Experimental investigation on interaction of concrete gravity dam-reservoir-foundation on shaking table

Interaction of concrete gravity dam with foundation and reservoir is one of the most important subjects in analyzing seismic behavior of dams. This paper presents an experimental study on seismic behavior analysis of dams considering the Interaction among concrete gravity dam, foundation and reservoir. Herein, a scaled dam has been constructed with scale factor of 1:30 (model: prototype) and modeled with foundation and reservoir on shaking table. Using different sensors on critical points of the model and also inside the concrete dam, the interaction behavior has been investigated during a specific applied earthquake. In this regard, multiple parameters have been evaluated during the earthquake, including displacements, hydrodynamic pressure in upstream, variation of acceleration/pore-water-pressure from bottom layers of foundation to free surface and finally, variation of the soil dynamic responses beneath the dam. The results of experimental model are useable for verifying numerical models.