Nonlinear seismic response of concrete gravity dams due to foundation fault movement

Not only should dams be evaluated for seismic shaking, but their capabilityto survive potential fault displacement in their foundations should also be assessed. safetyreviews of existing dams suggest that geological-seismic evaluation of some dam sites hasfailed to recognize the existence of possibly active faults. in this study, the nonlinearseismic behavior of concrete gravity dams, due to relative fault dislocation occurring infoundations, has been investigated. two types of fault movement, including normal-slipand reverse-slip, have been considered. these two types, combined with the location of faultlines, with respect to the toe, middle, and heel of the dam base, angle of fault, and waterelevation in reservoirs, which result in 36 types of model, have been considered. resultsshow that each type of fault can cause propagation of specic crack patterns, and the angleand location of the fault beneath the dam have a great eect on the amount of damageinduced. the water pressure of the reservoir can also have increasing or even decreasingeects on the crack propagation rate. the existence of foundation fault movement beneathconcrete gravity dams, depending on the condition of the problem, can cause rapid crackpropagation in the dam body, jeopardize stability, and signicantly change the dam'sdynamic response.