Geo-Congress 2020
A Synthesized Approach for Assessing the Seismic and Post-Seismic Performance of a Dumped Rockfill Dam with a Shotcrete Face
Publication: Geo-Congress 2020: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Special Topics (GSP 318)
ABSTRACT
Ageing dams located across the west coast of North America, both in the USA and Canada, are threatened by potential for large earthquakes. Assessing the seismic performance of these dams has been a challenge. This paper presents a synthesized approach for assessing the seismic and post-earthquake performance of a dumped rockfill dam built in the 1960s with a gunite (shotcrete) face as the water barrier. The dam may lose its freeboard due to seismic settlements. If loss of freeboard does not occur, the gunite face can still crack and allow leakage. Excessive discharge at the downstream toe due to the through-flow may cause the rockfill at the toe to unravel. Such unraveling and consequent sloughing of the slope may cause a dam breach. The synthesized approach consists of a dynamic analysis and methods for assessing the cracks in the gunite face, leakage through the upstream face, and potential for unraveling and instability of the downstream slope.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2020: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Special Topics (GSP 318)
Pages: 20 - 29
Editors: James P. Hambleton, Ph.D., Northwestern University, Roman Makhnenko, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Aaron S. Budge, Ph.D., Minnesota State University, Mankato
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8281-0
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Feb 21, 2020
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Concrete
- Continuum mechanics
- Cracking
- Dams
- Earth materials
- Earthquake engineering
- Earthquakes
- Embankment dams
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Fills
- Fracture mechanics
- Geohazards
- Geomaterials
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Materials engineering
- Rock fills
- Rockfill dams
- Seismic effects
- Seismic tests
- Shotcrete
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Solid mechanics
- Tests (by type)
Authors
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