Introduction

Abstract

In this chapter a summary of the historical record of dam and gate failures is compiled. Once the reader is familiar with the failure statistics, a concise summary of the prerequisite topics such as press-shut and press-open devices needed to understand the analysis of gate failures is presented. Subsequently, a non-mathematical conceptual descriptions of various excitation mechanisms, such as discharge fluctuations, shear layers instability, nappe instability, coupled-mode long-span gate instability, eccentricity instability and coupled-mode Tainter gate instability that excite gate vibration are presented to set the stage for more analytical treatment in subsequent chapters.