Effects of space distribution of excitation on seismic response of arch dams

Abstract

The effects of the ground motion spatial variation and of the canyon geometry on the dynamic response of arch dams during the event of an earthquake is studied in this paper. The seismic response of a dam subject to time harmonic longitudinal, shear, and Rayleigh waves impinging the dam site from different directions is analyzed. Several canyon and reservoir geometries are considered. A three-dimensional boundary element model which allows for the rigorous representation of the dynamic interaction between the dam, the foundation rock, and the water is used. The foundation rock is modeled as a uniform viscoelastic boundless domain where the incident traveling wave field is defined by its analytical expression, which may include any spatial variation. The obtained results show the importance of three-dimensional effects which are many times neglected.