FULL-SCALE SHAKING TABLE TESTS FOR SMALL EARTH DAMS WITH SLOPING CORE ZONE AND GEOSYNTHETIC CLAY LINER

Abstract

In the present study, in order to examine the seismic behavior of small earth dams with a sloping core zone or geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), full-scale shaking table tests for embankments with 3m high were conducted. When the embankment was subjected to the Level 2 seismic load, large longitudinal cracks have developed at the crest of the embankment with the GCL, although water leakage has not been observed in both the cases. Moreover, the subsidence at the crest as well as the lateral deformation at the bottom of slope were both larger for the upstream side than the downstream side. The results strongly suggest that the presence of reservoir somehow influenced on the seismic performance of embankments.