Ageing and life-span of dams

Ageing is the main factor governing the life-span of any engineering structure. In the context of this paper the term ageing is used to describe the decrease in safety of the dam body with time. The factors to be considered include all time-dependent physical processes and changes in safety criteria that govern the safety assessment of dams. Long life-spans can only be reached, if the dam satisfies all safety criteria during its long life, which implies that the owner or operator provides take care of a dam and provide adequate maintenance.