Concrete Dam Concepts and the Need for Large Scale Testing
NHERI@UC San Diego Research to Practice Webinar
March 15, 2024 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm MT
About the Webinar
Concrete dams are massive structures. There are over 85,000 dams (all types) in the USA. Worldwide, concrete dams have performed very well during earthquakes but have never been subjected to the Maximum Credible Earthquake. There have been small scale shake table tests of concrete dams, but the similitude requirements of small-scale tests are difficult to obtain. "Real" concrete needs to be used in the shake table models and not some synthetic substitute to achieve proper similitude requirements. This is the reason why large-scale testing would be much better.
The goal is to progressively test the large-scale models to failure. Engineers in the dam's industry only postulate seismic Potential Failure Modes of concrete dams as concrete dams have not failed during an earthquake. Large-scale testing would provide a means to validate and calibrate the dynamic advanced finite element analyses being performed for the dams.
About the Presenter
Larry Nuss, PE, retired from the Bureau of Reclamation on December 31, 2011 with 36 years of experience in the design, structural analyses (static, thermal, and seismic), dam safety, risk analysis, and security of concrete dams (gravity, arch, spillway, and buttress dams). He formed Nuss Engineering, LLC on January 20, 2012. He has been a Consultant Review Board Member on projects in Panama, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada, USA with Tennessee Valley Authority, Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers, New Brunswick Power, FortisBC, Brookfield, Hydro Quebec, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Xcel Energy, Southern California Edison, Panama Canal Authority, Trust Power (New Zealand), AGL Hydro (Australia), EnergiSA (Turkey), HDR, Stantec/MWH, Hatch, AECOM, Shannon & Wilson, Kleinfelder, Intertechne (Brazil), Hatch, Schnabel, DLZ, and Tonkin & Taylor (Australia).
He has taught classes in the United States, Japan, India, South Korea, China, and Brazil. He has a Master of Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, in Civil Engineering in 1978. He is currently licensed as a Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado and a Practicing Professional Engineer, New Brunswick, Canada. In 2008, he had procured $3,000,000 from Homeland Security to perform a large-scale shake concrete dam test at the UCSD. The test was to be a 15-foot-high model of Morrow Point Dam with foundation and reservoir. On the day we were going to announce the project, the financial crisis hit, and all ear-mark funding was stopped by Congress. The project died.