A CENTRIFUGE TEST FOR THE DYNAMIC STABILITY OF ARCH DAM–ABUTMENT SYSTEMS

Abstract

A centrifuge shaking table test was implemented for the first time to simulate the dynamic failure process of arch dam–abutment systems. The test procedure and results are presented in this paper. The test model was composed of an arch dam, left and right abutments, foundation, and reservoir. Three planes of weakness in the right abutment were artificially mounted to simulate potential sliding blocks in the abutment rock. The model was shaken inside a centrifuge using harmonic excitation with five different amplitudes. At the end of each harmonic excitation action, white noise excitation with lower amplitude was conducted to identify possible damage to the model. The dynamic response of the arch dam–water–abutment system was measured by accelerometers, strain gauges, and joint meters. The complete damage process was also observed. The test results demonstrate that the centrifuge shaking table test cannot only assess directly the failure mechanism of arch dam–abutment systems, but it could also provide a database to verify the nonlinear numerical procedure for stability analysis of arch dam–abutment systems.