Underwater explosion and its effects on nonlinear behavior of an arch dam

In the present paper, the behavior of the Karaj double curvature arch dam is studied focusing on the effects of structural nonlinearity on the responses of the dam body when an underwater explosion occurred in the reservoir medium. The explosive sources are located at different distances from the dam and the effects of the cavitation and the initial shock wave of the explosion are considered. Different amount of TNT are considered. Two different linear and nonlinear behavior are assumed in the analysis and the dam body is assumed with and without contraction joints. Radial, tangential and vertical displacements of the dam crest are obtained. Moreover, maximum and minimum principal stress distributions are plotted. Based on the results, the dam body responses are sensitive to the insertion of joints and constitutive model considered for the dam body.