University of Kirkuk

Collage of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Optimal Analysis and Design of Buttress Dam by using Genetic Algorithm

‫تصممي ا ْالمثل للسدود ادلعامات ابالستخدام اخلوارزمية اجلينية‬
By
Noor Nazar Khorsheed

Supervised by
Prof.Dr. Chelenk Akram Omar Muhammad
June 2022
 Introduction and Definition

Dam : is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams,there are many
type of dams as gravity, Arch, Earth, Rock fill, Buttress and Barch dam .

Buttress dam (Hollow dam): is a gravity dam reinforced by structural supports. That transmit a force from
roof or wall to another supporting structure this type of structure can be considered even if the foundation
rock or little weaker foundation. Most buttress dams are made of reinforced concrete and are heavy, pushing
the dam into the ground. Water pushes against the dam, but the buttresses are inflexible and prevent the
dam from falling over A buttress dam is a good choice in wide valleys where solid rock is rare.
Types of Buttress Dam
1- Multiple - arch Buttress Dam 2- Rounded - head Buttress Dames

3- Flexible Buttress Dam

2- Rounded - head Buttress Damas
4- Rigid Buttress Dam

4- Rigid Buttress Dam

 Research importance

The objective function in this research is economic aspect the minimum volume of the dam, which leads to
minimum weight design. There are many constraint controls the selecting of optimum shape. In this work,
geometrical and structural constraints will considered.
4- Rigid Buttress Dam
 Research Objective

The aim of this study is to find a better method for analyses and best shape design for arch dams to get the
optimum cross section shape with the minimum volume of concrete that leads to minimize construction
cost. This process is called (optimization method) for design.
The main objectives can be summarized as follows:
4- Rigid Buttress Dam
1) Setting procedure to design buttress dams optimally

2) Studying the effect of shape selecting to the complete design

3) Investigating the use of Genetic Algorithm encoded into Matlab for choosing the optimum shape design
of arch dam aiming to get a minimum volume design, which will reduce total construction cost.
 Tools

4- Rigid Buttress Dam

 Research Methodology
This research presents an efficient strategy to find optimum analysis and shape design for Buttress dams.
1) Where the design geometry will built using (Solid Work Program), which is considered as one of important
programs for analysis and design of complex structures.

2) A finite element method is used to analyze the arch dam body, which is proved to be an important method for
analysis and gives accurate results according to previous researches.
4- Rigid Buttress Dam
3) After conducting the analysis and design of the initial model by (SolidWork) program, it was transferred to the
second phase. This is the shape optimization process by using (Genetic Algorithm) in (Matlab) program. This
method is an efficient method for all optimization problems in different branches.