The Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) invites all persons interested in the safety of dams to submit abstracts of papers to be considered for presentation at Dam Safety 2004, ASDSO's 21st Annual Conference, to be held September 26-29, 2004 at the Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, US.
Engineers, geologists, hydrologists, dam owners, state, local or federal officials, industry representatives and others working in the field of dam safety are invited to share their experiences in all aspects of dam safety.
Conference presentations are scheduled for 30 minutes each. Authors may choose from, but are not limited to the following general subject areas:
• Dam failures and incidents – including failure forensics, failure hydraulics (breach and downstream routing modeling), litigation lessons (expert witness preparation for litigation, attorney case preparation for trial, dam failure & incidents legal outcomes), effectiveness of emergency action programs, survivor or eyewitness accounts, conditions after a failure, the recovery process.
• Hydrology and hydraulics – including risk analysis/assessment, paleohydrology, PMF/PMP, overtopping modelling, spillway capacity evaluations; hydraulic modelling, test results and field performance; other research studies.
• Geotechnical issues – including pipes and penetration issues, overtopping protection (analysis, design, and performance case studies), grouting, rock anchors, liquefaction, slope stability analyses and design, seismic evaluations and designs, seepage and seepage control, and instrumentation/monitoring.
• Emergency preparedness – emergency operations, actions, & lessons, security measures, flood warning systems, EAPs, Dambreak applications, and disaster mitigation.
• Dam and rehabilitation design – advice, lessons learned, rehabilitation of typical small, medium and large dams, underwater operations, RCC, spillways, stabilization and instrumentation/monitoring.
• Dam inspections – including outlet works, radial gates, dam owner experiences and solutions, inspection techniques, underwater and confined space techniques.
• Removal of dams and environmental issues – dam breach issues, innovative engineering and construction techniques, environmental effects and remediation issues, societal issues and community input, funding options, lessons learned about the removal option from actual feasibility studies, comparisons of removal verses repair costs analysis, the sediment time bomb, post failure sediment case studies.
• Dam safety regulatory programmes – state programmes, federal programmes, public relations, programmes in other countries, public presentation and meeting control, staff / programme management lessons, at risk people (disclosure, outreach, public awareness, downstream owner organization, participation, activism, a voice for balanced legislative policy), public verses private inspections.
• Low head dam hydraulics and public safety – such as compare and contrast case studies, remediation methods, lessons, current state programs, guidance for owners, engineers, and recreational safety personnel on reducing, preventing or eliminating the safety problem.
• Owner issues – including hazard creep and downstream development, lake management, environmental issues, shoreline erosion, remote operations, public safety at dams, ownership responsibilities, the sale of a dam, lifetime dam escrow accounts, upstream and downstream owners rights issues, notification protocol for downstream owners regarding substandard structures, or media relations.
• Dam construction – environmental issues, fish passage, contractor experiences, spillways, instrumentation/monitoring, and comparing and contrasting case studies.
• General information/multi category – unusual multidisciplinary issues (cooperation, thinking, tasks, and skills integration in the design, analysis, or inspection process), new technology applications, current technical research, model testing, recent graduates‚ contributions to issues of dam safety, or engineering education trends and challenges.
• Security at dams – including vulnerability assessments, security inspections, upgrading security, integrating security issues into EAPs, lessons learned.
All abstracts must be received by ASDSO or postmarked by 20 February 2004. For detailed instructions, please see Conferences and Training, at the ASDSO website (click weblink below) , or contact Susan Sorrell, +1 859/257-5140, email: info@damsafety.org
IMAGE: use small picture from IWP&DC March 2002 front cover