Abstract: Based on the anti-seismic standards and stability evaluation criteria of high arch dams,the current calculation methods for high arch dams are systematically summarized,which include the rigid body limit equilibrium method,method combing rigid body limit equilibrium and finite element,discontinuous deformation analysis method(DDA),numerical manifold method,interface element method,FE-BE-IBE coupled method,stochastic finite element method,artificial transmitting boundary and explicit FEM,parallel computation and modeling test.Advantages and disadvantages of each method are also presented.