The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Dynamic response analysis of Techi Dam

Clough, Ray W.; Stephen, Roy M.; Kuo, James Shaw-Han

UCB/EERC-82/11, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1982-08, 119 pages (540/C593/1982)

This report summarizes the results obtained by Earthquake Engineering Research Center personnel during a cooperative investigation with the Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (CEER) of the National Taiwan Univ., Taipei. The subject under investigation was the dynamic behavior of Techi Dam, a doubly curved arch dam 590 ft high located in central Taiwan. Part I describes a field study of the dam using rotation mass vibration generators. The measured vibration mode shapes, frequencies, and damping ratios are reported. Part II describes the analysis of the vibration mode shapes and frequencies using the computer program ADAP. In addition to the ADAP finite element models of the dam and foundation, this analysis also made use of a subroutine RSVOIR, which modeled the incompressible reservoir interaction effects by an extended Westergaard procedure and also with liquid finite elements. Part III presents the stresses calculated in Techi Dam when subjected to the design basis earthquake which was formulated for this site by CEER. The principal conclusions of the investigations are that the finite element model of the reservoir is significantly better than the extended Westergaard model, and that Techi Dam can resist without damage the design basis earthquake, which has a return period of 100 years.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-82-11.pdf (4 MB)