Screening-level analyses for the evaluation of the seismic performance of a zoned earth dam
Many existing earth dams have been designed and built worldwide before the establishment of a seismic code, so that it is of relevant interest to evaluate their seismic performance and post-seismic operational conditions. This requires an accurate geotechnical characterisation of the dam and foundation soils, a proper definition of the seismic scenarios at the site of the dam, the use of simplified procedures for screening-level seismic analyses and advanced nonlinear dynamic analyses to study the most critical seismic scenarios.