Abstract: A key issue in construction of high CFRDs in deep narrow valleys is the cracking of their concrete face slabs owing to local tensile stress. This paper presents an analysis on the mechanism of structural tensile damage that already occurred to the concrete face slabs of several existing high CFRDs and demonstrates the major cause of such damage at locations near river bank ? sliding deformation of the rock-fills from river bank to river channel. A 3-D FEM analysis was used to compare the deformation in arch-shaped face slabs with that in widely used planar face slabs. The results show that the arched concrete face slabs can completely avoid this type of structural tensile damage without need to change the main stress or displacement properties of the dam. The arched shape of CFRDs is more favorable to the safety of dams that are built in deep narrow valley regions.