Comparison of 2‐D and 3‐D Dynamic Analyses of Earth Dams

Considerable judgment is required to estimate the overall three-dimensional dynamic response of a dam in a narrow canyon from plane strain analyses of individual sections of the dam. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to present a comparison between the results of three-dimensional and two-dimensional dynamic analyses of two dams with different canyon geometries. From this comparison the conditions under which three-dimensional behavior is of importance in the dynamic response of a dam are determined. Additionally, the applicability of two-dimensional analyses for the determination of the dynamic behavior of dams in steep walled canyons is evaluated.