Novel experimental and numerical techniques for efficient earthquake safety assessment of critical dam infrastructure

用于对关键大坝基础设施进行有效地震安全评估的新颖实验和数值技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-06891
• 负责人: Bouaanani, Najib
• 金额: $ 3.72万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754651
• 关键词: Novel; experimental; numerical; techniques; efficient

Dam failures may lead to catastrophic consequences, extending far beyond the immediate neighbourhood of dam sites due to reservoir release or overtopping. Many dams in Canada and worldwide have been in service for over 50 years, and their initial outdated design generally fails to meet modern safety criteria. Loss of lives and widespread destruction of homes and businesses due to recent floods worldwide are another clear illustration of the urgent need for comprehensive identification of the tremendous risks posed by aging dam infrastructure. In a context of budgetary restrictions, such identification of most vulnerable dams is required to prioritise their retrofit. This is even more urgent as aging dam infrastructure must resist increased critical loads due mainly to: (i) updated seismic hazard accounting for continuously improved understanding of earthquakes, and (ii) more frequent flooding events induced by changing climate patterns and landscape. In this context, dam owners, whether government, municipalities, or private sector, are faced with managing risks within cost constraints before triggering retrofit interventions, based primarily on field inspections and findings from safety evaluation reviews. Retrofit decisions must be well grounded at the risk of focusing on dams not presenting major imminent threats and delaying rehabilitation of others that must be prioritized. The long-term objective of this proposal is to provide engineers, researchers, and ultimately decision makers, with experimentally-validated simulations and experimental techniques for effective and efficient assessment of the earthquake safety and vulnerability of critical dam infrastructure. This research proposal addresses two main themes: (i) developing original 3D simulation models for safety assessment of critical dam infrastructure, and (ii) performing novel experimental tests to address critical dam safety issues. The proposed methodology is highly original and will significantly enhance the practice of safety assessment of dams and appurtenant structures subjected to earthquake loads. The developed 3D numerical models and their experimental validations using accessible data and structures from actual dam sites and available large scale testing equipment is a unique research endeavour that will lead to ground-breaking advances in dam engineering. The developed techniques and findings will have a significant socio-economic impact by reducing the risks of loss of life and property damage associated with dam incidents. Throughout all research phases, guidelines and case studies of actual dams and appurtenant structures will be provided to be advantageously used by dam engineers.

由于水库泄水或漫顶，溃坝可能导致灾难性后果，远远超出坝址附近。加拿大和世界各地的许多水坝已经服役50多年，它们最初过时的设计通常不符合现代安全标准。最近世界各地的洪水造成了生命损失和房屋和企业的广泛破坏，这再次清楚地表明，迫切需要全面查明老化的大坝基础设施所构成的巨大风险。在预算限制的情况下，需要确定最脆弱的水坝，以优先进行改造。这一点更加紧迫，因为老化的大坝基础设施必须承受主要由于以下原因而增加的临界荷载：（i）更新的地震危害，不断提高对地震的认识，以及（ii）气候模式和景观变化引起的更频繁的洪水事件。在这种情况下，水坝所有者，无论是政府、市政当局还是私营部门，都面临着在启动改造干预措施之前在成本限制范围内管理风险的问题，这主要是基于实地检查和安全评估审查的结果。改造决定必须有充分的依据，以免把重点放在不构成重大紧迫威胁的水坝上，并推迟必须优先考虑的其他水坝的修复。本提案的长期目标是为工程师、研究人员和最终决策者提供经过实验验证的模拟和实验技术，以有效和高效地评估关键大坝基础设施的地震安全性和脆弱性。该研究方案涉及两个主要主题：（i）开发用于关键大坝基础设施安全评估的原始三维仿真模型，以及（ii）进行新颖的实验测试以解决关键大坝安全问题。所提出的方法是非常原始的，并将显着提高大坝和附属结构的地震荷载下的安全评估的做法。开发的三维数值模型及其实验验证使用实际坝址的可访问数据和结构以及可用的大型测试设备是一项独特的研究工作，将导致大坝工程的突破性进展。所开发的技术和研究结果将通过减少与大坝事故有关的生命损失和财产损害的风险，产生重大的社会经济影响。在所有研究阶段，将提供实际大坝和附属结构的指南和案例研究，以便于大坝工程师使用。