• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.173-180
• /
• 2022

Most of the drinking water dams managed by the local governments in Korea are earthfill dams, and these dams have almost no geotechnical property information necessary for seismic performance evaluation. Nevertheless, in the rough planning stage for improving seismic safety for these dams, it is necessary to classify their relative seismic hazard against earthquakes and conduct an additional ground investigation. The zero seismic failure probability curve is a curve suggested in this study in which the probability of failure due to an earthquake becomes '0' regardless of the geotechnical properties of the earthfill dam. By examining the method and procedure for calculating failure probability due to an earthquake suggested in previous researches, the zero seismic failure probability curves for an earthquake in 1,000-year and 2,400-year return periods in Korea were presented in the form of a hyperbola on the plane of the dam height versus freeboard ratio (ratio of freeboard to dam height), respectively. The distribution characteristics of the dam height and the freeboard ratio of 81 Korean earthfill dams were presented. The two proposed zero seismic failure probability curves are shown on the plane of the dam height versus freeboard ratio, and the relative seismic hazard of 81 dams can be classified into three groups using these curves as boundaries. This study presented the method of classifying the relative seismic hazard and the classification result.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to propose a chart that can easily estimate the seismic failure probability of small and medium sized earthfill dams with little geotechnical information. By considering the existing method and procedure for estimating the seismic failure probability of a dam, the zero seismic failure probability curve, on which the seismic probability is zero regardless of the geotechnical properties of the dam, was determined in the form of hyperbola in the dam height and freeboard ratio plane. It was confirmed that the dam height-freeboard ratio distribution pattern of the Korean small and medium sized dams was shaped like a hyperbola like the zero seismic failure probability curve. Therefore, a estimation chart was constructed in which a number of seismic failure probability contours are represented by a number of hyperbolas at regular intervals in the dam height-freeboard ratio plane. The proposed chart was applied to the calculation of the seismic failure probability of two small and midium sized dams with relatively well-managed geotechnical properties and the validity of the chart was confirmed by comparison with the results obtained by the existing procedures and methods. In the future, the proposed chart is expected to be useful in considering investment priorities for maintenance and reinforcement of small and medium sized dams in preparation for earthquakes.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.451-461
• /
• 2016

The objective of this study is to illustrate the methods and procedures for estimating the failure probability of small fill dams subjected to earthquake events and to estimate the seismic failure probability of the Korean disaster risk fill dams where geotechnical information is not available. In this study, first of all, seismic failure probabilities of 7 disaster risk small fill dams, where geotechnical information is available, were evaluated using event tree analysis. Also, the methods and procedures for evaluating probabilities are illustrated. The relationship between dam height and freeboard for 84 disaster risk small dams, for which the safety diagnosis reports are available, was examined. This relationship was associated with the failure computation equation contained in the toolbox of US Army corps of engineers. From this association, the dam height-freeborard critical curve, which represents 'zero' failure probability, was derived. The seismic failure probability of the Korean disaster risk fill dams was estimated using the critical curve and the failure probabilities computed for 7 small dams.