Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V
Seismic Evaluation of Landmark Hydraulic Fill Dam on Soft Soil Foundation
Publication: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
ABSTRACT
For many dams, the behavior of cohesionless and cohesive soils under cyclic loading plays a key role in their seismic stability. Such is the case of Gatun Dam, which retains Gatun Lake, the main waterway of the Panama Canal. The dam was built by hydraulic filling between 1907 and 1914 and is founded on deep, geologically young deposits of granular and fine-grained soils. This paper presents a case history on the seismic evaluation of the dam. The study involved recently developed procedures for evaluating the susceptibility and potential for liquefaction of soils, for characterizing the residual strength of liquefied soils, and for evaluating the potential for cyclic softening of clayey soils. The paper describes the dam and foundation characterization; the analyses of liquefaction potential, cyclic softening, and seismic deformations; and the assessment of expected dam performance. Key issues in the implementation of the analysis procedures and considerations involved in assessing the seismic stability of the dam are also discussed.
Get full access to this chapter
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Authors thank the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) for permission to publish this paper. They would also like to acknowledge the large team of professionals from ACP and AECOM (the first author’s former employer) who participated in the seismic evaluation of Gatun Dam and who worked diligently throughout the investigation. The Authors also thank ACP’s Geotechnical Advisory Board and Professor Ross Boulanger, who reviewed the study findings and provided helpful comments.
REFERENCES
Dawson, E.M. and Mejia, L.H. 2012. “Updates to a practice-oriented pore pressure generation model,” GeoCongress 2012, ASCE Geo Institute Geotechnical Special Publication No. 225, Oakland, CA, March.
Duncan, J.M., and S.G. Wright. 2005. Soil Strength and Slope Stability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Idriss, I.M. 1985. “Evaluating seismic risk in engineering practice,” Proceedings 11th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, San Francisco, August.
Idriss, I.M., and R.W. Boulanger. 2008. Soil Liquefaction During Earthquakes, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Monograph MNO-12.
Hudson, M., I.M. Idriss, and M. Beikae. 1994. User’s manual for QUAD4M. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, California. May.
Itasca. 2008. FLAC, fast lagrangian analysis of continua, version 6.0, user’s guide: Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ladd, C.C., R. Foott, K. Ishihara, F. Schlosser, and H.G. Poulos. 1977. “Stress-deformation and strength characteristics,” Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Tokyo, Vol. 2, pp. 421–494.
Lee, K.L., and J.A. Focht. 1976. “Strength of clay subjected to cyclic loading,” Marine Geotechnology, Vol 1, No. 3, pp 165–185.
Mejia, L.H. 1989. “Three-dimensional stability of an old dam,” Proceedings 12th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, August.
Mejia, L.H, J. Wu, T.B. Feldsher, and A.B. Yiadom. 2009. “Re-evaluation of the seismic stability of Chabot Dam,” Proceedings of Annual US Society on Dams Conference, USSD 2009, Nashville, Tennessee, April.
Moss, R.E.S., R.B. Seed, R.E. Kayen, J.P. Stewart, A. Der Kiureghian, and K.O. Cetin. 2006. “CPT-Based Probabilistic and Deterministic Assessment of In Situ Seismic Soil Liquefaction Potential,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(8), pp. 1032–1051.
Robertson, P.K. 1990. “Soil Classification using the cone penetration test,” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 27(1), 151–158.
Seed, R.B., K.O. Cetin, R.E.S. Moss, A.M. Kammerer, J. Wu, J.M. Pestana, M.F. Riemer, R.B. Sancio, J.D. Bray, R.E. Kayen, and A. Faris. 2003. “Recent Advances in Soil Liquefaction Engineering: A unified and Consistent Framework”, 26th Annual ASCE Los Angeles Geotechnical Spring Seminar, April.
Sibert, W. 1915. “Construction of Gatún Locks, dam and spillway,” The Panama Canal Transactions of the International Engineering Congress, San Francisco, Neal Publications Co., Vol. I, pp. 387–424.
URS. 2008. “Development of Design Earthquake Ground Motions,” Report prepared by URS Corporation for Panama Canal Authority, Oakland, CA, U.S., February.
URS. 2012. “Geotechnical Evaluation of Gatun Dam,” Report prepared by URS Corporation for Panama Canal Authority, Oakland, CA, U.S., November.
Youd, T.L., I.M. Idriss, R.D. Andrus, I. Arango, G. Castro, J.T. Christian, R. Dobry, W.D. Liam Finn, L.F. Harder Jr., M.E. Hynes, K. Ishihara, J.P. Koester, S.S.C. Liao, W.F. Marcuson III, G.P. Martin, J.K. Mitchell, Y. Moriwaki, M.S. Power, P.K. Robertson, R.B. Seed, and K.H. Stokoe II. 2001. “Liquefaction Resistance of Soils: Summary Report from the 1996 NCEER and 1998 NCEER/NSF Workshops on Evaluation of Liquefaction Resistance of Soils.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 10, October.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics V: Liquefaction Triggering, Consequences, and Mitigation (GSP 290)
Pages: 561 - 576
Editors: Scott J. Brandenberg, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, and Majid T. Manzari, Ph.D., George Washington University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8145-5
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jun 7, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.