FAILURE PATTERNS OF SHEAR KEYS AND SEISMIC RESISTANCE OF A GRAVITY DAM WITH LONGITUDINAL JOINTS

In order to thoroughly study the seismic resistance of gravity dams with longitudinal joints, a contact model based on constraint function method is used to simulate the shear keys within the joints and a concrete smeared crack model is selected to present the cracking characteristics of concrete materials. Because of the great size difference between the shear keys and the dam body, a glue mesh is proposed to implement multi-scale modeling. A dam-foundation-reservoir interaction system with longitudinal joints considering the various shear keys is developed and analyzed by nonlinear time-history method. On the basis of actual construction, arrangement and loading features of shear keys, a gravity dam is taken as a test case and a finite element model of the dam is established with triangular or trapezoidal shear keys. The working behaviors and failure patterns of various shear keys under earthquakes are explored. Moreover, the effects of various shear keys on the seismic resistance of the gravity dam are discussed. The results show that the seismic responses of shear keys are resulted in designed forms. The occlusion and dislocation of the shear keys within the longitudinal joints have an impact on seismic resistance of the gravity dams.