CHAPTER II

DESIGNE PRINCIPLES OF DAMS

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 2. CONCRETE DAMS
2.1 GRAVITY DAM
Defined as a structure, which is designed in such a
way that its own weight resists the external forces
is most durable and solid and requires very little maintenance
constructed of masonry or concrete
are preferred these days and mostly constructed.
They can be constructed with ease on any dam site,
where there exists a natural foundation strong enough
to bear the enormous weight of the dam.
Consists non overflow section (s) and an overflow
section or spillway

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 Forces acting on gravity dam
PRIMARY FORCES:- major importance to all dams
They are: -
– Water pressure
– Self weight of dam
– Uplift (or seepage) pressure
SECONDARY FORCES:- major importance only to certain types of dams, (e.g.
thermal effects with in concrete dams).
They include: -
– Sediment (or silt) pressure
– Wave pressure
– Ice pressure
– Wind pressure
EXCEPTIONAL FORCES (or LOADS):- They have limited general
applicability or have a low probability of occurrence
They are: -
– Earth quake (or seismic) forces
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An estimation and description of these forces is given below:
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 1.Water Pressure
• External Water pressure (for non-overflow section)
FH = ½ wH2
• Internal water pressure
– Acts at the base of the dam
– With in the structure itself
– Reduces effective weight of structure
– Depends on
• point hydrostatic pressure and
• uplift area

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 2. UPLIFT (OR SEEPAGE) FORCE
• This pressure is present within the cracks, pores, joints, and
seams in the concrete and foundation material.
• Uplift pressure is an active force that must be included in the
stability and stress analysis to ensure structural adequacy.
• uplift pressure is assumed to act over 100% of the area within
the body of the dam and its foundation
• Intensity of uplift pressure: - The uplift pressure at any point
depends upon the depth of water at that point.
• If the tail water depth is zero, the uplift pressure at d/s edge will
be zero. The pressure variation along the base is assumed to be
linear between the u/s and d/s faces.
• Uplift pressure can be reduced by forming drains through the
concrete of the dam and by drilling drainage holes into the
foundation rock 8
 According to the U.S.B.R, when drainage galleries are provided to
relieve the uplift, the recommended uplift at the face of the
gallery is
PU H   1
3 [ H  H ]
It is also assumed that earth quake forces do not affect uplift pressures.
The uplift pressure at the contact of the dam with the foundation may also be reduced
by constructing a cut-off wall or grout curtain
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Uplift pressure distribution for perfectly tight
cutoff walls

h2 h2
h1

When flow from u/s to d/s face is allowed With u/s effective cutoff

h1 h2 h2

h1

With d/s effective cutoff With an intermediate cutoff

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 Uplift pressure cont.

 Total uplift U:
• Uplift with crack  U=w [B’H+0.5(H+H')*(B-B’)]

 Same expression can be

used for pressure in the

H

H’
body of the dam
B’
B
U2 wH’
Hw U1

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 3. SELF WEIGHT OF DAM
Weight of Structure per unit length of the dam
W = c A
c = 24 kN/m3 in the absence specific data
• Acts through the CG of structure
• Weight of ancillary structures may be included
* For convenience, the cross-section of the dam
is divided into simple geometrical shapes,
such as rectangles and triangles to compute its
weight.
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 4. SEDIMENT (OR SILT) PRESSURE
• The magnitude of Ps, which is additional to
water load P, is a function of sediment depth
h, the submerged unit weight and the active
lateral pressure coefficient, Ka
Ps  1 2 ka  s h 2 kN / m  2

And it acts at h/3 from bottom of deposit s  s  w Where s is the sediment saturated unit wt. and
1  sin 
ka  Where  is the angle of internal friction (the angle of
1  sin 
shearing resistance of the sediment)

Value of s 18  20 kN / m 3 and =300

Sediment load is seldom critical in design other than for smaller

flood control dams and its introduction is not universal.
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 5. WAVE PRESSURES AND HEIGHTS

Wave height may be determined (Moliter) by the following formula.

hw  0.032 VF  0.763  0.271 4 F For F  32km
And hw  0.032 VF For F  32km
V= velocity of wind on the water surface, km/h
F = the fetch or straight length of water expanse normal to the dam axis
subject to wind action, km
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 • The maximum pressure intensity due to wave
action may be given by: -
hw
pw  2.4w.hw and acts at meters abovethestillwatersu rface.
2
The wave pressure distribution is of curvilinear but it may be
assumed to be triangular for simplicity.
The total height of the triangle is 5
3 hw
A height 4 3 hw above the still water level
 hw 
The max pressure intensity occurs at a height of  above the still water level
8 

