Reliability of low pressure waterworks with earthen dams

There was a failure in the engine room of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, caused victims in August 2009. In order to assess the possible consequences for the reliability (strength and stability) of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP management of "RusHydro" decided to test the strength and stability of the dam using finite-element modeling. The implementation of this work was entrusted to several organizations, including St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University. This paper summarizes the methodology and some of the results of the work.