Effect of Sediment on Earthquake‐Induced Reservoir Hydrodynamic Response

Abstract

In typical reservoir a sediment layer of considerable depth may be deposited on top of exposed bedrock foundation. The effect of sediment on the dissipation and damping of earthquake induced hydrodynamic waves is by and large ignored in earlier studies of dam‐reservoir‐foundation system. The present work models the sediment as a poroelastic material. For vertical excitations, analytical solutions are sought with the aid of computer algebra (MACSYMA). As a result, the bottom damping coefficients are explicitly expressed as functions of material properties and earthquake frequency. For a modest amount of sediment and slight desaturation of pore water, significant changes in the hydrodynamic response curves are observed.