Chapter Two

Design Principles of Dams

1.0Concrete Dams
1.1. Introduction:
Constructed of mass concrete
Are three major types and Subject to d/t loadings
 Gravity Dams
 Buttress Dam
 Arch Dam
 There are other less common concrete dam types:
 Hollow gravity dam
 Cupola/double curvature arch dam
 ’Amburson’ or flat slab buttress etc.
Loads on Concrete Dams
 Concrete dams subject to all or some of the
following loads:
 Dead load
Headwater and tail water pressures
 Uplift pressure
Earth and silt pressures
Wind pressure
 Wave pressure
Earthquake forces
 Temperature
 Ice pressure
 Sub-atmospheric
 Reaction of foundation
 Tectonic effects etc.
 Loads on a Concrete Dam …
 As per the degree of relative importance loads on the dam
can be classified as:
 Primary loads: are loads universally applicable and of
prime importance to all dams
e.g. water load, seepage loads, and self-weight loads.
 Secondary loads: are generally optional and of lesser
magnitude
e.g. sediment load, Hydrodynamic wave load, ice load,
Thermal load, Abutment hydrostatic load, etc.
 Exceptional loads: are loads designated on the basis of
limited general applicability or having a low probability of
occurrence
e.g. Seismic load, tectonic effects, or the inertia loads
associated with seismic activity
1.2) Gravity Dam
 Is a dam designed in such a way that its own
weight resist the external load.
Some Basic terms:
1) Axis of the dam: is the line of the upstream edge of
the top (or crown) of the dam. The axis of the dam in
plan is also called the base line of the dam.
2) Length of the dam: is the distance from one
abutment to the other, measured along the axis of the
dam at the level of the top of the dam.
3) Height of the dam: is the difference in elevations
of the top of the dam and the river bed. In general,
the height of the dam means its structural height.
Some Basic terms …
4) Toe and Heel: The toe of the dam is the
downstream edge of the base, and the heel is the
upstream edge of the base.
5) Maximum base width of the dam: is the
maximum horizontal distance between the heel
and the toe of the maximum section of the dam
in the middle of the valley.
6) Hydraulic height of the dam: is equal to the
difference in elevations of the highest controlled
water surface on the upstream of the dam and the
lowest point in the river bed
Gravity dam
2) Gravity Dam
Typical cross-section of gravity
b dam

MWL FB
U/S face, can be
Structural heig
either vertical or
slanted

Drainage Gallery

H’

Heel Toe

B
 Schedule and quantification of loads;

Wind load Tail water

Wave load load

Water load

Silt load Self weight

Earth quake load

Uplift load
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 Loads and their centroidal location in gravity dams

Case -1 Non-over flow section

(i) Up stream vertical face

1
PH   wH 2 @ H
3 from the base of the dam.
2
1
PH '   w H ' 2 @ H' from the base of the dam.
2 3
Ap b
H PH w Pv
H
H’ Ap’
3 PH ' Through the centroid of
 wH  wH '
Trapezoidal, with out
 wH  w  H  H ' drainage gallery)
U *B @
2 5H  2 H '
[ i.e. Z  ]
3( H  H ' )
U
W   c Ap @ Through the centroid of
1 x-sectional area Ap
B Pv   wb * H@
' b from the toe of the dam.
2
3
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(ii) Up stream face inclined

Pv1 If the upstream face of the gravity dam is inclined

in addition to the previous loads ( loads in vertical
u/s face) , only vertical loads of water i.e. Pv will be
Pv2 added at its centroidal point from the toe of the dam.

where
Pv = Pv1+ Pv2

Conti…

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Case-2 Over flow section
Va
Ha 
2g
T.E.L

H1  w H1  H a   H  H 2 
PH   1
 @
  H a  ( H 2  H1 )
 2  

_  2 H 1  3H a  H 2 
Z  H1  H a 
H2 1

3  H1  2 H a  H 2 
PH from the base of the dam

 w H 2  H a 

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 Uplift pressure with drainage gallery and tension cracks
 To reduce the uplift pressure , drains are formed trough the body of the dam, this
make the intensity of the uplift pressure to be differ from the full concrete dam.

Drainage gallery
H '

H H

H’ H’
B B
H '
H '
H H
 1 
  H ' ( H  H ' ) B’
 3 

B’=location of tension crack from the heel of the dam

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 Wave Pressure ( hydrodynamic wave load)

Waves are generated on the reservoir by the blowing winds.

Pwave
hw

hw  0.032 UF  0.763  0.2714 F if  F  32km

hw  0.032 UF if  F  32km
w/r
hw = height of the wave
U = wind velocity in km/hr Dam
F = fetch length

Reservoir surface area

Pwave 2.4 whw @ 0.375hw above the stilled water level.

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 Earthquake force

 Eartquake force may move in any direction, but for the sack of design purpose it
has to be resolved in to vertical and horizontal components.

 The values of these horizontal (αh) and vertical (αv) accelerations are generally
expressed as percentage of the acceleration due to gravity i.e. 0.1g or 0.2g, etc.

Vertical acceleration(αv)
The contact b/n the foundation and the dam
will increase, hence the effective Wight
of the dam will also be increase
The contact b/n the foundation and
W the dam Will decrease, which is the
worst case!!

