ROLE OF HYDRODYNAMIC FORCES ON SEISMIC RESPONSE OF DAMS

Abstract

Dams play an essential role in attaining considerable benefits like water supply, flood control, irrigation for agriculture etc. Therefore, the failure or damage caused to a dam due to any reason is a severe point of concern as it can lead to catastrophic effects. Failure of a dam may result in a serious loss of life and property if it is not appropriately designed. The static and seismic response of dams is always a serious concern in the design and construction phases of massive manmade structures. The work in this report discusses the role of hydrodynamic forces on the seismic response of dams, which is not much considered in the past studies, particularly in case of embankment dams. The seismic evaluation of the embankment dams often ignores the effects of hydrodynamic forces and their effects. The study aims to evaluate, the effect of hydrodynamic forces on the embankment dam during seismic activity. Two dimensional (2D) nonlinear model of the dam is analyzed using ABAQUS/CAE 2016. Various parametric studies have been carried out for the Koyna gravity dam and Tehri embankment dam, apart from the typical static and dynamic analysis. The hydrodynamic effects are simulated using the inertial mass concept as well as considering water as a part. It is observed that, the hydrodynamic forces do play a role in the performance of embankment dams during any seismic activity. Parametric studies are carried out by varying upstream face slope and it is observed that increasing the slope of dams improves its stability. Further, maximum and minimum in-plane stresses as well as horizontal maximum deformation have also been evaluated for different cases.