Seismic Monitoring of Large Dams: Dr. Christos Evangelidis

Seismic Monitoring of Large Dams
Dr. Christos Evangelidis

Large dams are particularly sensitive to earthquakes.

Dams are often built in active earthquake areas

Reservoirs can trigger earthquakes

Some water supply structures are susceptible to earthquake motion.

Embankments and outlet towers respond to earthquake vibrations.
Shaking an unstable slope that has been weakened after saturation by
rises in ground water levels may produce a landslide into the reservoir.
Why are Dams Often Built in Active Earthquake
Areas?

Dams are usually built in valleys

Valleys exist because active erosion is taking
place

Active erosion implies there has been recent
uplift

Under compressional tectonic force, reverse or
thrust faults produce uplift

Reverse or thrust faults dip under the upthrown
block

Therefore, many dams have an active fault
dipping under them

Large dams are particularly sensitive to
earthquakes.
Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes (RTS)
Large new reservoirs can trigger earthquakes. Due to:


change in stress because of the weight of water

increased groundwater pore pressure decreasing the effective strength
of the rock under the reservoir.
Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes
For triggered earthquakes to occur, both mechanisms require that the

area is already under considerable tectonic stress.
Reservoir triggered earthquakes are often referred to as reservoir induced

seismicity (RIS)
The energy released in a reservoir triggered earthquake is normal tectonic

strain energy that has been prematurely released because of the
reservoir.
Water Pore Pressure
Ground water plays a large part in earthquake activity
Water pore pressure reduces the normal stress within a rock while not
changing the shear stress. Under any circumstances, an increase in water
pore pressure means that a failure is more likely. The critical value of
shearing stress may be made arbitrarily low by increasing the pore
pressure.
Water Pore Pressure
Pore pressure increases in two ways:
1. Decrease in pore volume caused by compaction under the weight of the

reservoir. This occurs while the reservoir is being filled.
2. Diffusion of reservoir water through permeable rock under the reservoir. The
rate of flow depends on the permeability of the rock, so this effect is not
instantaneous. The increase in pore pressure takes more time depending on the
distance from the reservoir. It may take years for the pore pressure to increase at
depths of kilometres beneath a reservoir.
Talwani 1997
(a) shows the filling curve of the reservoir, it is associated
with an increase in Dsn (b) due to the load. The undrained
response in a clogged pore causes an increase in the pore
pressure (p1 to p2) (c) and a corresponding decrease in
strength (S1 to S2) (e). When the pore is unclogged, the
increased pore pressure dissipates (p2 to p3) and the
strength increases (S2 to S3). When the pore pressure front
due to reservoir loading arrives, there is an increase in pore
pressure (p4 to p5, (d)) and a corresponding decrease in
strength (S4 to S5, (e)). When the strength decreases below
a critical threshold (marked FAILURE) seismicity occurs
(shaded pattern). Panel (f) shows the percentage of ‘‘deep’’
events associated with the initial filling of Monticello
Reservoir.
STRESS CYCLES AND TRIGGERED EARTHQUAKES
Stress on a fault zone. The normal earthquake cycle is

shown as the dashed line. The stress drop (dS) in an
earthquake is recovered during an interseismic period
with repeat time RT. When the failure level is reached,
rupture occurs and the cycle repeats.
If an induced stress change of fJdS occurs, the repeat

time is shortened by fJRT. In the lower diagram, the
induced stress change includes a transient
component. Note that in both cases the induced stress
change will trigger rupture if it occurs during the last
fJRT yr of the cycle.
from Simpson 1986

Koyna, India, 1967, M 6.7
Centered in the vicinity of Koynanagar, about 160 miles southeast of Bombay,

this shock killed 177 people, injured over 2,000, and left 50,000 homeless.
Polyfyto Lake (Greece)

RIS correlated with water level changes

Kozani 1995 Ms 6.6 event was NOT triggered from the impoundment of the
lake (Drakatos et. al. 1998)
Vajont Dam Megatsunami 1963
50 million cubic metres of water overtopped

the dam in a wave 250 metres high, leading to
1,910 deaths and the complete destruction of
several villages and towns.
Kremasta Dam 1965-1966
Shortly after the beginning of the

impoundment of the Kremasta Dam in 1965,
two Ms ≥ 6:0 events and numerous small
shocks spread over a 120-km-wide region
Polyfyto Lake (Greece)

