An optimum seismic design is achieved when the cross section of the dam is triangular. SEISMIC RESPONSE OF DAM WITH SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION.Īn analytical solution to the response of a long trapezoidal-section dam on a foundation consisting of an elastic half-space and subjected to simulated earthquake motion is developed. To include material nonlinearity in the soil and geometric nonlinearity using contact (gaping and sliding) it is necessary to develop a nonlinear time domain methodology As ground motions increase so does the importance of including nonlinear effects in numerical SSI models. As the seismic hazard curves increase, the input ground motions (DBE’s) used to numerically evaluation nuclear facility response increase causing larger in- structure response. Seismic hazard curves are used to develop design basis earthquakes (DBE) that are used to evaluate nuclear facility response. faults), additional information gathered on seismic events, and additional research performed to determine local site effects. Seismic hazard curves at nuclear facilities have continued to increase over the years as more information has been developed on seismic sources (i.e. This produces the potential for inaccurately establishing where the structural concerns exist and/or inaccurately establishing the amplitude of the in- structure responses. It also makes linear approximations for material nonlinearities and generalizes energy absorption with viscous damping. The current equivalent linear SSI (SASSI) analysis approach either joins the soilmore » and structure together in both tension and compression or releases the soil from the structure for both tension and compression. For larger levels of ground motion these tools likely overestimate the in- structure response (and therefore structural demand) since they do not consider geometric nonlinearities (such as gaping and sliding between the soil and structure) and are limited in the ability to model nonlinear soil behavior. For lower levels of ground motion, these tools should produce reasonable in- structure response values for evaluation of existing and new facilities. Spears, Robert Edward Coleman, Justin LeighĬurrently the Department of Energy (DOE) and the nuclear industry perform seismic soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis using equivalent linear numerical analysis tools. Nonlinear Time Domain Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) Deep Soil Site Methodology Development