Harichandran, R. S., and Chen, M.-T. (1996). "Reliability of an earth
dam excited by spatially varying earthquake ground motion." Proceedings,
11th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Acapulco, Mexico, Paper
No. 1287.
Abstract
Recent research has shown that significant variation of earthquake
ground motion exists over the base dimensions of large structures
(Harichandran and Vanmarcke 1986 and many others). The response analysis
of an earth dam subjected to spatially varying earthquake ground motion
(SVEGM) generally requires a 3-D finite element model in order to
accurately represent the spatially varying excitation at the base and
sides of the dam. Since SVEGM is usually characterized using
probabilistic models, the seismic analysis of the dam is best performed
using random vibration analysis, as long as linear response is assumed.
A detailed study of the stochastic response of the Santa Felicia earth
dam located in California has been performed by the authors (Chen 1995,
Chen and Harichandran 1995). This paper examines the reliability of the
dam under general SVEGM and identical base excitations using the
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Reliability index contours are shown
over the entire dam and the results indicate that the effect of SVEGM
can have a significant effect on the stability of earth dams.