A Comparative Study of Rock Wedge Stability of an Arch Dam Abutment Subjected to Static and Seismic Loading

In the present paper, the stability evaluation of a rock wedge in an arch dam abutment under static and seismic loading is studied via the finite element (FE) method and a conventional method. The Luzzone arch dam in Switzerland is selected as a case study in which response of the potential wedge at the left abutment is investigated. In the FE models, the reservoir's water is assumed compressible and the coupled system is solved simultaneously. Also, the foundation is studied for two different cases; massless and massed medium via viscous boundary on the far-end truncated boundary. In addition, the effect of modeling joint between the wedge and the remaining foundation medium on the wedge displacements is considered. The results of the FE models are compared with those obtained from the traditional method in which wedge stability is evaluated utilizing the Londe method. The results reveal that the traditional method overestimates the wedge displacement in comparison with the finite element technique.