This paper aims to summarize the preliminary research outcome of a case history concerning a site investigation and a seismic performance evaluation of an aging fill dam located in a strong seismicity area. The aging “AG dam” is the inclined-core rockfill dam. Serious concern about seismic dam safety has been raised for this existing dam.
In order to evaluate the seismic safety of the AG dam, a carefully planned site investigation was executed, including a visual inspection, analyses of the seepage rate, a field survey, a three-dimensional electrical resistivity survey, and a geophysical survey to determine the shear wave velocity profile. An electrical resistivity survey showed that the main dam and dike are in reasonably good condition, except for a locally low-resistivity area in the dike dam. The measured shear wave velocity profile was used as an input material parameter for the seismic evaluation of the dam.
For the evaluation of the seismic safety of the dam, a pseudo-static limit equilibrium analysis, a finite-element time-history dynamic analysis and a Newmark-type deformation analysis were conducted for both the main dam and the dike. In spite of the considerable uncertainty, the dam and the dike were estimated to be in a reasonably safe state in terms of permanent deformation under the given strong ground motions equivalent to a return period of 10,000 years.