Study on Ultimate Anti-Seismic Capacity of High Arch Dam

Abstract

AbstractA three-dimensional numerical simulation model for the failure process caused by an earthquake is established based on the Shapai high roller-compacted concrete arch dam in the Wenchuan, China earthquake region. Several comprehensive influencing factors, including nonlinear behavior of concrete, infinite foundation radiation damping, dam-reservoir dynamic interaction, and the contact nonlinearity of the transverse joints and the induced joints, are taken into account to study their effects on the seismic safety of high arch dams. In the paper, an analytical method is proposed to evaluate the ultimate anti-seismic capacity of high arch dams, and failure modes of the arch dam resulting from earthquakes with different levels are studied. The seismic limit state of the arch dam is determined according to distribution of the concrete’s failure zone, divergence of finite-element calculation, and mutation of the time-dependent displacement curves of key points on the dam. The revealed mechanism of dynami...