Structural Behavior of Dams is an interactive 4-day Dam Engineering workshop for experienced engineers. Originally developed for FERC Engineers, USSD is pleased to host Bruce Brand's workshop virtually May 17-20, 2022. Topics include Loads on Dams, Dynamics, Case Histories and more.

It is well known that a large fraction of the national inventory of dams represents aging infrastructure. As the frequency of extreme climate events increases, and the intensity, severity and duration of cycles of droughts and floods stresses existing reservoirs and dams, there is a need to take stock of both the conditions of the dams, their potential for failure and what would be at risk in that event.

At approximately 12:28pm local time on Jan. 25, 2019, tailings dam B-1 at Vale S.A.’s Corrego do Feijão Iron Ore Mine, located 9 kilometers northeast of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, suffered a sudden failure resulting in a catastrophic mudflow that travelled rapidly downstream resulting in significant damage and the loss of over 250 lives. This failure was unique in that there are high quality video images of the event that provide insights into the failure mechanism.