INFLUENCE OF CORE GEOMETRY ON DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF EARTH AND ROCKFILL DAMS

Abstract

Many hydropower projects with dam as one of the elements are located in seismically active areas and therefore are likely to be subjected to vagaries of nature, such as earthquakes. The dam should , therefore, be designed to withstand the likely earthquake forces. Static as well as dynamic response of Earth and Rockfill dams are influenced by the components of the dam and as well as by the topography of the site. Various researchers have studied the effect of the various components. The present work deals with the influence of core geometry, i.e., the placement of the core in the section on the static as well as dynamic response. For the purpose of the present study, three placement geometries have been considered. The details of which are given below : Type of core d/s Slope u/s Slope Remark Central 0.2:1 0.2:1 Moderately Inclined 0.1:1 0.5:1 Both Inclined Steeply Inclined 0.5:1 0.9:1 to u/s side. The amount of fill in the dam is same in all the three sections. The analysis has been done with the help of finite ele-ment method which uses four noded quadrilateral isoparametric elements, treating the material to be linearly elastic and isotropic.