Shear strain dependent amplification function of earth dam‐flexible canyon system by the hybrid FEM‐SBFEM technique

Abstract

The finite element method (FEM) is a powerful tool for the nonlinear modeling of dynamic problems. In the present work, the equivalent linear method (EQL) has been implemented into the FEM. For stratifying the radiation damping condition and rigorously modeling canyon as an elastic unbounded domain, the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) was utilized. The FEM‐SBFEM technique, wherein FEM is coupled with SBFEM, has been extended to take into consideration the effect of earth dam material nonlinear behavior. It was observed that the nonlinear behavior greatly affects the natural frequency, the amplification function (AF), and peak crest acceleration of the earth dam located in canyons. The effects of canyon geometry and flexibility on the nonlinear behavior were examined, and it was seen that by increasing the flexibility of the canyon, the effect of nonlinearity was decreased. The El Infiernillo dam was modeled by 3D proposed technique, and a comparison of the crest AF obtained by the proposed method with the recorded data shows the accuracy of the methodology.