Nonlinear Seismic Analysis of RCC Dam Considering Orthotropic

Behavior of Layers

Arash Mazloumi
Moshanir Power Engineering Consultants, Tehran, Iran
mazloumi.arash@gmail.com

Mohsen Ghaemian
Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Ali Noorzad
Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT:
After construction of the first large RCC gravity dam (Jahgin dam) in Iran, interest in making of new dams by using this technology has
been raised. Safety evaluation of RCC dams during earthquake has been the subject of many researchers recently. Nonlinear seismic
analysis of RCC dams is required for the purpose of seismic safety evaluation. In this study, a nonlinear smeared crack model has been
used to consider anisotropic behavior of RCC dams in perpendicular and parallel directions to concrete layers interface. Seismic
analysis of two-dimensional finite element model of the tallest monolith of Jahgin dam and its reservoir was investigated by applying
Koyna (India, 1967) and Kobe (Japan, 1995) earthquake ground motions. Results showed that the cracking was propagated horizontally
and then in the oblique direction from the elevation at which the slope of upstream face changes abruptly. Second region which got
involved in significant damage was upper portion of the downstream face of the dam. From the results it is concluded that the cracking
tends to excessively propagate at the upper levels of the dam, mainly close to the neck of the dam when orthotropic behavior of RCC is
considered in nonlinear analysis.

Keywords: Nonlinear Seismic Analysis, Anisotropic Behavior, Jahgin RCC Dam

1. INTRODUCTION body and layers interface was approximately considered

Roller compacted concrete (RCC) technology has
revolutionized the dam construction industry during the
past decades. The advantages of more economical and
rapid construction brought these dams into the engineers’
attention; hence seismic analysis of suchlike structures to
assess its resistance during earthquake and some
phenomena such as cracking has become important. It is
recommended to perform nonlinear analysis based on
fracture mechanics theory to assess performance of a
new or an existing concrete dam with regard to dam
safety (USACE, 1995).
Yahui and Guowei (1995), introduced the constitutive
model for isotropic material to simulate both elastic and
elastoplastic behavior of RCC body. In addition, an
interface element was used to model lift joint of RCC dam.
This method is difficult and not practical due to required
number of interface elements for modeling all the lift
joints in the high RCC dams.
Chuhan et al (2002), evaluated the safety of high RCC
gravity dam, Longtan dam, against earthquake by using
the numerical procedure including nonlinear fracture
mechanics and the compression- shear failure mechanism
for concrete. The distinction between the strength of RCC
in the analysis. For the full reservoir and the peak ground
acceleration of 0.37g, more damage happened throughout
the cross-section of the dam in the slope discontinuity of
downstream face, similar to what occurred in the koyna
dam during 1967 Koyna earthquake.
Zuohui (2004), proposed the multi-laminate framework to
simulate the stress-strain relationship of RCC dams. This
approach is an equivalent constitutive model and can
describe both the elastic and elastoplastic behavior of rock
mass without additional interface element to model joint
of rock mass. The finite element model of Longtan RCC
gravity dam was analyzed and results showed that a
multi-laminate framework can be used as a practical
material model of high RCC dams.
In this paper, a numerical model with governing relations
based on the smeared crack model is used to consider
body anisotropic behavior of RCC dam in perpendicular
and parallel directions to concrete layers interface.
Two-dimensional finite elements model of the tallest
monolith of Jahgin dam and its reservoir are used for the
purpose of the analysis. Dynamic analysis of dam-
reservoir system in time domain is investigated by
applying the horizontal and vertical acceleration
components of Koyna (India, 1967) and Kobe (Japan,
1995) earthquake ground motions.
2. NUMERICAL PROCEDURE
Most of the concrete gravity dams will experience
cracking during operational loadings and moderate
earthquake ground motions (Rescher, 1990); accordingly,
numerical procedures should represent an appropriate
method to attain the status of cracking inside the dam
body, such as initiation, propagation and closing and
reopening of cracks. The material properties must
properly be exerted into the numerical models.
conventionally placed mass concrete due to the many
horizontal planes of weakness (construction joints)
created during placement (USACE, 2000); hence the
difference in the strength between the layers interface
and RCC body maybe important to consider in the
numerical analysis. In a nonlinear analysis, existing
structural joints in the dam body can be represented by
using the orthotropic material properties to finite element
model. The orthotropic stiffness properties are defined by
the three parameters including: E n young’s modulus in
the direction normal to the existing joint plane; E p
young’s modulus in the direction parallel to the existing

