The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Nonlinear earthquake response of concrete gravity dams

Pal, Narinder

UCB/EERC-74/14, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1974-12, 88 pages (530/P22/1974)

A mathematical model is proposed for the mechanical properties--constitutive relation and strength--of concrete liable to dynamic cyclic reversible stresses and strains that may occur in gravity dams subjected to earthquake ground motion. The model describes the properties of concrete under a two-dimensional state of stress. The effects of strain rate--the time rate of change of strain--on the mechanical properties are incorporated in the model. Experimental results available in the literature form the basis for the proposed model. Appropriate assumptions were introduced in the model where experimental data were lacking. A method is developed for the nonlinear analysis of the response of concrete gravity dams to earthquake ground motion wherein mechanical properties of concrete are defined by the mathematical model mentioned above. Each dam monolith is treated independently and idealized as an assemblage of two-dimensional finite elements. The dynamic response is computed by a step-by-step integration procedure. A comparison is made of the results of linear and nonlinear analyses.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-74-14.pdf (5 MB)