Location
San Diego, California
Presentation Date
28 Mar 2001, 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Abstract
There are two approaches for estimating the stability of fill dams during earthquakes. The first method determines the ultimate resistance of dams by using theoretical analyses, such as slide analysis and finite element method. In actuality, fill dams do not immediately collapse even when the safety factor by slide analysis is less than 1.0. The finite element method estimates safety based on displacement, which cannot be accurately determined with analytical methods. The second approach estimates the maximum seismic force fill dams can resist based on past earthquake damage to fill dams. In this study, we used this second method to investigate the earthquake resistance of fill dams, and estimated the earthquake damage to fill dams that are at least 15 m in height and have been built since 1953 based on the modern design standards. We derived the following conclusions: (1) In Japan, no fill dam of at least 15 m in height that has been built based on the modern design standards has been destroyed by an earthquake. Only earth dams built by using experimental methods have been affected. (2) Earthquakes have caused maximum input acceleration of 260 to 600 gal at the foundations of fill dams. These values, which may be converted into static intensities, exceed the dam design values, but no dam has been destroyed. The fact that fill dams have not been destroyed by major earthquakes suggests empirically that large fill dams are highly earthquake resistant and that the conventional dam design system (methods for determining physical values and for evaluating safety) is generally appropriate for investigating earthquake resistance.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2001 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Tani, Shigeru, "Consideration of Earthquake Resistant of Large Fill Dams" (2001). International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics. 1.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icrageesd/04icrageesd/session10/1
Included in
Consideration of Earthquake Resistant of Large Fill Dams
San Diego, California
There are two approaches for estimating the stability of fill dams during earthquakes. The first method determines the ultimate resistance of dams by using theoretical analyses, such as slide analysis and finite element method. In actuality, fill dams do not immediately collapse even when the safety factor by slide analysis is less than 1.0. The finite element method estimates safety based on displacement, which cannot be accurately determined with analytical methods. The second approach estimates the maximum seismic force fill dams can resist based on past earthquake damage to fill dams. In this study, we used this second method to investigate the earthquake resistance of fill dams, and estimated the earthquake damage to fill dams that are at least 15 m in height and have been built since 1953 based on the modern design standards. We derived the following conclusions: (1) In Japan, no fill dam of at least 15 m in height that has been built based on the modern design standards has been destroyed by an earthquake. Only earth dams built by using experimental methods have been affected. (2) Earthquakes have caused maximum input acceleration of 260 to 600 gal at the foundations of fill dams. These values, which may be converted into static intensities, exceed the dam design values, but no dam has been destroyed. The fact that fill dams have not been destroyed by major earthquakes suggests empirically that large fill dams are highly earthquake resistant and that the conventional dam design system (methods for determining physical values and for evaluating safety) is generally appropriate for investigating earthquake resistance.
