Dam-reservoir-massed foundation system and travelling wave along reservoir bottom

In the present paper, effects of non-uniform excitation due to spatially variation of seismic waves under the reservoir bottom on linear and nonlinear responses of arch dams are studied. Foundation is assumed to be massed and infinite elements are utilized to model semi-infinite medium via the far-end boundary of the foundation FE model. A continuum crack propagation model based on the smeared crack approach in 3D space is introduced. Reservoir's water is assumed compressible and the coupled system is solved using the staggered method. As a case study, Amir-Kabir double curvature arch dam in Iran is selected to investigate seismic behavior of the system. Two cases are analyzed in which wave travelling velocities are taken as 650 m/s and infinity. According to the results, non-uniform excitation leads to reduction in seismic response of the system and, in addition, frequency content of the response is different completely in comparison with the system under the uniform excitation.