US Bureau of Reclamation dams in the American west

Abstract

This paper chronicles the Bureau of Reclamation's achievements and contributions in the evolution and advancement of dam engineering during the design and construction of water projects, largely in the twentieth century, to supply water and reclaim the arid lands of the western USA. These contributions and advancements had a significant affect on the rest of the world. The paper first discusses the bureau's masonry and concrete dams and briefly describes the more important dams constructed in each decade, along with how they affected the evolution of concrete dam analysis, modelling, design and construction. The bureau's embankment dams are discussed second, briefly describing the more important dams constructed in each decade, along with how they affected the evolution of embankment dam analysis, design and construction. The paper discusses the early empirical and analytical dam designs, site investigations and laboratory testing, the introduction of soil and rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering, foundation treatment, seismic considerations, as well as lessons learned from the Teton dam failure. Related topics such as the evolution of dam instrumentation and monitoring, and a brief history of the bureau's publications associated with concrete and embankment dam engineering are discussed in the paper.