Seismic performance and numerical simulation of earth-fill dam with geosynthetic clay liner in shaking table test

Abstract In this paper, shaking table tests were carried out on both a small-scale and a full-scale earth-fill dams with geosynthetic clay liners to examine their seismic performance. The behavior of these fully instrumented earth-fill dams when subjected to seismic loading was also simulated by numerical analysis. Firstly, in the small-scale shaking table test, no failure was observed along the geosynthetic clay liner when the earth-fill dam was subjected to seismic motion. Numerical analysis confirmed that the behavior of the model earth-fill dam was unaffected by the geosynthetic clay liner. Secondly, a comparative shaking table test was carried out on full-scale earth-fill dams, one with a sloping core zone and another with a geosynthetic clay liner. Both model dams showed similar acceleration response and deformation behavior. It should be mentioned that the acceleration response increased gradually toward the top of the dam, and the deformation, after shaking, was relatively large near the foot of the slope. These observations were successfully simulated by the numerical analysis.