and n angle in degrees between the direction normal

joint plane (normally equal to isotropic elastic modulus)
2.1. Smeared Crack Model
to joint plane and the global x-axis. The ratio of elastic
modulus in two directions is specified by   n .
The Smeared crack model based on the nonlinear E
fracture behaviour of concrete was used in the nonlinear
Ep
analysis (Battacharjee and Leger, 1993 and 1994). It
contains the main characteristic including: (i) the
constitutive relation matrix for an isotropic plane stress
condition in the pre-softening behavior of concrete, (ii)
satisfaction of fracture energy conservation, (iii)
nonlinear response pending the softening phase wherein
the crack band is assumed to appear in the direction
perpendicular to the principal tensile strain, (iv) closing
and reopening of cracks may occur during reversible
loading conditions.

In the finite element analysis, according to the mentioned

numerical procedure, a linear elastic relationship is
assumed until the energy density of tensile strain
becomes equal to the following parameter:


1
i i i 2 Ei 2
U 0   d    (1  0) (1)
2 2E 2
0

Where i and i are apparent tensile strength and its

corresponding strain; 1 , 1 and E are major principal
stress , strain and elastic modulus respectively.
Figure 1. Uniaxial stress- strain diagram of concrete in tension

to 30% higher than the actual peak tensile strength,  t

Apparent tensile strength may be approximately taken 25
which would be achieved by a direct tensile strength test.
Fig. 1 presents the uniaxial stress- strain diagram of
concrete in tension. After the peak of strength, the elastic
modulus is replaced by the softened elastic modulus at
the softening region in which the strength of concrete is
2.3. Dam-reservoir Interaction
The dam-reservoir interaction is a classic coupled
problem which includes two differential equations of the
second order. The equations of the dam structure and the
reservoir may be given by the following form:

 M U  C U    K U    f1   M Ug 

reduced up to zero against the increase of deformation.
Under reversal loading conditions where closing of

 Q  P   F1  Q  P
completely fractured concrete occur; the softened elastic (2)
modulus (which has reached a zero value) increases to

G P  C P    K P  F2    Q T U

initial elastic modulus.

2.2. Orthotropic Behavior Model (3)

RCC dam is constructed lift by lift in consecutive Where U  and P are the displacement and pressure
horizontal layers, therefore RCC differs from
  M  , C  K 
stiffness matrices of the structure, and G  , C  and
vectors; and are mass, damping and of the reservoir bottom materials to consider the partially
absorb of incident hydrodynamic pressure waves (FERC,

 K 
1999).

Q 
are matrices defining mass, damping and stiffness

 f1 is the vector of body force and hydrostatic

of the reservoir respectively; is the coupling

F2  contains the components of the force

matrix;
force;

Ug  is the ground acceleration and  is the density of

resulted from accelerated boundaries of the reservoir;

the fluid. The dot represents the time derivatives.

The staggered solution scheme has been used to solve the

integration method (  -method). The boundary

coupled filed equations which was discretized by direct

conditions of the dam-reservoir, the reservoir-foundation

and the reservoir-far-end (the Sharan boundary condition
at the far-end truncated boundary) have been applied in
the finite element model of the reservoir (Ghaemian and
Ghobarah, 1998 and 1999).

