Screening-level analyses for the evaluation of the seismic performance of a zoned earth dam

Abstract Many existing earth dams have been designed and built worldwide before the establishment of a seismic code, so that it is of relevant interest to evaluate their seismic performance and post-seismic operational conditions. This requires an accurate geotechnical characterisation of the dam and foundation soils, a proper definition of the seismic scenarios at the site of the dam, the use of simplified procedures for screening-level seismic analyses and advanced non-linear dynamic analyses to study the most critical seismic scenarios. This process has been used for the evaluation of the seismic performance of a zoned earth dam located in a high seismic hazard area of Southern Italy. In this paper the available data of historical seismicity at the site of the dam and the results of a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis are first discussed and input ground motions are selected using compatibility criteria with the energy and frequency content of the expected target motion in a range of vibration period relevant for the non-linear response of the dam. Seismic performance of the dam is then evaluated through procedures based on Newmark-type computations, in which permanent displacements are related to ground motion characteristics and to the seismic resistance of the dam, the latter evaluated detecting the earthquake-induced plastic mechanisms and the corresponding critical accelerations. Also, an original improvement of the well-known Makdisi & Seed procedure, was proposed to better capture the actual influence of non-linear soil behaviour in the evaluation of horizontal acceleration and permanent displacements of the crest of the dam. The analysis results pointed out the relevant role of the earthquake-induced shear strength reduction on the dam permanent displacements.