| Author | Samy, Mohamed Shibree |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.ST-87-25 |
| Subject(s) | Arch dams
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The optimum shape of an arch dam for static loads (dead load and
hydrostatic pressure) and dynamic load (earthquake) taking into account
geometrical and stress constraints is studied. The objective function is
the concrete volume of the dam.
Two nonlinear optimization techniques are employed. Firstly, in the
feasible domain, the steepest descent method is used until the stress
constraints are active. Secondly, once the constraints are active, the
feasible-usable direction method is used to improve the objective function
without violating the constraints . The shape of the arch dam is represented by three factors, the shape of crown cantilever in the extrados side,
the thickness variation of the dam along the crown cantilever and the radius of cylindrical reference surface. A linear and a quadratic variation
of the thickness of the dam are studied. The arch dam is assumed to be
symmetric with flexible foundation. The static and dynamic stresses are
calculated with the ADAP computer program.
The results by these methods for an existing dam demonstrate that optimization methods are feasible and economical to obtain the optimum shape
for static loads. A reduction can be achieved of the volume of concrete
in the order of 20% under static loading condition, with the quadratic
thickness variation giving the minimum volume. The optimum volume of concrete increases with increasing foundation flexibility.
For earthquake loading, the present concept is not feasible because
the stresses are insensitive with respect to variation of the design variables and because tensile stresses occur exceeding the concrete strength. |
| Year | 1987 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Structural Engineering (STE) /Former Name = Structural Engineering and Construction (ST) |
| Chairperson(s) | Wireland, Martin
|
| Examination Committee(s) | Hasegawa Akio ;Chauhan, Roshan Lal
|
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Royal Netherlands Government |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1987 |