In the last century, a large number of dams have been constructed for the purpose of water management and hydro-electric power generation in mountainous areas. These dam structures are usually very large and their mechanical behaviour is complex mainly because of loading conditions. Typical loading conditions that must be considered in dam analysis are the soil-structure interaction, the fluid-structure interaction, seepage and thermal effects. As many of these dams are constructed in earthquake zones, the response to dynamic loadings is of interest as well.
This presentation aims to give an overview of the state-of-art of different numerical simulation approaches for large dams using finite elements. The different analyses presented have been performed either as consultancy projects or as contributions to international benchmarks.
