Rapid drawdown on earth dam stability after a strong earthquake

The research activity carried out focuses on the numerical modelling of earth dams. In particular, dam response to a drawdown of the reservoir after a strong earthquake was investigated, accounting for different operating conditions. The interest on such a topic comes from the fact that in Italy and worldwide there are many large dams, most of which are earth dams, placed very close to active faults and hence subjected to high seismic hazard. In such conditions, the structure may be asked to face the earthquake first and the emergency rapid drawdown later. Individually, each stage may be critical from the viewpoint of dam stability; if the two stages occur simultaneously or consecutively the effects on the embankment may be very dangerous. The investigated research theme is quite new in the geotechnical field. In the past, the single dam stages were examined separately. In this work, the drawdown simulation has been performed after a dynamic stage.