Safety of a dam:

For the safety of a dam the following conditions have to be ensured:

(a) There shall not be any tensile stress within the dam, as masonry is not expected to resist any tensile stress.

(b) The whole compressive stresses at any section (at any point) of the dam should not exceed the allowable compressive stress in masonry.

(c) A maximum pressure below the foundation should not exceed the allowable bearing capacity of soil.

(d) The dam should not fail due to lack of stability, i.e. by sliding or by overturning due to the horizontal water pressure.