Earthquake Analysis of Arch Dams. II: Dam‐Water‐Foundation Interaction

Abstract

The three‐dimensional boundary element (BE) technique presented in a companion paper by Maeso and Domínguez is extended to include the fluid domain in addition to the dam and the compliant foundation. Linear viscoelastic behavior is assumed for the solid media and the water is assumed to be compressible. The three domains are discretized into BE in a single model that includes a rigorous representation of the dam‐water interaction, the dam‐foundation rock interaction, the water‐foundation rock interaction, and traveling‐wave effects. The response of an arch dam (the Marrow Point dam) to harmonic P‐ or S‐waves propagating vertically is studied for full‐reservoir conditions. The importance of these interactions and traveling‐wave effects is clearly shown by the computed results. These results are in contrast with some obtained by other authors using a finite element model. The importance of having a realistic representation of the actual reservoir geometry is also shown.