Fall 2022 Structural Behavior of Dams

In-Person Workshop

Denver, CO

October 4-6 2022

Part of the 2022 Fall Workshop Series taking place in person in Denver, CO, Bruce Brand’s “Structural Behavior of Dams” is a 3-day course on Dam Engineering.  It is at the same time very theoretical and very practical.  Theory is presented and then applied to real-world dam engineering situations. Bruce originally developed the course for FERC engineers, but now is offering it to the dam engineering community. 

Classes are small; no more than 12 students.

Target Audience: Experienced engineers, this workshop will not be appropriate for novices.  

Topics

Beam Theory with an emphasis on geometric non-linearities

Safety Factor

Loads on Dams

     Steady State Hydrodynamic

     Uplift

     Lateral Earth

     Debris

     Follower Forces

     Seismic Loads

Analysis Methods

FEA Background

Dynamics

     Classical

     Explicit

     Surge Tank Example

     Wave Radiating Boundaries

Fracture Mechanics

Rock Mechanics

Case Histories

Arch Dams

Gravity Arches

Slab and Buttress Topics

In addition to instruction, Bruce provides the following software:

2DSTAB               Gravity Dam Analysis

TGRIB                  Taintergate Analysis

VF2D                   2 Dim. Non-Linear FEA

ARVAR                3 Dim. Non-linear FEA

DAMGEN            Gravity Dam Mesh Generator

ARCHMKR          Arch Dam Mesh Generator