Study of failure in Concrete gravity dams for earthquakes adopting finite element analysis

Abstract

Gravity dams are solid barriers to impound the reservoir water and the weight alone is large enough to prevent them from tipping over. Their failures may result in disastrous consequences causing significant loss of life and property. These dams should be reliable for which they are entrusted and also competent to take care of seismic forces apart from newlinethe designed static loads and hence its natural behavior under static and newlineearthquake forces has become a matter of immense interest for its sustenance. Dynamic response behavior of a concrete gravity dam is complicated due to various forms of physical interactions among dam, newlinewater, and foundation rock. The various interactions at dam foundation and reservoir play a significant role in the earthquake response of dams by causing energy dissipation, emerging as damping tuned with the changes in the natural modes of vibration.