• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.423-435
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• 2005

A modal approach is proposed for dynamic analysis of concrete arch dam-reservoir systems in frequency domain. The technique relies on mode shapes extracted by considering the symmetric parts of total mass and stiffness matrices. Based on this method, a previously developed program is modified, and the response of Morrow Point arch dam is studied for various conditions. The method is proved to be very effective and it is an extremely convenient modal technique for dynamic analysis of concrete arch dams.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.285-302
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• 2004

A FE-(FE-HE)-BE procedure is presented for dynamic analysis of concrete arch dams. In this technique, dam body is discretized by solid finite elements, while the reservoir domain is considered by a combination of fluid finite elements and a three-dimensional fluid hyper-element. Furthermore, foundation rock domain is handled by three-dimensional boundary element formulation. Based on this method, a previously developed program is modified, and the response of Morrow Point arch dam is studied for various conditions. Moreover, the effects of canyon shape on response of dam, is also discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.683-698
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• 2006

The accurate dynamic analysis of concrete arch dams relies heavily on employing a three-dimensional semi-infinite fluid element. The usual method for calculating the impedance matrix of this fluid hyper-element is dependent on the solution of a complex eigen-value problem for each frequency. In the present study, an efficient procedure is proposed which simplifies this procedure amazingly, and results in great computational time saving. Moreover, the accuracy of this technique is examined thoroughly and it is concluded that efficient procedure is incredibly accurate under all practical conditions.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.633-648
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• 2014

The seismic safety of concrete dams is one of the important problems in the engineering due to the vast socio-economic disasters which may be caused by collapse of these infrastructures. The accuracy of the risk evaluation associated with these existing dams as well as the efficient design of future dams is highly dependent on a proper understanding of their behaviour due to earthquakes. This paper develops an anisotropic damage model for arch dam under strong earthquakes. The modified Drucker-Prager criterion is adopted as the failure criteria of the dynamic damage evolution of concrete. Some process fields and other necessary information for the safety evaluation are obtained. The numerical results show that the seismic behaviour of concrete dams can be satisfactorily predicted.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.209-220
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• 2014

Vibration based damage detection is very popular in the civil engineering area. Especially, special structures like dams, long-span bridges and high-rise buildings, need continues monitoring in terms of mechanical properties of material, static and dynamic behavior. It has been stated in the International Commission on Large Dams that more than half of the large concrete dams were constructed more than 50 years ago and the old dams have subjected to repeating loads such as earthquake, overflow, blast, etc.,. So, some unexpected failures may occur and catastrophic damages may be taken place because of theloss of strength, stiffness and other physical properties of concrete. Therefore, these dams need repairs provided with global damage evaluation in order to preserve structural integrity. The paper aims to show the effectiveness of the model updating method for global damage detection on a laboratory arch dam model. Ambient vibration test is used in order to determine the experimental dynamic characteristics. The initial finite element model is updated according to the experimentally determined natural frequencies and mode shapes. The web thickness is selected as updating parameter in the damage evaluation. It is observed from the study that the damage case is revealed with high accuracy and a good match is attained between the estimated and the real damage cases by model updating method.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.397-407
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• 2021

This paper investigates the optimal sensor placements and capabilities of this procedure for dynamic characteristics identification of arch dams. For this purpose, a prototype arch dam is constructed in laboratory conditions. Berke arch dam located on the Ceyhan River in city of Osmaniye is one of the highest arch dam constructed in Turkey is selected for field verification. The ambient vibration tests are conducted using initial candidate sensor locations at the beginning of the study. Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition and Stochastic Subspace Identification methods are used to extract experimental dynamic characteristics. Then, measurements are repeated according to optimal sensor locations of the dams. These locations are specified using the Effective Independence Method. To determine the optimal sensor locations, the target mode shape matrices which are obtained from ambient vibration tests of the selected dam with a large number of accelerometers are used. The dynamic characteristics obtained from each ambient vibrations tests are compared with each other. It is concluded that the dynamic characteristics obtained from initial measurements and those obtained from a limited number of sensors are compatible with each other. This situation indicates that optimal sensor placements determined by the Effective Independence Method are useful for dynamic characteristics identification of arch dams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.363-376
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• 2007

