The increasing demand for safety in modern society has created the need for cost-effective measures to protect critical infrastructure such as dams. Aware of this issues, both technical and scientific communities have focused on studying the causes and consequences of some of the most frequent mechanisms of dam failure along the history, namely the overtopping and the accidental leakage, especially in embankment dams. Similarly, the technology of dam protection has undergone major advancements in the last decades. This has led to develop innovative and cost-effective ways to protect our existing dams.
Following this demand, a group of engineers and scientists organized the 1st International Seminar on Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage (Protections 2014) in Madrid (Spain) in 2014. The first seminar seeded the foundations to build a project which first common goal was to keep this group alive, based on the interest awakened in many of the participants. This led to the organization of the second edition of this seminar (Protections 2016) held in 2016 in Fort Collins (Colorado, USA).
As a result of these initiatives the present blog is presented as a meeting point for everyone interested in this subject, a wide highway of knowledge and discussion to help to consolidate the Protections Community as a group in the future. Accordingly, publications from authors all over the world are welcomed. This information may include photographs, case studies, news, videos, memorandums, presentations, technical notes, industrial catalogs, research papers or any other item that can be considered representative to increase the knowledge about the blog scope, which can be grouped in the following topics:
- Failure of embankment and masonry dams due to overtopping or accidental leakage.
- Soft and hard protections for embankment dams.
- Masonry dam protections.
- Additional issues directly related to dam protections.