Hence, the total force due to wave action (pw)

pw  1 2 2.4rw.hw. 5 3 hw
=2hw2=19.62 hw2
3
hw
Its center of pressure is above the still water surface a height 8
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 6. ICE PRESSURE
An acceptable initial provision for ice load, Pice where considered
necessary is given by Pice = 145 kN/m2 for ice thickness in excess of
0.6m (USBR, 1976)
On sloping face, ice load may be neglected
7. WIND PRESSURE
Wind pressure acts on the exposed surface of the dam
when winds blow
Generally, the wind pressure is not significant for the
design of gravity dams and is therefore neglected
The super structure of dams carrying very large gates
may be subjected to high wind pressure, which should be
considered in the design.
Dams carrying very large sluice gates may be
proportioned to resist wind loads of 1 to 1.5 kN/m2. 16
 8. Earth quake forces
• In regions where earth quakes are possible or
probable, dams must resist the inertia effects caused
by the sudden movements of the earth's crust
• under reservoir full conditions the most adverse
seismic loading will then occur when the ground
shock is associated with.
a. Horizontal foundation acceleration operating u/s,
(inertia force to act on the dam in the direction
from u/s to d/s)and
b. Vertical foundation acceleration operating
downwards and vice-verse for reservoir empty
The values of these accelerations are generally expressed as percentage of the
condition
acceleration due to gravity (g) i.e. a = 0.1g to 0.2g etc. 17
 Effect of horizontal earth quake acceleration
• Due to the horizontal acceleration imparted to
the foundation and dam the following two
forces act on the dam.
a. Inertia force
b. Hydro dynamic pressure
i. Inertia Force
Pem  hW KN / M 
Where
h = horizontal seismic acceleration
And the inertia force is considered to operate through
the centroid of the dam section

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 ii. Hydrodynamic pressure(Water Reaction)
• Horizontal acceleration acting towards the
reservoir causes a momentary increase in
the water pressure,
• as the foundation and dam accelerate
towards the reservoir and the water
resists the movement owing to its inertia.
• The extra pressure exerted by this process
is known as hydrodynamic pressure.
According to von-karman, the amount of this hydrodynamic
force (pe) is given by:
Pe  0.555 * kh x w * H 2
And it acts at the height of
4H above the base.
3
Where Kh is the fraction of gravity adopted for horizontal acceleration such as
0.1, 0.2 etc and w is the unit weight of water 19
 4H
Me  Pe x  0.424 Pe x H (me moment about base)
3

Reservoire full
Reservoir empty

Earthquake Direction

Direction of vibraion

According to zanger’s formula pressure is

Wher maximum value of pressure co-efficient for the given u/s slope with the
horizontal,

The dynamic force is

In case where the upstream face slope height is greater than half of the total
depth it is taken as the slope of the u/s face else neglected
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 Effect of vertical earth quake acceleration
• Under reservoir full condition the most adverse
seismic loading will occur when the ground shock is
associated with the vertical acceleration operating
down wards.
• Foundation acceleration down wards will effectively
reduce the mass, and hence the stability of the
structure.
• The inertia force is exerted on the dam as the water in
the reservoir in the direction opposite to that of
If acceleration.
W is the weight per unit length of the dam and v is the vertical
seismic coefficient then inertia force exerted per unit length of the
dam is given by
PeqV = vW 21
• Thus, for an upward acceleration the inertia force
Pemv would be acting down wards and hence it
would result in an increase in the weight of the
dam from Wto W(1+v).
• On the other hand, if the acceleration is acting
downwards the inertia force Pemv would be acting
upwards which would result in reduction of the
weight of the dam from W to W(1-V). Similar
expressions may be obtained for water in the
reservoir.
• It is commonly assumed that h=(1.5-2.0)v for the
purpose of initial analysis.
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 Load Combinations
The design of gravity dam should be checked for two cases i.e.
1. When reservoir is full and
2. When reservoir is empty
Case I Reservoir full case
USBR has classified the 'Normal and Extreme Load combinations' as given below:-
• Normal Load Combinations
– Water pressure up to normal pool level, normal uplift, silt pressure and
ice pressure. This class of loading is taken when ice force is serious.
– Water pressure up to normal pool level, normal uplift, earth quake
forces and silt pressure.
– Water pressure up to max. reservoir level, normal uplift and silt
pressure.
• Extreme Load Combinations
– Water pressure due to maximum pool level, extreme uplift pressure
without any reduction due to drainage and silt pressure.
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Case II Reservoir Empty Case:-

• Empty reservoir without earth quake has to be

analyzed to determine bending moment
diagrams, etc, for reinforcement design, for
grouting studies or other purposes.
• Empty reservoir with a horizontal earth quake
force towards the upstream has to be checked for
non-development of tension at toe.

