ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Dam Engineering and Design
This article is part of the Research TopicResilient Flood Protection Infrastructure: Adaptive Design, Analysis, and Innovative Solutions for Evolving HazardsView all articles
Analytical and Direct FE Methods for Free-Field Foundation Modeling in 3D Analysis of Concrete Dams
Provisionally accepted
- 1K N Toosi University of Technology Faculty of Civil Engineering, Tehran, Iran
- 2University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
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Three-dimensional (3D) modeling is essential for reliable seismic assessment of concrete dams, as it cap-tures canyon topography, monolith interactions, and joint nonlinearity that cannot be represented in two-dimensional (2D) analyses. This study systematically evaluates the seismic performance of a benchmark concrete gravity dam through comparative 3D and 2D finite element (FE) analyses, investigating two free-field foundation modeling approaches: (i) a direct FE method that explicitly accounts for canyon geometry, and (ii) an analytical approach employing simplified flat foundation assumptions. Using the domain reduction method, the nonlinear seismic analysis of the Pine Flat Dam implements effective earthquake forces as seismic input at the absorbing boundaries. The results reveal that while 2D analyses show methodological agreement (both relying on one-dimensional free-field assumptions), they fundamentally cannot reproduce 3D effects such as stress amplification from canyon geometry and monolith interactions. The direct FE method proves superior in predicting joint sliding and opening responses, as well as canyon amplification effects, whereas simplified approaches yield non-conservative estimates due to its failure to account for canyon-induced wave scattering. This study concludes that 2D modeling may be sufficient for preliminary analyses, but final design verification requires 3D simulation with direct FE free-field representation, particularly for dams located in irregular topographies.
Keywords: 3D FE modeling, Concrete gravity dam, Domain reduction method, Effective earthquake force, Free-field foundation
Received: 01 Nov 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abbasiverki, Karami Mohammadi and Hariri-Ardebili. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohammad Amin Hariri-Ardebili
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