Optimum Design Program for Shape of Arch Dams

Jalal Akbari*, Mohammad T. Ahmadi**, Hamid Moharrami***

*. PhD Student, Dept. of Civil Eng., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
jakbari@modares.ac.ir
**. Professor of Civil Eng. , Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
mahmadi@modares.ac.ir
***. Assistant Professor of Civil Eng. , Tarbiat Modares University , Tehran, Iran
hamid@modares.ac.ir

Keywords: Concrete Arch Dam, Shape Optimization, Cubic Spline, Design

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an applicable and practical computer program(ODPSAD1) and suggests a new
algorithm for geometry of concrete arch dams. In this program shape optimization of arch dams for
static and dynamic loads and enhancement of its seismic behaviour is carried out. abutment
excavation and dam body volumes have been considered as the objective function and in order to
increase the consistency with practical conditions, a great number of geometrical and behavioural
constraints have been included in the mathematical model. Three loading cases i.e., gravity loading,
static loading and dynamic loading have been accounted for analysis. In seismic loading, longitudinal
component of the OBE2 spectrum have been considered. For finite element analysis the base of
program FEAPpv3 is used and extended for this purpose .Sequential nonlinear approximation(SQP4)
procedure is used for the optimization analysis. Results show that the modification and optimization
of shape can be very versatile and professional leading to considerable reduction in the dam body
volume and costs in regular cases.

1. Introduction

In concrete arch dams, geometry of the structure has a great influence on the safety and economy of
design. Geometry is also an important factor in the stability of dam. Nowadays, a high number of arch
dams are constructed in seismic zones and despite their acceptable performance under dynamic
loading, there is still overmuch need to improve their behaviour and to increase their safety during
strong ground motion events. Generally, shape design of an arch dam is based mainly on the
experience of the designer, model tests and trial and error procedures. In trial and error procedures, an
initial scheme is selected or given and then analyzed. If it satisfies the demands of the design
specifications, the scheme is adopted. Otherwise, the shape of the dam is modified and reanalyzed.
This process continues until the whole demands of the design specifications are satisfied. To get a
better shape, the designer should select several alternative schemes with various patterns and modify
them such as the first scheme to obtain a number of feasible shapes. The best shape considering
economy of design, structural considerations, safety, etc. is selected as the final shape. The shape of
the dam obtained in this way is feasible but not necessarily optimal or even good. Moreover, the time
of design is rather long. To overcome these difficulties, special efforts have begun by researchers for
optimal shape design from the late 1960’s.In the search of arch dams with optimal shape, early
research did by (Fialho (1955) & Serafim (1966)) [1,2]. Later, Rajan, M.K.S. (1968) [3], Mohr, G.A.
1
-Optimum Design Program for Shape of Arch Dams
2
-Operating Basis Earthquake
3
-Finite Element Analysis Program for Personal Version
4
-Sequential Quadratic Program

1
(1979) [4] and Sharma, R.L. (1983) [5], considerably developed membrane shell theory based
solutions. Sharpe, R. (1969) [6] was the first one to formulate the optimization problem as a
mathematical programming problem. A similar method was also adopted by Rickeetts, R.E. &
Zienkiewicz, O.C. (1975) [7]. Wassermann (1983-84) [8,9] used a mathematical formulation for arch
dam design. From other works in this field, the works done by Rahim, A.S. (1983) [10], Samy, M.S.
(1987) [11,12], Yao, T.M. & Choi, K.K. (1989) [13], Guohua, L. & Shuyu, W. (1990) [14] can be
mentioned. Fanelli, A., Fanelli, M. & Salvaneschi, P. (1993) [15] used neural network approach to the
definition of near optimal arch dam shape. Nevertheless, one of the most important investigations in
the field of shape optimization of concrete arch dams carried out by Bofang, Z. et al. [16,17,18,19,20]
in China since the middle 1970’s. Later on, Simões, L.M.C. (1994) [21,22] continued Bofang works
using the finite element method for stress analysis. Last work is done by Tajalli & Ahmadi.(2005)
[23] using Bofang formulation for parabolic arch dam. They used a commercial program for finite
element analysis and DOT as an optimizer. In the latter, seismic loads , dam-foundation- reservoir
interaction have been considered and method is applied successfully in Shahid Rajaee Arch dam in
Iran.
In this research new algorithm for modelling geometry of arch dams is used [24,25].As a high
number of design variables and large dimensions of shape optimization of concrete arch dams’
problem, make its nature very complicated, preparing a suitable method for this problem is highly
demanding. This research employs Bofang’s dam body geometrical expression but is quite improved
in modelling the Dam-Foundation system, dynamic load definition, stress constraints, numerical
analysis method and method of optimization. The main aim has been an attempt to develop a practical
and professional program for shape optimization of arch dams.[26]

