Abstract
In response to the frequent occurrence of large earthquakes in Japan such as the 1995 Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake, it is necessary to establish a safety evaluation method for dams during large earthquakes such as “Level 2 earthquake.” Embankment dams are supposed to settle due to the strong earthquake motion. We should, therefore, evaluate the earthquake-resistance of embankment dams by confirming that the catastrophic failure due to the overtopping of reservoir water does not occur. In this paper, we adopted the sliding deformation evaluation method by combining the dynamic analysis based on both equivalent linearization method and Newmark method, and analyzed the effects on sliding deformation of rockfill dams with a central earth core due to large earthquakes, considering strength of earthquake motion, up- and down-stream slope of dam body, reservoir water level and vertical earthquake motion. These results are very essential to establish a safety evaluation method for embankment dams during large earthquakes.
