New developments in RCC dams

When the first Conference on RCC dams was held in Beijing in 1991, there were more than 60 completed RCC dams worldwide, in 15 countries. There are now more than 550, either complete or under construction, a phenomenal expansion of a method of dam construction in a necessarily conservative world. This paper traces changes that have taken place over 20 years: the distribution of RCC dams around the world; the expansion of RCC dams in the leading RCC dam-building countries; the various design philosophies which have been used; and, the different cementitious materials used in RCC for dams. Developments in the methods of forming the faces are also described; these have been significant, as in 1991 neither GEVR (grout-enriched vibratable RCC) nor GE-RCC (grout- enriched RCC) had been developed and now a significant proportion of RCC dams use this technology. The highest, largest and fastest RCC dams are also described, along with lessons that can be learnt from these dams.