3. SEISMIC ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

3.1. Parameters for Analysis Figure 2. The Tallest non- overflow section of Jahgin dam

Jahgin dam is the first large RCC gravity dam which Table 1. Roller Compacted Concrete Properties of Jahgin Dam
located in the region with excessively bad weather Parameters RCC1 RCC2
conditions (for instance, the peak temperature reaches Tensile Strength (MPa) 1.7 1.4
Elastic Modulus (GPa) 21 20
more than 50oC in summer days) at the south- east of
Fracture Energy (N/m) 96 84
Iran. It has 78 m height and 260 m length at the crest
Poisson Ratio 0.2 0.2
with the reservoir volume of 300 MCM. Jahgin dam has
Unit Weight (Kg/m3) 2450 2450
been constructed in 15m wide blocks and its tallest
non-overflow section was selected for seismic analysis.
Two mix designs called RCC1 and RCC2 were used to
build the structure. The upstream facing of the dam was
constructed by the average width equal to 1.5 m of RCC1
and the rest of the dam body placed with RCC2 (Fig. 2).
The roller compacted concrete parameters required for
linear and nonlinear seismic analysis are given in
Table 1. These values were obtained from the results of
compressive and direct tension tests on 1530 cm
cylindrical specimens from Jahgin RCC dam site that
modified by the statistical methods. The ratio of the
elastic modulus of RCC in directions parallel and normal

mentioned in the previous section,   0.8 (Berton et al,

to layers interface are taken about 1.2; hence as

2009). A dynamic amplification factor of 1.5 similarly
considered for the tensile strength and the fracture
energy. The elastic modulus of concrete is less sensitive
to strain rate than above strength parameters, so it
increased by the coefficient of 1.2 in the dynamic
analysis (Chuhan et al, 2002).
Figure 3. The finite elements model of dam- reservoir system
An elasto-brittle damping model which explain in the
following formulation, replaced the viscous damping
model during the cracking process in which the cracked
elements do not influence to the damping matrix.

Two- dimensional finite element model of the dam- C   a  M    b  K 0 (4)

Where  M  is the system mass matrix and  K 0

reservoir system is shown in Fig. 3. For simplicity of the
analysis, the dam foundation was assumed to be rigid.
The reservoir length is ten times of its depth and Water
compressibility is included in the analysis. Conservative
value of 0.8 is selected for the wave reflection coefficient
is the
stiffness matrix of an intact element; a and b are
mass and stiffness proportional damping factors.
The stiffness proportional damping of 5% damping in the
fundamental vibration mode of the initially linear
structure (dam with empty reservoir) is used and the
mass- proportional term is eliminated.
For dynamic loadings, the first 10 seconds of horizontal
and vertical acceleration components of the 1967 koyna
(India) earthquake records were used (Fig. 4) and also
the first 20 sec. of acceleration components of Kobe
earthquake (Japan, 1995) which recorded in KJM/090
site have been chosen for seismic analysis (Fig. 5). The
computer code, NSAG-DRI (Ghaemian and Kianoush,
1999) was employed in order to obtain the dam
responses.
3.2. Numerical Results
The contours of maximum principal tensile stresses
obtained from the linear seismic analysis are shown in
Figs. 6 and 7. The peak values are about 3.2 Mpa and 5.7
Mpa subjected to Koyna and Kobe ground motion,
respectively. Maximum stresses occur near the slope
discontinuity of upstream face and medial elevation at
downstream face of the dam during Kobe earthquake
records. The elements located in those regions are
predicted to crack because the tensile stresses are much
bigger than RCC tensile strength.

Koyna Horizontal Component

0.6
0.4
Acceleration(g)

0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
Time(Sec.)
-0.6
0 2 4 6 8 10
Koyna Vertical Component
0.6
0.4
Acceleration(g)

0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
Time(Sec.)
-0.6
0 2 4 6 8 10
Figure 6. Maximum Principal Tensile Stresses (Mpa) of The
Dam body Under Koyna Earthquake Loading
Figure 4. The 1967 Koyna earthquake records

Kobe Horizontal Component(KJM,090)

0.6
0.4
Acceleration(g)

0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
Time(Sec.)
-0.6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Kobe Vertical Component(KJM,090)
0.6
0.4
Acceleration(g)

0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
Time(sec.)
-0.6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Figure 7. Maximum Principal Tensile Stresses (Mpa) of The

Figure 5. The 1995 Kobe earthquake records Dam body Under Kobe Earthquake Loading
Crack profiles at eight selected times in consequence of
nonlinear seismic analysis under Kobe earthquake records
are displayed in Figs. 8 and 9.

