A Comparative Study of Cantilever- and Integral-Type Dead Loads on the Seismic Responses of High Arch Dams

Abstract

The actual dead load of an arch dam should be applied gradually through staged construction and sequenced grouting. However, the cantilever- and integral-type dead loads commonly used in the analysis of arch dams represent simplified versions of the actual loading. In this paper, these two types of dead loads, i.e. cantilever and integral types, are presented based on the Lagrange multiplier method considering the nonlinear behaviors of contraction joints. Based on the finite element method and an appropriate contact model together with artificial viscoelastic boundary conditions, a dynamic analysis model of a dam–foundation–reservoir system is established in consideration of the interactions between the arch dam and foundation, the opening and closing of contraction joints, and the radiation damping effect of the far-field boundary. Taking a 300 m high arch dam in the strong earthquake area of West China as an example, a fine mesh finite element model with a total of approximately 3.5 million degrees of freedom is established. The separate effects of the cantilever and integral dead loads on the static and dynamic responses of the dam are studied. The results demonstrate that the distribution and magnitude of the contraction joint opening width and maximum tensile stress are different under the two different dead load simplifications.

Effect of Material Non-linearities on the Transient Dynamic Behavior of the Beni-Bahdel Dam in the Presence of the Dam-foundation Interaction

“…Few studies on the dynamic behavior of arch dams that consider the nonlinear behavior of materials, either with or without taking into consideration soil-structure interaction, have been conducted, according to research in the literature [18]. Due to the presence of joints, the analyzed nonlinearities are primarily geometrical [10,[19][20][21][22][23].…”

The Effect of Shear Sliding of Vertical Contraction Joints on Seismic Response of High Arch Dams with Fine Finite Element Model

“…e concrete material parameters are as follows: density ρ � 2400 kg/m 3 ; static elastic modulus E s � 24 GPa; dynamic elastic modulus E 0 � 36 GPa; Poisson's ratio μ � 0.167. e foundation rock material parameters are as follows: density ρ � 2700 kg/m 3 ; deformation modulus and Poisson's ratio are given according to different elevations [13].…”

“…Fan et al [12] combined partitioned finite element with interface element to simulate the seismic failure of dams and seismic sliding of a rock wedge. Guo et al [13] used a contact force model to consider joint opening. ere is no introduction of the penalty function in [11][12][13].…”

“…Guo et al [13] used a contact force model to consider joint opening. ere is no introduction of the penalty function in [11][12][13].…”

“…Figure19: Envelope of maximum principal tensile stress distribution of upstream surface of the dam for no-slip condition[13].…”