Determination of risk for German dams: Introduction to risk assessment and economic damage evaluation

摘要

Technical and legal standards for the planning, construction, operation and monitoring of German dams are very elaborate and high in demands. As a result, the German society's understanding of dam safety was dominated by a safety-oriented perspective. International discussions and developments concerning risk and recent major disasters lead to an increased awareness of risk inherent to technical buildings in general. As a result of this, the technical requirements are changing in Germany, making a risk-based approach towards dam safety necessary. A Risk Assessment Procedure is currently under development at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Aachen University of Technology. Part of this procedure is the valuation of damages towards sociology, environment and economy in general. Assessing economic damages on a monetary basis requires the collection of representative data on values of affected properties. The final determination of the economic damage bases on the analysis of the extent of damage caused by underlying physical parameters of a flood wave, initiated by a dam failure.