New Iranian Dam Safety Assessment Guideline

In this paper the main concerns in dam safety management and assessment in Iran have been discussed. It presents the aspects and issues considered in the Iranian guideline and also give a brief overview of the materials and frame work of it. The paper also compares the changes and differences of the guideline compared to theEuropean, American and some Asian ones and the way to prepare it. The guideline consists of 3main chapters and 4 appendices which are described at this paper. Thesafety issued related to different types of earth and concrete dams have been discussedin details in different chapters and the minimum criteria for safety have been introduced for each.Two approaches for dam safety assessment have been considered in this guidelineincluding qualitative and quantitative assessments. The former mainly focuses on data obtained by monitoring and inspection while the latter presents more quantitativecriteria, formulations and safety factors and also calculation methods for safetyassessment of various types of dams. A national dam failure classification procedure has also been introduced and the other criteria for safety assessment have beenprepared based on that. The paper discusses the classification procedure among some examples of existing dams in Iran. Finally the reasons for differences and similaritiesof this guideline compared to other international guidelines have been presented.

New Iranian Dam Safety Assessment Guideline Keywords:

Dam Safety Guideline , Safety Assessment , Dam Classification , Risk Assessment