfortable with. However, since many dam owners have not developed a program to conduct safety evaluations, simplified methods are recommended to carry out particular tasks in the analysis. A criterion for applying the screening process is consistency, to insure that a reliable, relative ranking is established.