Research of stress-strain state and stability of a rokfill dam under seismic actions

One of the main factors determining the safety of earth sea and river hydraulic structures erected on water-saturated grounds is the process of consolidation, manifested under the action of static and seismic loads. A feature of cohesionless soils located in the structure itself or in its base, is their potential ability to liquefaction under seismic impacts. This paper describes the method of calculating the saturated soil’s environments under seismic actions based on the numerical solution of differential equations of the theory of consolidation by finite element method. The results of the static problem solving for the phased construction of the installation are used as the initial conditions. In order to describe the deformability of soil materials mathematical model formed by the theory of plastic flow with hardening is used. The parameters of this model are determined by the results of triaxial testing of soils. As an example, we study the interaction of a sea rockfill dam with a sandy base under seismic impacts, determined by the synthetic accelerograms. The results of calculations of the stress-strain state of the two sections of the dam (shallow and deep) are presented, and assessment is made of the possibility of liquefaction of sandy soil base. It is shown that the pore pressure that occurs in water-saturated cohesionless soil base and the body of the dam under seismic impacts, unloads the soil skeleton, which leads to a decrease in local shear safety factors. And, in the less dense soil base of the shallow section of the dam, the soil skeleton is unloaded to a greater extent, which negatively affects its overall safety factor.