One real-life full-scale experience is worth a hundred opinions. Such is the experiencegained from the performance of concrete dams that have been severely shaken by actualearthquakes. This paper presents data from 19 concrete dams that have been shaken byPeak Horizontal Ground Accelerations (PHGA) exceeding 0.3 g during earthquakesworldwide. This historical perspective goes back more than 100 years.Case histories are presented for each type of concrete dam: gravity, arch, and buttressdams. Case histories were selected based on a number of factors including: 1)importance of the dam, 2) severity of the ground motion, 3) occurrence or lack ofobserved damage, and 4) availability of quality strong motion records at or near the dam.The case histories include reports on 1) the first two roller-compacted concrete (RCC)dams subjected to high base accelerations, 2) the first reported “failure” of a concretedam due to a rupture of a fault below the structure, 3) three dams experiencing more than2.0 g acceleration at the crest, 4) two dams shaken by two significant earthquakes, and 5)the performance of concrete dams subjected to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake off the coastof Japan. Of interest is that one concrete gravity dam had significant accelerationamplification from the base to the crest of the dam in the cross-canyon direction.The performance of each type of concrete dam is summarized, including the lessonslearned. The paper includes a table listing all the dams, the date of construction, theheight and crest length, earthquake specifics, the PHGA at the dam, and the reported damresponse. The reasons why concrete dams have outperformed their design criteria oranalysis is discussed.
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