Spline Semi-analytical Method for Stress Analysis of Thin Arch Dams

Based on the theory of shells and variational principle,with the spline finite element method,a semi analytical method which is used to analyse thin arch dams is presented in this paper.It overcomes the shortcomings of finite element method with heavy computational work and expensive cost of solution.Compared with the finite element method and other numerical methods,this method proves to be adequately accurate and highly effective.