Earthquake Behavior of Concrete Gravity Dams During Ground Motions

Abstract The stability evaluation of the dams subjected to seismic excitations is really very complex as the earthquake response of the concrete gravity dam depends upon its connection joints with foundation rock. This study presents the seismic response of concrete gravity dams considering welded contact and friction contact and along dam-foundation rock interface. Friction contact is provided using contact elements. Two-dimensional finite element model of Oued Fodda concrete gravity dam, located in Chlef at the northwestern part of Algeria, is used for this purpose. Nonlinear analyses of dam-foundation rock system are performed using ANSYS software. The reservoir water is modeled as added mass using the Westergaard approach. The Druker-Prager model is employed in the nonlinear analysis for dam concrete. The surface-to-surface contact elements based on the Coulomb's friction law are used to describe the friction. These contact elements use a target surface and a contact surface to form a contact pair. According to this study, when the friction contact is considered in joints, sliding displacement of dam base occurs along the dam-foundation rock interface. The dam sliding along its foundation decreases the deformation response; principal stresses in the dam body and shear force at both the heel and toe of the dam.