2‐D Elastoplastic Seismic Shear Response of Earth Dams: Applications

Abstract

The method presented in the companion paper is applied herein to analyze the nonlinear earthquake response of an earth dam; the entire time history of the response quantities, including permanent deformation of the dam, are calculated. Two different input ground motion cases are considered: a moderate and a strong shaking with very different frequency characteristics. Comparative studies are conducted to examine the influence of two‐dimensionality, nonlinearity, nonhomogeneity, modal expansion, modal coupling, and the multidimensional stress interaction on the response. The results are also compared to those obtained by an elaborate finite element analysis. The comparative study reveals significant response differences between one‐ and two‐dimensional analyses, homogeneous and nonhomogeneous models, moderate and strong shakings, and one‐ and multi‐mode solution expansions. In addition, the comparison indicates that the simplified method proposed can be used to reliably estimate the nonlinear earthquake response of earth dams modeled as 2‐D shear wedges.