Development of methods for evaluating the earthquake resistance of earth dams

The more complete methods that we have developed for evaluating the earthquake resistance of earth dams, which make it possible to account for the following, are discussed: the actual parameters of seismic effects in solving linear or nonlinear problems of the theory of elasticity; the actual properties of the soils comprising the body of the dam, and the characteristic features of the behavior under static and dynamic effects, as well as all basic factors involving the construction and operating periods: the sequence employed in building the structure and filling the reservoir; the consolidation process in the dam-seepage component with allowance for initial moisture and air saturation; and, the interaction between the skeleton material and rock and the fluid in the saturated components of the dam under static and dynamic effects, treating the saturated soil as a multiphase medium.Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 6, pp. 10–15, November–December, 1992.