Abstract: Construction of mountain reservoirs and dams will be critical to the key infrastructure projects in Western China for a long time in future, and it is also essential to develop hydropower resources and realize rational allocation and effective regulation of water resources. However, this region is affected significantly by frequent earthquakes and complex operating environments; Dam construction and long-term security are faced with severe challenges. A high asphalt-concrete-core wall dam is a main type of the mountain dams, and its seismic safety during the life cycle is paramount. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the status quo of seismic safety assessment of such dams in China and abroad and its trends in recent years, and examines in detail the problems with seismic safety research, covering several aspects, i.e., nonlinear dynamic constitutive models of asphalt concrete, interface between rockfill and asphalt-concrete-core wall, constitutive models of the interface between asphalt-concrete-core wall and concrete base, high asphalt-concrete-core wall dam-foundation interaction systems, earthquake resistance security assessment, and so on. And we sum up the development trends of seismic safety evaluation theories and methods for high-asphalt concrete core wall dams, and clarify key research directions to help the decision-making of major national engineering construction and sustainable development.

Key words: high dam, asphalt concrete, seismic, safety, seismic performance