Investigating Concrete Arch Dam Behavior Under underwater explosion (Case Study:Karun4 Dam)

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering., University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

2 Faculty of Engineering., University of Urmia, Urmia, Iran

3 Faculty of Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Studying the responses of dams to explosion-induced loads and evaluating their overall safety under such loads is highly significant regarding the strategic importance of dams. The present study investigates TNT-induced wave effects on the Karun-4 Dam in Iran. For this purpose, dynamic analyses were carried out on the dam reservoir and foundation system via the finite element method (FEM) in ABAQUS. The CONWEP theory allows the imposition of pressure loading caused by an explosion in the air. The reservoir was considered empty, and then three different heights of 225, 115, and 5 m were analyzed. The failure explosive weights of the three heights were calculated by trial and error. Analyses were performed with 1000, 1200, and 1300 kg of TNT for the height of 225 m, 1900, 1950, and 2000 kg of TNT for the height of 115, and 1800, 1900, and 2000 kg of TNT for the height of 5 m. It was observed that the dam failed at loads of 1300, 2000, and 2000 kg of TNT when the explosion occurred at 225, 115, and 5 m, respectively. The analyses were performed based on these loads. The results indicated that the reservoir water level had a negligible effect on the arch dam's failure blast load. Moreover, analysis results of the dam-reservoir-foundation system in filled-up and empty reservoir cases suggest that the failure explosive loads of filled-up and empty reservoir dams do not significantly differ, and the failure explosive load of the filled-up case is slightly lower than that of the empty case. For example, at an explosion height of 225 m, the failure load of the filled-up reservoir case was derived to be 1500 kg of TNT, while that of the empty reservoir case was obtained to be 1300 kg of TNT.
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1] Mostafaei H, Behnamfar F, Alembagheri M. (2022). Reliability and sensitivity analysis of wedge stability in the abutments of an arch dam using artificial neural network. Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration. 21(4):1019-33.
[2] Mostafaei H, Behnamfar F. (2021). Wedge Movement Effects on the Nonlinear Behavior of an Arch Dam Subjected to Seismic Loading. International Journal of Geomechanics. 1;22(3):04021289.
[3] Ramajeyathilagam K. & Vendhan C.P. (2004). Deformation and rupture of thin rectangular plates subjected to underwater shock, International Jornal Impact Engineering, 30, 699-719.
[4] Sprague M.A. & Geers T.L. (2006). A spectral-element/finite-element analysis of a ship-like structure subjected to an underwater explosion, Computer methods in applied mechanics and engineering,19, 2149-2167.
[5] Fallahzadeh P. & Baziar M. (2008). Investigation explosion effect on underground structures,14th national conference on civil engineering students, Semnan university, Iran. (In Persian)
[6] Langrand B., Leconte N.,  Menegazzi A. & Millot T. (2009). Submarine hull integrity under blast loading, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 36,1070-1077.
[7] Mohtashami E. Sinayi S. & Shushtari A. (2010). Evaluating steel frames behavior under blast loading; 5th national congress on civil engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
[8] Guzas E.L. &  Earls C. J. (2010). Air blast load generation for simulating structural response, Steel Composit Struct, 10, 429-455.
[9] Shushtari, A. & Salehabad M., (2011). Dynamic analysis of axisymmetric concrete buildings under blast loading, 6th national congress on civil engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran (in Persian).
[10] Mortezayi, A. (2012). Evaluating retrofitted reinforced concrete column performance evaluation under explosion, 2nd national conference on Crisis Management, Tehran, Iran. (in Persian)
[11] Zhang S. Wang G. Wang C. Pang B. & Du C. (2013). Numerical simulation of failure modes of concrete gravity dams subjected to underwater explosion, Engineering Failure Analysis, 36, 49-64.
[12] Wang G. Zhang S. Yu M. Li H. & Kong Y. (2014). Investigation of the shock wave propagation characteristics and cavitation effects of underwater explosion near boundaries, Applied Ocean Research, 46, 40-53
[13] Wang G. & Zhang S. (2014). Damage prediction of concrete gravity dams subjected to underwater explosion shock loading, Engineering Failure Analysis, 39, 72-91.
[14] Noroozi F. Kalateh F. & Ghanbari H (2015). Numerical modeling of dynamic behavior of concrete gravity dams subjected to under water explosion, 10th international congress on civil engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
[15] Mostafaei H, Behnamfar F, Alembagheri M. (2020). Nonlinear analysis of stability of rock wedges in the abutments of an arch dam due to seismic loading. Structural monitoring and maintenance. 7(4):295-317.
[16] Zhu, F., Zhu, W.H., Zhu, X., Sun, J.B. and Hua, X. (2012), "Numerical simulation of arch dam withstand underwater explosion
[17] Moradi, M., Aghajanzadeh, S. M., Mirzabozorg, H., & Alimohammadi, M. (2018). Underwater explosion and its effects on nonlinear behavior of an arch dam. Coupled systems mechanics, 7(3), 333-351.
[18] Yu, T. (2009), "Dynamical response simulation of concrete dam subjected to underwater contact explosion load," Proceedings of the WRI World Congress on Computer Science and Information Engineering
[19] Brode, H.L. (1959). Blast wave from a spherical charge, The Physics of Fluids'', 2(2), March/ April, 

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 29 April 2022
  • Revise Date: 10 June 2023
  • Accept Date: 01 December 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics