Impact of earthquake intensity on flow deformation of the Upper San Fernando Dam

The antiseismic performance of an earth dam is determined not only by its geometry and composition, but also by the intensity of an earthquake to which the dam is subjected. A series of fully coupled finite element analyses of the response of the Upper San Fernando Dam to earthquakes of different intensities are presented for the study of the impact of the earthquake intensity on flow deformation of the earth dam. A critical state sand model cooperating with the concept of statedependent dilatancy is employed to describe the soil behavior under all of the loading conditions. The analyses provide not only the global displacement and deformation of the dam, but also elemental soil responses at representative locations. The calculated deformation of the dam is in good agreement with the observed data.