Dam foundation

Down ward vertical movement.

W
Effective weight of the dam W  * v
g
Upward vertical acceleration

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 Reading assignment,
Horizontal acceleration(αh)
Hydro-dynamic pressure. Reference, P.Novak and S.K. Garg

Horizontal Inertia force.

Fe H
4H
3

4H
Fe  0.555 h w H 2 acts @ from the base of the dam.
3
Von – Karman formula

There is also a hydrodynamic formula developed by Zanger, but for average ordinary
purposes, the Von-Karman formula is sufficient.

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 Sediment load

N.B! it is usual practice to assume the value of hs equals

to the height of dead storage.

 s' hs 2 hs above the base of the

Psh  K a @
dam.
2 3
Psh
hs

The submerged unit weight  s ' and the active lateral pressure coefficient Ka
is given by
1  sin s
 s '  s  w K 
1  sin s
a

where
s is the angle of shear resistance.
Reading assignment
s is sediment saturated unit weight. -Loading combinations in dams
Reference, Novak

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 Design and analysis of gravity dam
Gravity dam may fail in the following way

•By over turning rotation about the toe;

•By Crushing;
•By development of tension , causing ultimate failure by crushing;
•By shear failure called sliding

1- Over turning stability

To make the structure of the dam stable from rotational or overturning failure the
following governing criteria should be satisfied

F0 (factor of safety against over turning) should be greater than 1.5

Fo 
 M  ve
> 1.5……………(safe against overturning)
M  ve

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 2-Sliding Stability (Fs)

Sliding Factor (FSS)

Shear friction Factor(FSF)

Limit equilibrium factor (FLE)

i) Sliding factor can be defined by

Fss 
H
V , for horizontal plane

 H  tan 
V
Fss 
H 
1   tan 
, for foundations inclined at a small angle 
 V 
 

In order to be the dam stable against sliding Fss should be less than or equal
to 0.75 but for ELC up to 0.9 is acceptable.

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 ii) Shear friction factor (FSF) is defined as

S
FSF 
H
Where
S – total resistance to shear and defined by

 CAb 
S  V tan(   ) kN / m
 cos (1  tan  tan  ) 

Recommended shear friction factor (USBR 1987)

Location of sliding plane Normal Unusual Extreme

Dam Concrete base interface 3.0 2.0 > 1.0
Foundation rock 4.0 2.7 1.3
Exercise
If there is a passive wedge resistance how does the shear friction factor modified?

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(ii) Limit Equilibrium Factor, FLE

f
FLE   = T he shear stressed generated under the applied load
 f = Available shear strength and expressed by Mohr coulomb
failure criteria

c   n tan   n = Stress acting normal to plain of sliding

FLE 


FLE = 2.0 for normal operation

FLE = 1.3 for seismic activity

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 3- Stress analysis (compression or crushing)
If the compressive stress introduced in the dam is greater than its allowable stress ,the
dam may fail.


Normal pool level
V  6e 
Pmax  1
Resultant B  B 
Reservoir full H
force
condition V

Pmin 
 V  6e 
1
B/2 B/2 B  B 

Where;
Pmin + compression Pmax e = Eccentricity of the resultant force
from the center of the base

+ compr. V  Total vertical force

Pmin -
B= Base width
Tension

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  Because of the gravity dam materials can not sustain tensile stresses, it should be
designed for certain amount or no tension should develops anywhere in the body of
the dam.

The maximum permissible tensile stress for high concrete gravity dams, under worst
loadings, may be taken as 500 KN/m2 (5kg/cm2).

NB! A tension crack by itself does not fail the structure, but it leads to failure of the
structure by producing excessive compressive stresses.

 In order to ensure that no tension is developed anywhere, the amount of Pmin should
at most equal to zero.
Pmin 
V 1  6e   0 e
B
B  B  6
The maximum value of eccentricity, that can be permitted on either side of the center is
equal to B/6 ------- “ the resultant must lie within the
_
middle third”.
The resultant distance from the toe of the dam ( x ) is given by

x 
M
V
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Principal stress

P
P’
B

Pvmin c A

Pvmax

 B   pv sec2   p' tan 2 

For  to be maximum, p’ should be
zero.

c  A

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 Example 2.1

For the following situation calculate;

•The maximum vertical stresses at the toe and heel of the dam.
•The major principal stresses at the toe of the dam.
•The intensity of shear stresses at the toe of the dam.
6m
R.L.= 289
R.L.=285
•R.L.= 280

2
3
R.L.=211

R.L. =205
8m

56m

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 Base width design for gravity dam for reservoir full condition
I) In order to no tension to be develop in the body of the dam the following should be satisfied
H
B
Sc  C
H
II) In order the dam is to be safe from sliding the following should be satisfied B
0.75( S c  C )

Why and how ?

H
P B/3 W

 wH

C w H

B/2 B/2

e
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 Example 2.2

For the following section of gravity dam examine the stability, take the horizontal and vertical earth-
quake force as 0.1 g and 0.05 g respectively,

 assume area factor as 60%,  c  24kN / m and  w  10kN / m3

3

The satiability analysis should be carried out for both reservoir empty and reservoir full condition.

7m
4m
10 m

26 m

86 m

6m
63 m
69 m

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