CLASSES AND TRAINING

The following classes and training for Concrete Dams is available through Nuss Engineering, LLC. The class topics, schedule, and location are flexible and can be tailored to fit your specific needs. The classes can be on-site. The classes cover a wide variety of topics and, as such, are probably too much material to be taught in an entire week. It is recommended that the one-day Introduction class be taken and then the remaining classes can be tailored to fit your needs based on the overview provided in the Introduction Class. It is also recommended that the classees be spread out over a period of time to not inundate the attendees with too much information at once. The attendees will have a set of paper and .pdf reference documents at the end of each class.

The Introduction to Concrete Dams class covers snipets from all the classes in this series. It is a very good overview and introduction to concrete dams: types of concrete dams, materials used in dams, possible loads, methods of analyses, analysis considerations, interpreting analysis results, design of gravity dams, design of arch dams, design considerations, comparison of agency criteria, potential failure modes, risk analyses, event trees, dam failures, and historic performance of concrete dams to earthquakes. This class can be used to tailor subsequent classes.

The Materials class covers various material properties used in the analyses of existing dams and the design requirements for new dams. Material properties for concrete include density, mass, compressive strength, tensile strength, shear strength, Poisson's ratio, modulus of elasticity, diffusivity, coefficient of thermal expansion, specific heat, conductivity, porosity, freeze-thaw, alkali-aggregate reaction, aging, and cracking. Many of these properties are also considered for the foundation. Both a Materials Engineer and a Structural Engineer will teach this class.

2.1A The initial materials portion will cover concrete mix designs for conventional and roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dams, concrete test sections, and laboratory tests.

2.1B An extension of the 2.0 Materials Properties section, this class continues with concepts of nonlinear behavior. Plastic and brittle material properties are reviewed. How these concepts are extended into material models is shown. Three dimensional stress and strain definitions are given. From this foundation, common nonlinear models found in commercial computer codes, intended for concrete analysis, are introduced and the production of needed input parameters shown.

2.2 The structural portion will cover design requirements for concrete strengths, material inputs into finite element programs, and some specification requirements.

The Loads class covers the possible loads and loading conditions that can impact concrete dams. Loads include gravity, stage construction, reservoir loads, silt loads, tailwater, overtopping water, uplift pressures, drain effectiveness, seasonal temperatures, construction temperatures and cooling, solar radiation, seismic loads, hydrodynamic interaction, and post-tensioned anchors.

The Foundations class covers considerations in the foundation. This class is taught by both a Structural Engineer and a Geotechnical Engineer. The structual portion will cover foundation considerations, coupled and uncoupled analyses, the effect of foundation properties on the seismic performance of concrete dams, procedural examples to calculate loads from the dam into the foundation, and foundation stability in general. The foundation portion will cover the process of developing material properties in the foundation, loading considertions, field testing, and foundation stability considerations and examples.

The Design of Gravity Dams class covers the layout and design considerations for straight gravity dams. The class includes considerations for stability, shape and size, flooding, seismic, galleries and reinforcement, foundation drainage, foundation grouting, form drains, concrete placing, and temperatures.

The Design of Arch Dams class covers the layout and design considerations for arch dams. The class includes considerations for stability, shape and size, flooding, seismic, galleries and reinforcement, foundation drainage, foundation grouting, form drains, concrete placing and cooling, and temperatures. Participants will layout an arch dam by hand in a ficticious canyon and perform an preliminary trial load analysis using the Arch Dam Stress Analysis System (ADSAS).

The Gravity Dams - Limit Equilibrium Analyses (2D) class covers the hand calculations for a limit-equilibrium analysis. This includes static loads from reservoir, silt, tailwater, and uplift. The calculations also include the cracked-base analyses to determine the depth of cracking.

The Gravity Dams - Static and Dynamic Analyses (2D) - EAGD_SLIDE class covers the static and dynamic finite element analysis of a gravity dam using the finite elemetn program EAGD_SLIDE from the University of California at Berkeley. The class goes over the input commands, running the program, and post-processing the results.

The Gravity Dams (2D) - Modeling in TRUEGRID class covers the commands and procedural aspects of developing a 2D finite element model of a gravity dam using the pre-processor TRUEGRID from XYZ Scientific, Inc. TRUEGRID is a very power general purpose finite element pre-processor. The class will include geometry features, element types, contact surfaces, fluid elements, load application, and material property assignment.

The Gravity Dams (2D) - Static Analyses in LSDYNA class covers the commands and procedural aspects of running and post-processing a static 2D finite element model of a gravity dam using analysis code LSDYNA from LSTC Incorporated.

The Gravity Dams (2D) - Introduction to Dynamic Analyses class covers the basics of dynamic analyses for gravity dams. The class covers considerations for dynamic material properties, ground motions, response spectra, damping, natural frequencies, performing a dynamic analysis, post-processing the results, and interpreting the results.

The Gravity Dams (2D) - Dynamic Analyses Using LSDYNA class covers the commands and procedural aspects of running and post-processing a dynamic 2D finite element model of a gravity dam using analysis code LSDYNA from LSTC Incorporated.

The Potential Failure Modes (PFM) for Concrete Dams class covers developing PFM for gravity dams, arch, and buttress dams for various static and dynamic loading conditions. The class will then develop event trees to graphically describe the PFM. The class will then present considerations for targeting structural analysis to address key nodes along the event tree.

The Risk Analyses for Concrete Dams class covers estimating probabilities at nodes in an event tree using methods developed at the Bureau of Reclamation. Monte Carlo simulation will be explained and how the process works using simple examples.