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 Analysis of Gravity Dam
Assumptions inherent in preliminary analyses
using the gravity method (USBR (1976, 1987))
are:
• The concrete (or masonry) is homogeneous,
isotropic and uniformly elastic.
• All loads are carried by gravity / cantilever
action to the foundation
• No differential movements affecting the dam
or foundation occur as a result of the water
load from the reservoir
 STABILITY REQUIREMENTS OF GRAVITY
DAM
The dam may fail in one or more of the following
modes: -

Over turning
1. Overturning
2. Sliding
Sliding
3. Tension X
Stress X

4. Crushing (Or compression failure)

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 1. Overturning (F.S.O)
 Re storing moments  MR
F .S .O  
 Overturning moments  MO
F.S.O should not be less than 1.5 (F.O  1.5 is desirable)
2. Sliding Stability
Factor of safety against sliding is given by: -
V f V
Fs  or Fs 
 H
If f represents the coefficient of static friction of the material above and below
the joint, then f V will be the frictional resistance to sliding. For equilibrium

fV   or tan   f  is the angle between the vertical and the resultant
V
Values of f for masonry on masonry and masonry on good rock foundations vary
between 0.6 and 0.75. FS > 1.0
Shear strength of the joints should also be considered for an
economical design. S .F .F  fV  qB q = unit shearing strength of
the material

Shear strength may be determined by tests 27
 Resistance to sliding
• when shear is neglected
P f
tan  
W Sf

• when shear is considered

R


fW  r.S n . A
P  P"u
S sf
Where: Sn – ultimate shearing strength of material
Ssf = shear friction factor of safety Ssf = 5
A = cross sectional area of joints (LxB)
r = ratio of average to maximum shearing strength r = 0.5
1. Vertical normal stress, z, on horizontal planes
Stress analysis in gravity method

• A dam may fail if any of its part is overstressed and

hence the stress in the dam should be within the
specified limit (allowable working stresses) for the dam
body and in the foundation.
• The stresses at any point is
ΣH
P=direct stress + bending stress
ΣV R
P 
V  M y V  V * e
max
B I B B2 / 6
min B

 V  1  6e  Pmax
B  B  Pmin + compression

Where + Pmax
e = eccentricity of the resultant force from the Pmin -
Tension
center of the base
Pmin Pmax
B = Base width
V = Total vertical force 29
• Evidently, the maximum compressive stress
occurs at the toe and for safety this should not
be greater than the allowable compressive stress
(all) for the foundation material
V  6e 
 1   all
B  B 
• Concrete gravity dams are usually designed in such away
that no tension is developed anywhere.
•Since concrete cannot withstand sustained tensile stresses
In order to ensure that no tension is developed any where, we
must ensure that Pmin is at most equal to zero.
V  6e  M *
Pmin  1  B  0 e
B V
6e
1 0
B
B
e
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Middle third rule:- The Resultant must lie within the Middle third
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 2. Horizontal & vertical shear stresses
• Horizontal (zy) & vertical (yz) shear stresses are
generated @ any point as a result of variation of
vertical normal stress over a horizontal plane.
• For u/s &d/s face angle u & d respectively & Pw
hydrostatic pressure @ u/s end
 u Pw   zu tan u
&
 d  zd t tan d
3. Horizontal normal stress, y
It can be determine by consideration of the equilibrium of the
horizontal shear force. The difference in shear forces is balanced
by the normal stresses on vertical planes.
 yu  Pw   zu  Pw tan 2u
 yd  zd tan 2 d 31
• A tension crack by itself does not cause failure of the dam but it
leads to the failure of the dam by crushing or by overturning.

4. PRINCIPAL STRESSES: The vertical stresses

Pmax and Pmin determined above are not the
maximum direct stresses produced anywhere in
the dam.
The maximum normal stress will be the major
principal stress that will be generated on the major
principal plane.

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