Abstract
A practical method for the stochastic analysis of the effect of spatial randomness of earth dams on the seismic stability is proposed, where attention is paid particularly to the shear strain in the horizontal cross-section due to relative displacement of the dam along its longitudinal axis. The method takes into consideration both spatial variabilities in the dam material and geometry and randomness of the earthquake motion. The proposed method is used to determine the depth-wise distribution of shear stress in the horizontal cross-section of the dam as well as that in the transverse cross-section. Such a distribution of a shear stress is in turn used to examine their effect on the seismic stability of the dam.
