The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Earthquake analysis and response of concrete arch dams

Tan, Hanchen; Chopra, Anil K.

UCB/EERC-95/07, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1995-07, 175 pages (520.4/T26/1995)

The objectives of this study are to (1) develop an effective procedure for analyzing the response of concrete arch dams to earthquake ground motion, including the effects of dam-foundation rock interaction with inertia and damping of the foundation rock considered, dam-water interaction, and reservoir boundary absorption; (2) identify the limitations of the "standard analysis" procedure which considers the flexibility of the foundation rock but ignores its inertia and damping -- material and radiation -- effects; and (3) study the effects of dam-foundation rock interaction in the presence of dam-water interaction and reservoir boundary absorption on the response of the dam, leading to better understanding of these effects. This investigation emphasizes the effects of dam-foundation rock interaction compared to dam-water interaction which have already been studied extensively. The available substructure method and computer program for the earthquake response analysis of arch dams, including the effects of dam-water interaction, reservoir boundary absorption, and foundation rock flexibility, is extended to include the effects of dam-foundation rock interaction with inertia and damping of the foundation rock considered. Efficient techniques are developed for evaluating the foundation impedance terms. Utilizing the resulting analytical procedure, the frequency response of Morrow Point Dam to harmonic ground motions and the earthquake response of this dam to Taft ground motion are computed and studied for a wide range of the important parameters characterizing the properties of the dam, foundation rock, impounded water and reservoir boundary materials.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-95-07.pdf (6 MB)