RIS correlated with water level changes

Kozani 1995 Ms 6.6 event was NOT triggered from the impoundment of the
lake (Drakatos et. al. 1998)
Vajont Dam Megatsunami 1963
50 million cubic metres of water overtopped

the dam in a wave 250 metres high, leading to
1,910 deaths and the complete destruction of
several villages and towns.
Duration of Reservoir Triggered Seismicity
Reservoir induced seismicity is a phenomenon which will occur either

immediately after filling of the reservoir, or after a delay of a few years. If there
is a delay, this depends on the permeability of the rock beneath the reservoir.
Once stress and pore pressure fields have stabilised at new values, reservoir
induced seismicity will cease. Earthquake hazard will then revert to similar levels
that would have existed if the reservoir had not been filled.
Even for those reservoirs that show a correlation between earthquake activity
and water level, reservoir induced seismicity does not continue indefinitely as it
is limited by the available tectonic energy.
Depth of Reservoir Triggered Seismicity
Depths of reservoir induced earthquakes, especially those occurring immediately

after filling of the reservoir, are normally very shallow (1-3 km)
Induced earthquakes at reservoirs that have experienced delayed triggering may

be much deeper (up to 10-20 km). These may occur ten to twenty years after
filling of the reservoir.
Prediction of Reservoir Triggered Seismicity?
It is not easy to predict whether a new reservoir will experience reservoir induced
seismicity, because the two most important factors – the state of stress and the
rock strength at earthquake depths – cannot be measured directly.
This is the same reason why prediction of normal (non-induced) earthquakes is

normally unsuccessful.
Seismic Instrumentation and Monitoring of Dams
Deploy strong motion accelerometers and associated data

acquisition / analysis systems in a dam to detect exceedance of
allowed performance criteria as well as identify and verify structural
behaviour.
Utilising seismic instrumentation and monitoring systems, timely

notifications about any potential problems can be generated and
behaviour of the dam can be monitored
Despite the progress in the dynamic analysis of dams, it is still not

possible to reliably predict the behaviour of dams during very strong
ground shaking due to the difficulty in modelling the inelastic
behaviour of dams, the insufficient information on the spatial
variation of ground motion and other factors.
The factors that eventually lead to failure as well as their severity

and effect on the structure can be measured and monitored with
Seismic Instrumentation and Monitoring systems.
Fundamental features of a dam may be identified such as the

damping within the large dam structure, amplification of the ground
motion along the path from the foundation or abutments to the
crest, wave propagation within the structure, differential motions
between abutments, natural frequencies, mode shapes etc
Recommended
Dam
Seismic
Instrumentation

CREST

ABUTMENT

FOUNDATION

FREE-FIELD

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Seismic Monitoring of Large Dams

Dr. Christos Evangelidis

Large new reservoirs can trigger earthquakes. Due to:

For triggered earthquakes to occur, both mechanisms require that the

Reservoir triggered earthquakes are often referred to as reservoir induced

The energy released in a reservoir triggered earthquake is normal tectonic

Ground water plays a large part in earthquake activity

Pore pressure increases in two ways:

1. Decrease in pore volume caused by compaction under the weight of the

Stress on a fault zone. The normal earthquake cycle is

If an induced stress change of fJdS occurs, the repeat

from Simpson 1986

Centered in the vicinity of Koynanagar, about 160 miles southeast of Bombay,

50 million cubic metres of water overtopped

Shortly after the beginning of the

50 million cubic metres of water overtopped

Reservoir induced seismicity is a phenomenon which will occur either

Depths of reservoir induced earthquakes, especially those occurring immediately

Induced earthquakes at reservoirs that have experienced delayed triggering may

This is the same reason why prediction of normal (non-induced) earthquakes is

Deploy strong motion accelerometers and associated data

Utilising seismic instrumentation and monitoring systems, timely

Despite the progress in the dynamic analysis of dams, it is still not

The factors that eventually lead to failure as well as their severity

Fundamental features of a dam may be identified such as the

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