Comparative study procedure for the safety evaluation of high arch dams

A set of factors for the safety evaluation of the dam heel crack and ultimate bearing capacity of high arch dams is presented: the curtain safety factor k1, the structural mutation safety factor k2, and the ultimate safety factor k3. The factor k1 reflects the curtain safety at the dam heel, k2 describes the structural mutation stage for the adjustment of the multiple arch–cantilever system, and k3 reflects the ultimate bearing capacity of the entire dam structure. A comparative study on the performance and ultimate bearing capacity of dams is performed to give a more reasonable evaluation criterion of safety factors.