Dynamic Analysis of Arch Dams Including Hydrodynamic Effects

Abstract

A procedure is developed to analyze, under the assumption of linear behavior, the earthquake response of arch dams including hydrodynamic effects. The dam and fluid domain are treated as substructures and modeled with finite elements. The only geometric restriction is that an infinite fluid domain must maintain a constant cross section beyond some point in the upstream direction. For such an infinite, uniform region, a finite element discretization over the cross section is combined with a continuum representation in the upstream direction. The fluid domain model approximately accounts for the effects of foundation flexibility on hydrodynamic pressures. Computed responses of an arch dam to harmonic ground motion are presented.