ABSTRACT
The photograph in Fig. 7.1 shows the Revelstoke Dam on the Columbia River in British Columbia, Canada. The dam comprises a concrete gravity dam in the river channel with an earthfill embankment section on the right bank. The maximum height of the gravity section is 175 m (575 ft) made up of 23 separate blocks ranging in width from 13 to 26 m (43 to 87 ft). The earthfill dam is 1160 m (3800 ft) long and has a maximum height of about 126 m (413 ft); it is located on a terrace comprising sand, gravel and cobbles at an elevation about 50 m (164 ft) above the foundation of the gravity dam. Preparation of the foundation for the gravity dam required extensive excavation, partly to locate the downstream end of the highest dam blocks below a major shear. The earthfill dam is founded on the granular materials but a core trench was excavated through this material to found the dam core directly on bedrock (Forster, 1986).
