Seismic Slope Stability Analysis of a Hydraulic Fill Dam
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents a seismic slope stability assessment study of an inherently heterogeneous hydraulic fill dam in Texas. Extensive cone penetration soundings conducted at the dam site were interpreted to estimate different dam material properties. Eight sections distributed along the length of the dam were considered for the slope stability assessment to incorporate the effect of variations in material properties on the hydraulic fill dam. The conventional pseudostatic analysis method was modified to account for the differences in the behavior of the dam materials during static and seismic loading conditions. The current state of practice considers the same critical slip surface for both static and pseudostatic analyses. A modified pseudostatic slope stability analysis was performed to identify other possible critical slip surfaces with lower factors of safety values than the critical slip surface obtained from the static stability analysis. A reliability-based approach was then adopted to incorporate the effect of uncertainty on the estimation of shear-strength parameters of the dam materials, and the expected performance during different seismic events was evaluated. Two hypothetical earthquake events were also considered for the postearthquake deformation and serviceability assessment studies. The approach adopted in this research study facilitates identifying the critical sections of a dam that the conventional analysis method may not consider. Hence, this new approach would be integral toward developing guidelines for evaluating the seismic resilience of earthen dams.
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Acknowledgments
This research was conducted as part of an on-going research project (Grant ID GCS # 2015-779) with the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD). The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Louie Verreault, Mr. Jason Gehrig, Ms. Dorota Koterba, and Mr. David Marshall of TRWD for their assistance with various research activities related to testing and in coordinating various groups. The software support provided by GeoStudio for the slope stability studies is acknowledged. The authors also acknowledge the NSF Industry–University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) funded “Center for Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI)” at Texas A&M University, College Station (Award No. 1464489, Phase I and Award o. 2017796, Phase III; Program Directors: Dr. Gregory Reed, Dr. Prakash Balan, and Dr. Andre Marshall). We acknowledge the use of imagery from the NOAA Satellite Maps application.
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 1 • January 2021
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Apr 21, 2020
Accepted: Aug 14, 2020
Published online: Oct 23, 2020
Published in print: Jan 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Mar 23, 2021
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