Abstract
Concrete gravity dams normally might have well cracked at their base or at the upstream and downstream faces caused by internal and external temperature variations, shrinkage of the concrete, differential foundation settlement, previous earthquakes or other reasons. Study on the influence of initial cracks on the seismic crack propagation of concrete gravity dams subjected to strong earthquakes is crucial to a reasonable evaluation of their seismic performance. The XFEM is presented for this purpose. The validity of the algorithm is discussed by comparing results obtained from the proposed model with those reported in the literature. For this purpose, a scaled-down 1:40 model of a gravity dam with the initial notch in the upstream wall is analyzed using the proposed approach. Present results agree well with the results from other numerical methods and the model experiment. Subsequently, the effects of initial cracks on the crack propagation and seismic response of the concrete gravity dam are studied. The seismic failure process and failure modes of gravity dams with initial cracks are presented.
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