Four handpicked embankment dams were analyzed as case
dams. The case dams, referred to as Case 1 to Case 4 within the
paper, are a representative set of dams with different characteristics
in terms of their reservoir levels, the existence of natural spillways,
the current deterioration levels, and their priority for immediate
remedial actions. Case 1 demonstrates a case of one of the largest
reservoirs in the U.S. with a natural spillway to control and change
the flow of the water if the reservoir rises to its limits. Case 2 demonstrates
a case where severe loading conditions have been experienced
over the years and consequently several risk reduction
measures have been taken. Case 3 resembles the dam in Case 1 in
terms of its reservoir size (one of the largest in the U.S.) and also is
high priority in terms of immediate actions to be taken for excessive
loading/unloading conditions. Case 4 has been selected due to its
high-end instrumentation infrastructure and as a result, decades of
sensor data available that helped the research team to analyze documentation
of previous risk assessment results with rich instrument
data. The available documents, drawings, reports, and instrumentation
data for the risk assessments were obtained, and the team
joined the site visits arranged for the periodic assessment of two
of these dams to be able to observe firsthand the information needs
of engineers during risk assessment.