LAUSR

Abstract This research deals with seismic vulnerability assessment of gravity dams located in near-fault areas by proposing a probabilistic seismic demand model for gravity dams considering near-field earthquake ground motions. It is done by conducting a cloud analysis considering two sets of near-field ground motions including 75 pulse-like and 60 non-pulse-like ground motions. By establishing IM-EDP relations, it is attempted to identify optimal IM that is best able to predict the effects of near-field ground motions in terms of optimality criteria of efficiency, sufficiency, proficiency, and practicality. The model is applied to the tallest non-over-flow monolith of the Pine Flat gravity dam which is numerically modeled with its full reservoir using the finite element method. Finally, the seismic vulnerability of the dam is assessed by building its seismic fragility curves separately under the pulse-like and the non-pulse-like earthquakes.