ABSTRACT
The high bearing capacity of the arch was known even to ancient builders who widely used this principle in the Roman Empire for the construction of bridges and aqueducts. An arch dam on the river Psyrtsha in Abkhazia was built in 1882. In 1879, the French engineer Peltro put forward the idea that the radii of arches should decrease from the crest to the bottom. In a relatively narrow and high canyon, an arch dam with a constant angle made it possible to save 33% of the concrete volume of the gravity dam, while the safety factor of the arch dam is two times higher compared to the gravity variant. American researchers after testing a number of models drew attention to the fact that dams as a rule are destroyed in the upper third of the height.
