Optimization and safety evaluation of concrete gravity dam section

Concrete gravity dam is a very important civil engineering structure from hydro power and irrigation point of view. It stores a massive amount of water in its reservoir. Dam failure can cause enormous destruction in the downstream. That is why, the safety of dam has paramount importance. The objective of this paper is divided into two categories. First of all a cost based dam section optimization or design program, named “Optidam”, is presented. The Optidam program is able to design an optimized concrete gravity dam section based on pseudo static analysis proposed in Indian standard. Then one dam section, which is designed using the “Optidam”, is checked and analyzed by non-linear seismic analysis to ensure its safety. Finally, a parametric analysis is performed to propose a dam design guidelines. Empirical relationships between the different geometric parameters of an optimized concrete gravity dam section with cohesion and internal friction angle of soil/rock foundation are evaluated after designing 1080 number of dams, having height ranges from 50–300 m, and situated on different foundation characteristics.