Abstract: This article reviews the historical development of dam construction, summarizes the developing trend and key technologies of intelligent construction of dams, sorts out the relationship between the key issues in intelligent construction and intelligent control, and presents a basic control theory for intelligent construction of dams. The concept and definition of intelligent control and its characteristics, theoretical structure and elements are elaborated in detail, and "intelligent decision-making plus automatic control" is clearly defined as its two core elements. On this basis, an intelligent control system for dam construction－featured with the functions of autonomous perception and cognitive information, intelligent organization planning and decision-making tasks, and automatic control of executive agencies to accomplish goals－is constructed; its design concept, component elements, module characteristics, and application levels are explained. This intelligent control theory lays a theoretical basis for solving a variety of dam construction problems: structural service state control, full life cycle safety performance evaluation, construction risk prediction, early warning during dam construction, and cost control. It is also essential to realize the intelligent construction goal of high quality, high efficiency, safety, economy and greenness.

Key words: dam, intelligent construction, intelligent decision-making, automatic control, intelligent control theory, intelligent control system