Seismic behavior of concrete gravity dams

Dams play a vital role in the development and sustainment in a country. Failure of dams leads to the catastrophic event with sudden release of water and is of great concern. Hence earthquake-resistant design of dams is of prime importance. The present study involves static, modal and transient analyses of dam-reservoir-foundation system using finite element software ANSYS 15. The dam and the foundation are modeled with 2D plane strain element "PLANE 42" and the reservoir by fluid acoustic element "FLUID 29" with proper consideration of fluid-structure interaction. An expression for the fundamental period of concrete dams is developed based on modal analysis. Seismic response of gravity dams subjected to earthquake acceleration is evaluated in terms of peak displacement and stress.