Earthquake damage to fill dams in Japan

Earthquakes have caused considerable damage to fill-type darns. Research into earthquake damage has contributed to the study of earthquake resistance of dams. However damage to fill dams occurred almost only in the case of small-scale earth dame. especially in the few cases of serious damage. This report describes the damage and performance of earth dams and fill dams more than 15 m high during earthquakes, based on literature data as well as field surveys. The results indicated that even stronger earthquakes than the designed earthquake intensity did not cause heavy damage to large well-constructed modem dams. The above analysis of the performance of fill dams during earthquakes shows that large-scale darns are earthquake-proof.