A FE-BE procedure is presented for dynamic analysis of concrete arch dams. In this technique, dam body is discretized by finite elements, while foundation rock is handled by three dimensional boundary element formulation. This would allow a rigorous inclusion of dam-foundation rock interaction, with no limitations imposed on geometry of canyon shape. Based on this method, a previously developed program is modified, and the response of Morrow Point arch dam is studied for various ratios of foundation rock to dam concrete elastic moduli under an empty reservoir condition. Furthermore, the effects of canyon shape on response of dam, is also discussed.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.179-199
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• 2016

The aim of this study is to investigate arrival direction effects of travelling waves on non-linear seismic response of arch dams. It is evident that the seismic waves may reach on the dam site from any direction. Therefore, this study considers the seismic waves arrive to the dam site with different angles, ${\theta}=0^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $75^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$ for non-linear analysis of arch dam-water-foundation interaction system. The N-S, E-W and vertical component of the Erzincan earthquake, on March 13, 1992, is used as the ground motion. Dam-water-foundation interaction is defined by Lagrangian approach in which a step-by-step integration technique is employed. The stress-strain behavior of the dam concrete is idealized using three-dimensional Drucker-Prager model based on associated flow rule assumption. The program NONSAP is employed in response calculations. The time-history of crest displacements and stresses of the dam are presented. The results obtained from non-linear analyses are compared with that of linear analyses.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2013

Modal testing, widely accepted and applied method for determining the dynamic characteristics of structures for operational conditions, uses known or unknown vibrations in structures. The method's common applications includes estimation of dynamic characteristics and also damage detection and monitoring of structural performance. In this study, the structural identification of concrete arch dams is determined using ambient vibration tests which is one of the modal testing methods. For the purpose, several ambient vibration tests are conducted to an arch dam. Sensitive accelerometers were placed on the different points of the crest and a gallery of the dam, and signals are collected for the process. Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition technique is used for the extraction of natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. A total of eight natural frequencies are attained by experimentally for each test setup, which ranges between 0-12 Hz. The results obtained from each ambient vibration tests are presented and compared with each other in detail. There is a good agreement between the results for all measurements. However, the theoretical fundamental frequency of Berke Arch Dam is a little different from the experimental.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.101-116
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• 2018

As one of the most important engineering structures, arch dams are huge constructions built with human hands and have strategical importance. Because of the fact that long construction duration, water supply, financial reasons, major loss of life and material since failure etc., the design of arch dams is very important problem and should be done by expert engineers to determine the structural behavior more accurately. Finite element analyses and non-destructive experimental measurements can be used to investigate the structural response, but there are some difficulties such as spending a long time while modelling, analysis and in-situ testing. Therefore, it is more useful to conduct the research on the laboratory conditions and to transform the obtained results into real constructions. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to determine the structural behavior of arch dams considering experimentally validated prototype laboratory model using similitude and scaling laws. Type-1 arch dam, which is one of five arch dam types suggested at the "Arch Dams" Symposium in England in 1968 is selected as reference prototype model. The dam is built considering dam-reservoir-foundation interaction and ambient vibration tests are performed to validate the finite element results such as dynamic characteristics, displacements, principal stresses and strains. These results are considered as reference parameters and used to determine the real arch dam response with different scales factors such as 335, 400, 416.67 and 450. These values are selected by considering previously examined dam projects. Arch heights are calculated as 201 m, 240 m, 250 m and 270 m, respectively. The structural response is investigated between the model and prototype by using similarity requirements, field equations, scaling laws etc. To validate these results, finite element models are enlarged in the same scales and analyses are repeated to obtain the dynamic characteristics, displacements, principal stresses and strains. At the end of the study, it is seen that there is a good agreement between all results obtained by similarity requirements with scaling laws and enlarged finite element models.