ABSTRACT
There are many earth-fill dams for farm ponds in Japan, particularly in the Setouchi region, which is the area surrounding the Inland Sea of Japan. Some of them are getting old and decrepit, and have weakened. Every year, a number of them is damaged by heavy rains and earthquakes, and in a few worst cases, the dams are completely ruined. To mitigate such disasters, improvement works are conducted on the most decrepit earth-fill dams. Since there is a recent demand for low-cost improvements, the development of a design method for optimum improvement works at a low cost is the final objective of this research. A reliability-based design method is introduced here in response to this demand.
