ABSTRACT
Arch dams are curved water-retaining structures, which work as a vault that takes on the loading from the upstream face and transfers it to the foundation; that is to say, onto the rock into which it is encastered, i.e. end-fixed (Fig. 20.1c). Arch dams, according to the way they function, differ essentially from gravity dams, which resist the horizontal forces, mainly, by means of their self-weight. The great French constructor of dams André Coyne writes: “When you think well about it, then it is clear that it is much more rational for the stability of a structure to be provided by means of its suitable form rather than by its weight’’ (Coyne, 1943).