Figure 9. The Crack Profiles of The Dam body Under Kobe

Earthquake Loading (Orthotropic behavior of RCC
layers)

Figure 8. The Crack Profiles of The Dam body Under Kobe Figures show crack initiated at the dam’s heel. Second
Earthquake Loading (Isotropic behavior of RCC) crack profile occurs at the elevation which the slope of
upstream face changes abruptly. Finally, few other crack
profiles observed at the dam body at downstream face.
Results show that the cracking start quickly and has more
development at the upper part of the dam close to the neck
of the dam when orthotropic behavior of RCC layers has
been considered in the numerical model (Fig. 9).
4. CONCLUSION
Roller compacted concrete dam is constructed by
frequently concrete placement in the horizontal continues
layers, accordingly the strength properties of RCC layers
maybe reduced in the direction normal to layers. In this
study, a numerical method based on smeared crack
formulation was used for nonlinear analysis to consider
anisotropic behavior of RCC layers. Seismic analysis of
two- dimensional finite element model of Jahgin RCC
dam and its reservoir was done and the following main
results were obtained:
In the linear dynamic analysis, maximum principal tensile
stresses were observed around the elevation at which the
slope of downstream face changes suddenly. High values
of tensile stresses are observed at the medial level of the
downstream face of the dam.
Two case of analysis including isotropic and orthotropic
behaviour of RCC layers were performed. Results showed
that cracks propagated inside the dam body at two regions
located around the slope changes of upstream and
downstream faces. It is concluded that, when orthotropic
behavior of RCC layers is considered in the nonlinear
analysis, an extensive zone near the dam's neck suffered
significant damages.
High RCC gravity dams maybe designed with the
upstream slope discontinuity to achieve main objective of
the stability; however, as it is shown this may cause
extensive cracking due to stress concentration at the
places of any slope discontinuities. As a result, it is
recommended that RCC dam projects located in the zones
with the high seismicity to be carefully studied with the
nonlinear analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the Water Resource
Management Company of Iran for making available the
Specification of Jahgin dam and its RCC properties that were
used in the seismic analysis.
REFERENCES
Berton, R., Mazloumi, A. and Ghaemian, M. (2009):
Estimation of fracture parameters using experimental test
results for nonlinear seismic analysis of Jahgin RCC gravity
dam, Journal of Dam Engineering, XX:1, pp. 5-38.
Zuohui, P. (2004): Material model of high roller compacted
concrete dam, Journal of Dam Engineering, 12, pp. 143-166.
Chuhan, Z., Guanglun, W. Shaomin, W.,and Yuexing, D.
(2002): Experimental tests of rolled compacted concrete and
nonlinear fracture analysis of rolled compacted concrete
dams, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 14:2, pp.
108-115.
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). (2000): Roller
compacted concrete, EM 1110-2-2006, Departement of The
Army, USA.
Ghaemian, M. and Kianoush, R. (1999): Nonlinear seismic
response of concrete gravity dam including dam-reservoir
interaction (NSAG-DRI), Manual, Sharif University of
Technology, Iran.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). (1999):
Engineering Guidelines for the Evaluation of Hydropower
Projects, Division of Dam Safety and Inspections, USA.
Ghaemian, M., Ghobarah, A. (1999): Nonlinear seismic
response of concrete gravity dams with dam-reservoir
interaction, Journal of Engineering Structures, 21, pp.
306-315.
Ghaemian, M., Ghobarah, A. (1998): Staggered solution
schemes for dam-reservoir interaction, Journal of Fluids and
Structures, 12, pp. 933-948.
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). (1995): Seismic
design provisions for roller compacted concrete dams, EP
1110-2-12, Departement of The Army, USA.
Yahui, D., Guowei, L. (1995): Study on failure mechanism of
roller compacted concrete gravity dam, Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering (in Chi nese), 5, pp. 55-59.
Bhattacharjee, SS., Leger, P. (1994): Application of NLFM
models to predict cracking in concrete gravity dams, Journal
of Structural Engineering, ASCE, 120:4, pp. 1255-1271.
Bhattacharjee, SS., Leger, P. (1993): Seismic cracking and
energy dissipation in concrete gravity dams, Journal of
Earthquake Engineering Structural Dynamic, 22, pp.
991-1007.
Rescher, O. (1990): Importance of cracking in concrete dams,
Journal of Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 35:3, pp.
503-524.