The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Parameter study of joint opening effects on earthquake response of arch dams

Fenves, Gregory L.; Mojtahedi, Soheil; Reimer, Richard B.

UCB/EERC-92/05, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1992-04, 62 pages (520.4/F35/1992)

A parametric study is conducted to determine the effects of the opening of contraction joints in Morrow Point Dam in Colorado on the displacements and stresses that develop in response to a maximum credible earthquake. A linear analysis of the dam assuming it is a monolithic structure does not provide realistic maximum tensile stresses. This is because the linear model cannot account for the distribution of internal forces between arch action and cantilever action as the contraction joints periodically open and close during an earthquake. Results are presented.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-92-05.pdf (5 MB)