ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The stability of concrete gravity dams is usually computed with a 2D profile but the behavior of the structure is 3D. A comparative study of the effect 3D is done. First the influence of the slope of the abutments is studied. The blocs equilibrium on the banks and particularly the safety factor depend on this slope. Secondly three simple concrete gravity dams is computed. The thrusts carrying from a bloc to another are analyzed. The finite element software GEFDYN is used. The non linear behavior of the joint and the shape of the valley are taken into account. The knowledge of the thrust carrying over is very important for analyzed the stability of each independent bloc that made the dam, especially for the blocs on the bank in a narrow valley. The results of the computations gets with simplified methods and the finite element method are presented. The resulted gets with a 2D profile could be rather different than the ones gets used with 3D computation.
