Chinaisacountryofhighseismicitywithmanyhydropowerresources.Recently,aseriesofhigharchdamshaveeitherbeencompletedorarebeingconstructedinseismicregions,ofwhichmostareconcretedams.Theevaluationofseismicsafetyoftenbecomesacriticalproblemindamdesign.Inthispaper,abriefintroductiontomajorprogressintheresearchonseismicaspectsoflargeconcretedams,conductedmainlyattheInstituteofWaterResourcesandHydropowerResearch(IWHR)duringthepast60years,ispresented.Thedamsite-specificgroundmotioninput,improvedresponseanalysis,dynamicmodeltestverification,fieldexperimentinvestigations,dynamicbehaviorofdamconcrete,andseismicmonitoringandobservationaredescribed.Methodstopreventcollapseofhighconcretedamsundermaximumcredibleearthquakesarediscussed.
