Seismic analysis of concrete gravity dams

Download
2019
Akpınar, Uğur
After the industrial revolution, energy has become one of the important issues determining the internal and external policies of the countries. Nowadays, to meet the energy needs of future generations and to reduce the damage to the environment, renewable energy sources are utilized. At this point, hydroelectric energy offers a clean and renewable energy source alternative. In addition to many built dams, the necessity of controlling existing dam stock punctuates the importance of studies on the seismic design and safety of concrete dams. In this study, the linear and nonlinear responses of concrete dams are evaluated and new simplified methods are proposed for the design and evaluation of the concrete dams. In the first part, linear response of concrete dams is examined. For this purpose, dynamic analyzes of a group of selected concrete dam sections were conducted. Analyses were carried out separately for the frequency domain where the dam-foundation-reservoir interactions can be accurately calculated and for the time domain where they can be calculated with approximate methods. By employing the results of the frequency domain solution, the tensile stresses in the heel, which is an important parameter in the design, were related to a number of engineering demand parameters. Additionally, effective damping ratios were obtained by comparing frequency and time domain solutions and a new damping ratio equation for time domain analysis was proposed. In the second part, nonlinear response of concrete dams is examined. The coupled solution of concrete nonlinearity and the dam-foundation-reservoir interaction is still a challenge for the current practices. For this purpose, a simplified static analysis method is proposed which can estimate the nonlinear damage of concrete dams including dam-reservoir interaction. In the method, the capacity curve was obtained by pushover analysis (including inertia and hydrodynamic effects) compatible with the first mode behavior. Such nonlinear problem can be a challenge to solve by the existing tools. For this purpose, the Sequential Linear Analysis (SLA) method was adopted to obtain the capacity curve. In order to verify the simplified static analysis method, nonlinear time domain analyzes were performed with selected sections and earthquake records. The damage was estimated by both techniques and compared to evaluate the performance of the simplified solution. Finally, the performance levels for concrete dams were estimated by using the results of nonlinear time domain analysis and deterministic sensitivity analysis. The resulting fragility curves and performance levels will be important tools to assist engineers in designing and evaluating concrete dams.

Suggestions

Seismic analysis of concrete gravity dams including damfoundation-reservoir interaction
Yücel, Ali Rıza; Binici, Barış; Department of Civil Engineering (2013)
The attractiveness of the hydroelectric power as a domestic, clean and renewable energy source increased with the rise of the energy demand within the last decade. In this context, concrete gravity dam construction gained a high momentum. Use of roller compacted concrete as a dam construction material became popular due to advantages such as reducing the construction duration and costs. Concrete gravity dams are special type of structures which requires an extensive care for their seismic analysis and desig...
Pseudo dynamic test results of a concrete gravity dam
Aldemir, A.; Binici, Barış; Canbay, Erdem; Kurç, Özgür; Arıcı, Yalın (2014-01-01)
The energy and water demands have constantly been increasing all over the world due to rising population and due to advances in science. This fact obligates the usage of natural resources to supply more and more water and energy. Of course, the most important structures that can serve this purpose are dams. However, the behaviour of dams, especially under the effect of seismic actions, is one of the most complicated problems in earthquake engineering. This is because; dams usually rest on flexible foundatio...
Seismic performance evaluation of roller compacted concrete gravity dams by pseudo dynamic testing
Aldemir, Alper; Binici, Barış; Department of Civil Engineering (2016)
The energy demands throughout the world have reached a level that could create irreversible impacts on the environment unless an overall energy policy to reduce the energy production relying on fossil fuels is implemented. The apparent effects of global warming enforced countries to take precautions and to set limits on the fossil fuel consumption. Thus, the renewable energy sources like hydropower, solar energy, biomass, etc. have, nowadays, been encouraged to generate electricity. Certainly, dams are exce...
Performance of concrete gravity dams under earthquake effects
Soysal, Berat Feyza; Arıcı, Yalın; Department of Civil Engineering (2014)
Concerns about the seismic safety of gravity dams have increased with the construction of numerous new dams in the developing world as well as the need for the evaluation of existing dam stock in the developed countries. The common procedure for the design of concrete gravity dams has been linear analyses: there is scant experience on the design of such systems using nonlinear analyses as the post-linear behavior and performance limits of gravity dam monoliths are not well known. This study is focused on th...
Buffer sizing model with fuzzy assessment on concrete gravity dam and HEPP projects /
Balta, Şemsettin; Birgönül, Mustafa Talat; Dikmen Toker, İrem; Department of Civil Engineering (2014)
Timely completion of dam and HEPP projects is indispensable for the country, they are constructed due to economical, political and social consequences of them. Since various uncertainties and variations existed on the construction of dam and HEPP projects because of their complex nature, robust and stable schedules should be created in the beginning of the projects in order to eliminate or minimize the negative effects of them. Among the various techniques; usage of time buffer is considered as one of the m...
Citation Formats
U. Akpınar, “Seismic analysis of concrete gravity dams,” Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences. Civil Engineering., Middle East Technical University, 2019.