Dams are built for several purposes, e.g., water supply, irrigation, hydropower production, or flood control. The main categories are concrete dams and embankment dams, but inside each of these two main general categories, there are several different types. Asphalt Core Embankment Dams focusses on the design and construction of these types of dams. Asphalt core embankment dams are gaining in popularity, as their recorded field performance is excellent, they are economically very competitive, and the construction period may be shortened compared to other types of embankment dams. This book presents several case studies of dams that have been successfully built and been in service for many years, and:

• introduces the concept of using asphalt concrete core rather than earth core or upstream facing;
• points out there is no concern about internal erosion when using hydraulic asphalt concrete in the core;
• discusses material selection and mix design for hydraulic asphalt concrete to achieve flexibility and ductility;
• discusses suitability testing and asphalt concrete mix improvements and optimization by using additives;
• presents the use of triaxial tests, tension tests, and bending tests to study cracking resistance and potential self-healing;
• discusses the use of modern construction equipment and field quality control;
• shows that asphalt core dams may reduce the construction period compared to other options; and
• treats earthquake resistance of this type of dams.

The authors have built on decades of experience with the design and construction, construction control, and research and development for asphalt core embankment dams. Asphalt Core Embankment Dams is aimed at engineering students, practising engineers, civil engineering contractors, equipment suppliers, and asphalt producers.

Kaare Høeg is a special advisor at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and a professor emeritus in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo. He earned his doctorate (ScD) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, and he was a professor at Stanford University, USA, from 1968 until 1974 when he was appointed as the Managing Director of NGI, a position he held until 1991. He was elected as a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences in 1976 and the Academy of Letters and Arts in 1977 and as a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 1993. He was elected as the president of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) from 1997 to 2000. He is actively engaged as a design consultant for new dams and as an expert panel member for the safety evaluation, risk analysis, and strengthening of existing dams. He is the author/co‑author of two books on embankment dams and has published 170 technical papers in international journals and conference proceedings.

Weibiao Wang is a supervisor at Xi’an Huize Construction Engineering Co. Ltd and a professor emeritus at Xi’an University of Technology (XAUT), China. He obtained his MSc in 1988 from XAUT and his doctorate (PhD) in 2008 from the University of Oslo, Norway. From 1998 to 1999, he was a visiting scholar at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and stayed at NGI for his PhD studies supervised by Professor Kaare Høeg and later as a postdoctoral researcher from 2007 to 2009. Since 1985, he has been engaged in research and consulting for most of the hydraulic asphalt concrete projects in China. He has co‑authored the Chinese NB/T 11015‑2022 "Code for design of asphalt concrete facings and cores for embankment dams", the DL/T 5362‑2018 "Test code for hydraulic bitumen concrete", and SL 514‑2013 "Specifications for construction of hydraulic asphalt concrete". He was one of the four people in the working team for editing and updating the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Bulletin 179 for asphalt concrete core dams. He is the author/co‑author of two books on hydraulic asphalt concrete and has published 60 papers in international journals and conference proceedings.