SeismicSlopeStabilityandAnalysisoftheUpperSanFernandoDam.docVIP

SEISMIC SLOPE STABILTY AND ANALYSIS OF THE UPPER SAN FERNANDO DAM James Dismuke The University of California at Davis ECI 284, Winter Quarter, 2002 Professor JeremicABSTRACT Static evaluation procedures of slope stability are well defined, and suitably accurate and precise. Simple seismic evaluation of slope stability can be performed using a pseudostatic analysis, but the results are misleading. In 1965, Newmark made the analogy that a slope is like a block sliding on an inclined plane. Newmark was able to reasonably compute the displacement due to shaking by double integrating portions of actual acceleration time histories that exceeded the yield acceleration. In 1978, Makdisi and Seed improved upon this procedure by accounting for the dynamic response of the embankment. During the San Fernando Earthquake of 1971, the Upper San Fernando Dam, despite a large pseudostatic factor of safety, failed. In 1973, Seed performed a dynamic analysis of the embankment and computed displacements that closely agreed with the observed deformations. Wu, in 2001, performed a nonlinear effective stress finite element analysis that predicted displacements almost exactly as those measured.1.0 INTRODUCTION Evaluating the stability of slopes is one of the most important activities of a geotechnical engineer (Kramer, 1995). A stable slope under static conditions is thought of as having a resistance to sliding greater than the driving forces that exist due to the slope geometry. However, seismic loading of a slope can induce greater driving forces that will potentially make a once stable slope unstable. A slope that fails under seismic loading usually does so rapidly, and due to the nature of earthquakes, unexpectedly with potentially great losses. An estimated 56% of the total cost of the damage caused in the 1964 Alaska earthquake was due to earthquake induced slope failures (Youd, 1978). Seismic slope stability is usually performed using a pseudostatic analysis, but resu