THE THEORY OF FLEXIBLE DAMS INFLATED BY WATER PRESSURE

The dam is taken as impounding water at the level of its crest. Relations are derived between the internal pressure and the height, the base width, and the length of the curved perimeter of the dam. The upstream side is easily dealt with, for its shape is an arc of a circle, but calculations for the downstream side require the use of elliptic integrals. A few numerical examples are given.