Earthquake analysis, design, and safety evaluation of concrete dams

Summarized is the current state of knowledge about earthquake response analysis of concrete dams, and the application of this information to the earthquake-resistant design of new dams and to the seismic safety evaluation of existing dams. The limitations of the traditional design procedures and the standard finite-element method are identified, the factors that should be considered in dynamic analysis are discussed, and procedures for simplified response spectrum analysis and refined response history analysis are summarized. The application of these linear analysis procedures to seismic design and safety evaluation of dams is discussed, followed by the limitations of the presently available nonlinear analysis procedures. At the end of the paper, several areas of research are identified in order to improve present methods for the seismic analysis, design, and safety evaluation of concrete dams.