Damage evaluation in a concrete gravity dam using Smoothed particle hydrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper develops a particle-based computational model to simulate and analyze the failure and damage progression of a concrete gravity dam under earthquake loading, validated against experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics framework for dam failure analysis considering dam-foundation interaction.

Findings

Numerical crack patterns match experimental results

Model provides insights into damage progression under seismic loads

Framework enhances understanding of dam failure mechanisms

Abstract

An unexpected failure of a concrete gravity dam may cause unimaginable human suffering and massive economic losses. An earthquake is the main factor contributing to the concrete gravity dam's failure. In recent years, there has been a rise in efforts globally to make dams safe under dynamic loading. Numerical modeling of dams under earthquake loading yields substantial insights into dams' fracture and damage progression. In the present work, a particle-based computational framework is developed to investigate the failure of the Koyna dam, a concrete gravity dam in India exposed to dynamic loading. The dam-foundation system is considered here. The numerically obtained crack results in the concrete dam are compared with the available experimental results. The findings are consistent with one another.