Analysis of the stability of gravity concrete dams under earthquakes near and far from the fault using finite elements and limit equilibrium

Controlling the stability of weighted concrete dams is one of the most important things in analysis and design. So far, various methods have been presented to check the stability of weighted concrete dams, among which the most important and widely used methods can be mentioned limit equilibrium and finite element methods. In this study, the stability of weighted concrete dams with different heights was investigated using the limit equilibrium method and the 2D and 3D finite element method for five earthquake spectrums. The differences in the results of the above two methods were compared in obtaining some parameters, including the amount of slip, modulus of elasticity and stress distribution of the dam bottom. The sliding of the dam on the foundation was not significant for all the range of earthquakes up to the maximum acceleration of 0.2 g, and for higher maximum accelerations, more slips occur depending on the nature of the earthquakes. In the limit equilibrium method, the displacement of the dam crest relative to the foundation floor is the same for five earthquakes, while in the finite element method, the landslides have different trends for all five earthquakes.