Response of Earth Dams to Earthquake Events – Field Data and Numerical Modelling

This paper is the written version of the SECED evening talk given at the ICE by the first author on 29 November 2017. It presents numerical analyses related to the seismic response of earth dams. A well-documented case study is considered, the La Villita earth dam in Mexico, for which relevant useful field data are available. The developed numerical model was able to simulate very well the recorded dam response under seismic loading and was used as a basis for a subsequent parametric investigation. Issues related to the stiffening effect of the narrow canyon, dam–reservoir interaction and dam–foundation interaction are discussed.