Behavior of Swedish Concrete Buttress Dams at Sesmic Loading

Abstract: The aim of the thesis is to study the response of Swedish buttress dams if they are subjected to an earthquake of relevant magnitude to Sweden. Swedish dams are evaluated for an extensive amount of load cases, but not for earthquake loading. Therefore, it is not known how the Swedish buttress dams would respond during such loading. Earthquake engineering is practised only to a marginal extent in Sweden due to a low risk of major earthquakes. In fact, an earthquake hazard zonation map that provides data for earthquake resistant design, does not even exist for Sweden. Therefore, part of the thesis is aimed at acquiring data from alternative sources to enable seismic evaluation. The effect of earthquakes on Swedish buttress dams are analysed through case studies. The case studies are performed with numerical analysis using the commercial finite element program Brigade Plus. The case studies are performed on two buttress dam models that were selected based on an inventory of Swedish buttress dams. In the case studies, the dam models are evaluated for the Safety Evaluation Earthquake (SEE), which correspond to 10 000 years return period. At the SEE event, the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), is also related to the geographical location of a dam. The envelope of available PGA in Sweden was used in the case studies to cover the spectrum of PGA. The response of the dams to the lowest value of PGA is insignificant and the dams are essentially unaffected. However, for the highest value of PGA the responses indicates that the concrete of the dams is severely cracked and that the ultimate capacity of the reinforcement may be exceeded. Hence, it is concluded that the geographical location of a Swedish dam is highly influential on the response to earthquake loading.