Abstract: China has stepped up on a new stage of high-quality development in the national water network. As a key node in this network system, earth-rock dams have started an iterative upgrading trend toward an intelligent structure in the water conservancy industry. However, a variety of crucial problems exist in this development stage, such as incomplete theories, scattered technical systems, and lack of evaluation standards. This paper presents a comprehensive study focusing on four aspects－definition and connotation, technical system, evaluation standard, and application cases. First, we clarify the four major functional connotations for an intelligent earth-rock dam－appropriate sensing, realistic analysis, intelligent decision-making, and automatic control. Then, we define the technical composition of an intelligent earth-rock dam, and demonstrate key technologies and how to implement them－digital and intelligent infrastructure, fusion-intelligence model, intelligent decision model, and automatic control system. On this basis, we suggest a grade evaluating standard of four categories and twelve grades for the intelligence degrees of earth-rock dams. Finally, we apply this standard to typical pilot projects－two intelligent earth-rock dams, i.e. the Qingshan reservoir and the Tankeng hydropower station. This verifies the applicability of the standard and the technical system, which would guide and promote the design and construction of intelligent earth-rock dams.

Key words: intelligent dam, intelligent earth-rock dam, digital twin, monitoring system, engineering safety, intelligent decision-making, control system