The phenomenon of interface crack propagation in concrete gravity dams under seismic loading is herein addressed. This problem is particularly important from the engineering point of view. In fact, besides Mixed-Mode crack growth in concrete, dam failure is often the result of crack propagation along the rock-concrete interface at the dam foundation. To analyze such a problem, the generalized interface constitutive law recently proposed by the first author is used to proper modelling the phenomenon of crack closing and reopening at the interface. A damage variable is also introduced in the cohesive zone formulation in order to predict crack propagation under repeated loadings. Special attention is given to the complexity resulting from the solution of the nonlinear dynamic problem and to the choice of the interface constitutive parameters, taking into account the important size-scale effects observed in these cyclopic structures. Numerical examples will show the capabilities of the proposed approach when applied to concrete gravity dams.

Seismic analysis of concrete gravity dams: Nonlinear fracture mechanics models and size-scale effects

Paggi M;
2011-01-01

Abstract

The phenomenon of interface crack propagation in concrete gravity dams under seismic loading is herein addressed. This problem is particularly important from the engineering point of view. In fact, besides Mixed-Mode crack growth in concrete, dam failure is often the result of crack propagation along the rock-concrete interface at the dam foundation. To analyze such a problem, the generalized interface constitutive law recently proposed by the first author is used to proper modelling the phenomenon of crack closing and reopening at the interface. A damage variable is also introduced in the cohesive zone formulation in order to predict crack propagation under repeated loadings. Special attention is given to the complexity resulting from the solution of the nonlinear dynamic problem and to the choice of the interface constitutive parameters, taking into account the important size-scale effects observed in these cyclopic structures. Numerical examples will show the capabilities of the proposed approach when applied to concrete gravity dams.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11771/2860
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