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EARTHQUAKE SAFETY EVALUATION OF ATATURK DAM

EARTHQUAKE SAFETY EVALUATION OF ATATURK DAM

EARTHQUAKE SAFETY EVALUATION OF ATATURK DAM

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Danger of leakage through core<br />

Relatively wide filter (transition) zones have been provided on both sides of the core. Except for the<br />

reinstated crest region, the upstream filter has an almost uniform width of about 9 m (measured<br />

horizontally), and the downstream filter has a width varying from about 8 m at the top to more than<br />

15 m at the base. The filter widths are gradually decreased in the reinstated crest region. As a result,<br />

the widths of the upstream and downstream filters reduce to about 6 m and 8 m, respectively, at<br />

elevation 545 m a.s.l.<br />

The wide upstream and downstream filters form a very effective first line of defence against<br />

concentrated earthquake-induced leakage through the dam. Moreover, the core is made of highly<br />

plastic clay (mainly CH), a good core material in which it is unlikely that a great deal of erosion would<br />

occur even in the worst conditions of cracking and leakage.<br />

After the sliding movement caused by the MCE, the filter width at the location of a sliding surface<br />

would still be at least about 6 m. This should be sufficient to ensure that uncontrolled leakage does not<br />

develop through the dam in the critical period following an earthquake.<br />

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS<br />

The main points and the conclusions of this study are as follows:<br />

1. The present study deals with the effects of the earthquake ground shaking only.<br />

2. The dynamic analysis and the slope stability calculations were performed using 2-dimensional<br />

(2-D) models representing the central cross-section of the dam; 3-D effects were not considered.<br />

3. As dynamic test results were not available, the dynamic material characteristics for the earthquake<br />

analysis were selected on the basis of the geotechnical literature. In view of uncertainties<br />

concerning the material properties and the random nature of the ground motion, the possible<br />

scatter of the results was investigated by analyzing a number of cases.<br />

4. On the basis of the currently available information about the seismic hazard at the dam site, the<br />

peak ground accelerations (PGA’s) of the horizontal and vertical components of the maximum<br />

credible earthquake (MCE) were taken as 0.50 g and 0.33 g, respectively. The input motion in the<br />

dynamic analysis consisted of synthetic accelerograms compatible with the elastic response<br />

spectrum of the Turkish earthquake code.<br />

5. The horizontal crest accelerations calculated for the upper and lower bounds of the damping ratios<br />

deviate from those calculated for the average damping ratios by about 15%. For obvious reasons,<br />

the earthquake response becomes smaller when the damping ratios increase.<br />

6. The peak value of the horizontal component of the absolute crest acceleration calculated in the<br />

various cases under the MCE ground excitation is in the range of 0.42 g to 0.93 g and that of the<br />

vertical component in the range of 0.26 g to 0.49 g.<br />

7. From the viewpoint of the earthquake safety of the dam, sliding displacements in the crest region<br />

are of main interest. A large number of potential sliding surfaces involving the crest area were<br />

examined in this study.<br />

8. As the excess pore pressures generated by the earthquake shaking in the upstream shell and the<br />

clay core are likely to be quite small, they have not been considered in this study.<br />

9. The sliding blocks on the upstream slope have significantly lower yield accelerations than those<br />

on the downstream slope, whereby it is assumed that the angle of friction of the submerged<br />

upstream shell is equal to that of the downstream shell.<br />

10. The yield accelerations of the upstream sliding blocks are in the range of 0.20 g to 0.26 g for the<br />

peak friction angles and in the range of 0.16 g to 0.20 g for the residual friction angles, when only<br />

the horizontal earthquake accelerations are considered. If the vertical accelerations are also<br />

conservatively applied in the unfavourable direction, the horizontal yield accelerations of the<br />

upstream sliding blocks could become as low as 0.12 g to 0.16 g.<br />

11. Based on the results obtained using the average dynamic material properties, the total vertical drop<br />

of the core top during the MCE is expected to be about 1.0 m due to downward displacements of<br />

0.8 m and 0.2 m produced by sliding towards the upstream and downstream sides, respectively. In

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