Roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams are increasingly being preferred to conventional concrete dams even in highly seismic regions as a result of the advantages they offer in easing the construction process. Considerably high tensile strength can be obtained with today’s mix designs leading to the use of these dams in seismic zones. The common logic for the design of these dams is linear analysis, considering the soil-structure and reservoir effects. However, nonlinear analysis tools are increasingly being used for evaluating the seismic safety of old dams as well as the design of newer ones. Contrary to the experience in linear modeling and evaluation, non-linear behavior and performance limits of these systems are not well known. This study is focused on determining the behavior of an RCC system using incremental dynamic analysis with the purpose of determining the extreme limit state of the dam and the regarding cracking scheme. The cracking model for the roller compacted concrete is calibrated first to the existing experimental results to verify the ability of existing cracking models to simulate fracture in this material. The state of the extreme damage of the dam will be investigated to determine if such a performance expectation can be incorporated in the design procedures.