Hydrodynamic forces on gravity dams with realistic modelling of reservoir bottom absorption effects

Abstract

Hydrodynamic forces on gravity dams due to earthquakes depend in a complicated way on the deformation of the dam and the reservoir bottom absorption effects. This paper presents a simple practical approach to estimate the hydrodynamic forces with the reservoir bottom absorption effects modeled by explicitly considering the properties of both the layer of sediments and the underlying foundation rock. Detailed investigations are carried out to study the sensitivity of the wave reflection coefficient and the frequency response of hydrodynamic forces to the various controlling parameters. Many important physical characteristics of the hydrodynamic forces on gravity dams have been identified for the first time

Keywords:

• Hydrodynamic forces
• gravity dams
• reflection coefficient
• reservoir bottom absorption
• earthquake motion