Experimental Study of Small Scale Dam Models
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 124, Issue 11
Abstract
An experimental study of a small-scale model of a concrete gravity dam was conducted. Tests were carried out to simulate the hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, and seismic loads. The dynamic loads were estimated using the simplified method of analysis in concrete gravity dams. A loading mechanism with two actuators was designed to apply four concentrated loads at the upstream face of the dam model. The static load that represents the hydrostatic pressure was kept constant. The dynamic load was applied cyclically by an actuator to represent the dynamic effects of the earthquake loading. An existing concrete gravity dam monolith was modeled. The material properties of the model were maintained the same as those of the prototype. The gravity load effect of the dam was accounted for analytically. Results of the experiments show that it is possible to simulate the hydrodynamic load on a dam model using a finite number of concentrated mechanical loads. Measured strains in the dam model were found to be similar to the strains in the prototype predicted using available finite element analysis techniques.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 124 • Issue 11 • November 1998
Pages: 1241 - 1248
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 1, 1998
Published in print: Nov 1998
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