Recent developments on seismic safety evaluation of concrete dams

Abstract The Tsinghua Group of Earthquake Resistance on Dams has conducted seismic analysis and safety evaluation of concrete dams since the early 1980s. This paper reviews the recent developments achieved by the group, including source–media–structure simulation, dynamic experimental tests and mesoscale numerical simulation of concrete, and seismic response analysis and risk evaluation. In the end, the development trends of seismic safety evaluation are summarized, and the earthquake disaster chain of cascade dams is introduced.