2. Design Variables

Site geometry is described in the Cartesian site coordinate system t0 , t1 , t 2 .This global coordinate
system is chosen at the beginning of the project and remains unchanged throughout the design
procedure. The axes t0 and t1 lie in a horizontal plane. The axis t0 points to the right side of the dam
body. The axis t2 points vertically upward. The geometry of the arch dam is described in the cartesian
dam coordinate system x0 , x1 , x2 ,θ c whose origin and orientation change for each design with the
location of the dam and the orientation of the axis of the dam. Fig (1).. For crown shape It is assumed
that design variables are the dam thicknesses Tb , Tm , Tu , Tc and the overhang parameters pb , pm , pu , pc
at the interpolation stations. Shape of crown is defined via cubic Spline equations of upstream and
downstream faces. The thickness variation in the crown is specified by Tb , Tm , Tu , Tc design variables.
The upper and middle levels are specified relative to H c with the level ratios hu = .75 , hm = .4 . The
thickness is interpolated with Splines over the height of the dam. The upstream face of the dam is
divided into a central zone of constant thickness, which will be denoted by Z C , and zones of variable
thickness at the left and right abutments, which will be denoted by Z L and Z R . The zones are shown
in Fig.3. In zone Z C , the thickness of the dam body in each horizon equals the thickness in the crown
joint. In the zones Z L and Z R , the thickness in each elevation varies parabolically from the thickness
of Z C to the abutment thickness. The start points of variable zone in 4 stations at right and left is
defined with 8 design variables .i.e. tb , t m , tu , t c , sb , sm , su , sc .The thickness of the dam body at the
abutment is specified by the thicknesses Trb , Trm , Tru , Trc and Tlb , Tlm , Tlu , Tlc which are design
variables. The thickness is interpolated with Splines over the height of the dam. Consider the
elevation of a dam body at level x2 .as shown in Fig.4. The upstream edge of the horizon is a parabola
whose vertex lies on the upstream edge of the crest joint profile. The radius of curvature r of the
parabola is specified at levels H b , H m , H u , H c by the Rb , Rm , Ru , Rc design variables. It is
interpolated between these levels with the cubic Splines.

2
Fig.1. Site & Dam Coordinate Systems Fig.2. Crown Cantilever Profile

Fig.3.Thickness Zones of the Dam Body Fig.4.An elevation Arch of the Dam Body

Fig.5.Shape of the Dam and Its Foundation

3
3. Objective Function

The objective function is the volume of the dam and foundation excavation, which expressed as
follows:

f ( x) = V1 ( x) + V2 ( x) (1)

In which f (x) = the sum of volumes, V1 ( x) = volume of concrete in the dam body, V2 ( x) = volume of
foundation excavation and the x is the vector of design variables. The volume of the dam is the sum
of volumes of the elements. The foundation excavation is computed from mathematical formulation
that is depended to design variables.

