Seismic Stability Evaluation of Earth Dams

Earthquakes represent a hazard to dams in many parts of the United States and therefore are of interest to design engineers and dam safety officials. Evaluation of the seismic stability of these dams to future anticipated earthquakes require an understanding of seismic hazards, site exploration methods, soil behavior under seismic loading, and seismic stability analysis techniques. This webinar will cover the fundamentals of these topics to provide design engineers and dam safety officials with basic knowledge to help in the analysis and review of seismic analyses of earth dams.

Topics covered include: examples of seismic performance of embankment dams, selection of applicable evaluation procedures, liquefaction evaluation, cyclic softening evaluation, soil strength, and seismic stability analysis. Key concepts to understand will be presented for each topic with examples to demonstrate the application of these concepts to practice.

Speaker and Presenter Information

Lelio H. Mejia, PhD, PE, GE Principal Engineer and Vice President, AECOM

Dr. Mejia is a registered civil and geotechnical engineer with over 30 years of experience in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. His main fields of expertise include dam engineering, soil liquefaction, earthquake ground motions, soil-structure interaction, and soil improvement.

He has directed the investigations and seismic stability studies of over 30 large earth dams and has been involved in the design and construction of over 15 major dam projects. He developed numerical techniques for the three-dimensional dynamic response analysis of rock and earthfill dams, and has conducted research on the applicability of two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element techniques and fully nonlinear models to the dynamic response analysis of dams and earth structures. As a product of his research and project work, he has over 75 publications to his credit in refereed journals and conference proceedings.

He has served on technical review boards for the US Bureau of Reclamation, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the California Department of Water Resources on various dam projects, and for other owners on various engineering projects.

Richard J. Armstrong, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Armstrong is a water resource engineer at the California Division of Safety of Dams. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada (2003); Master’s degree in Geomechanics from Stanford University (2005); and Doctoral degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of California, Davis (2010). Dr. Armstrong has over 10 years of experience conducting both simplified and complex dynamic analyses of geotechnical structures, including the seismic evaluation of embankment dams, and has published multiple papers on geotechnical earthquake engineering. During his graduate studies, Dr. Armstrong was the recipient of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada award (2003-2007), the Fugro West Graduate Fellowship (2008), and the United States Society of Dams Outstanding Young Professional Paper Award (2010).

Relevant Government Agencies

Army, Dept of Energy, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of the Interior, Other Federal Agencies, State Government, County Government, City Government, Municipal Government, FEMA, Federal Government, State & Local Government