NONLINEAR BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE DAMS USING DAMAGE MECHANICS

This paper presents damage-mechanics-based models for predicting the n onlinear static response of unreinforced concrete dams. An anisotropic formulation of the damage because of cracking is proposed. It leads t o a reasonable finite-element mesh size, Correct convergence of energy dissipation is ensured by using the energy equivalence concept. The p roposed expression for the evolution of damage is a function of the ba sic properties of concrete strength, f'(c) and f'(t), and the fracture energy G(f). Three examples are presented to illustrate the performan ce and accuracy of the proposed formulation. The first example compare s the numerical results with experimental measurements obtained from a reduced model of a concrete dam. The second example uses Koyna dam as a test case to compare the damage mechanics theory with other theorie s on cases of reservoir overflow. The last example investigates the in fluence of initial damage on the seismic response of a gravity dam ana lyzed using the equivalent static loads.