4. Constraints

In shape optimization of concrete arch dams, the three following types of constraints should satisfy
the demands of design and construction requirements:
1)- Geometrical constraints 2)- Stress constraints 3)- Stability constraints
The constraints are shown by a set of g i ( x) ≤ 0 conditions

5. Optimization Problem

The shape optimization problem of an arch dam can be expressed as a nonlinear constrained
optimization problem of the form:

Minimize : C = f(x)
(2)
Subject to : g j (x) ≤ 0 , (j = 1,2,..., q)
In which q is the total number of constraints .Because there is not any explicit formulation between
design variables and the above functions , these functions are approximated in x0 via Taylor
expansion series, so the nonlinear functions replaced with sequential approximated quadratic and
linear function as equations (3),(4)

f ( x) = f ( x0 ) + ( xi − x0i ) * ∇f + .5 * ( xi − x0i )T *H df *( xi − x0i ) (3)

g j ( x) = g j ( x0 ) + ( xi − x0i ) * ∇g j ( x0i ) (4)
where f (x) is approximated objective function , f ( x0 ) is objective function in x0 , ∇f is objective
function gradients in x0 , H df is quasi Hessian matrix of objective function , g j (x) is j th linear
approximated constraint, g j ( x0 ) is value of j th constraint in x0 design point and ∇g j represents
gradient of j th constraint in x0 .

6.Case Study

The proposed method is applied to shape optimization of the 130 m-high concrete arch dam. The
canyon has trapezoidal shape with 100 m base and slopes 1:1 at left and right. The main
characteristics of the dam and the considerations related to its shape optimization process are
described at tables (1),(2),(3).Also seismic input load is illustrated in Fig(6).

Table.1. Characteristics of the Dam

Height(m) f c (Mpa) Ec (Gpa) Er (Gpa) γ C (kN/m3) ν C νr
130 35 22 8 24 .18 .22
4
 Table.2. Allowable value of Constraints
U .S .
S alw (degree) D.S .
S alw (degree) Undercutalw (m) θ alw (degree) SFst SFdy
25 20 6.5 70 3 1

Table.3. Initial Values of Design Variables

pu pm pb Tc Tu Tm Tb Rc Ru Rm Rb Trc Tru Trm

0.75 0.65 0.55 8.00 14.0 19.0 28.0 205 145 110 85 8.80 15.4 20.9

Trb Tlc Tlu Tlm Tlb tc tu tm tb sc su sm sb

30.8 8.80 15.4 20.9 30.8 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

Response Specturm

8.00

7.00

6.00

5.00
Sa(m/s2)

4.00

3.00

2.00
y = 2E-05x 5 - 0.0015x 4 + 0.0457x 3 - 0.6588x 2 + 3.9044x - 0.9004
1.00

-
- 5.0000 10.0000 15.0000 20.0000 25.0000 30.0000
W(rad/sec)

Fig.6.Seicmic Input Load

7. Typical Results

The optimization process of an arch dam according to the proposed methodology, converged after 12
iterations. Convergence rate of the objective function in the optimization process is illustrated in Fig.
(7). Notwithstanding the value of the objective function at the end of the 11th optimization cycle is
minimum, but due to a partial violation of stress constraints in this cycle, results obtained from the
12th iteration is considered as the valid optimum solution. Also In the Fig.(8) initial and optimum
shape of crown cantilever presented. After performing the optimization process, dam volume has
decreased by 37% in comparison with the initial design.

5
 Objective function convergence

650000
600000
Volume(m3) 550000
500000
450000
400000
350000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Iterations

Fig. 7. Convergence Rate of the Objective Function

Fig. 8. Crown Cantilever Evolution During the Optimization Cycles

8. Conclusion

In this paper a program(ODPSAD) is used to shape optimization of an arch dam . it suggests a new
algorithm for geometry of concrete arch dams. Abutment excavation and dam body volumes have
been considered as the objective function and in order to increase the consistency with practical
conditions, a great number of geometrical and behavioural constraints have been included in the
mathematical model. Three loading cases i.e., gravity loading, static loading and dynamic loading
have been accounted . Results show that the optimization of shape can reduce the dam body volume
37 %.

References

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