An investigation of the effects of explosive charge in different levels on the dynamic response of concrete arch dams

Todays, by increasing of the possibility of terrorist attacks, more studies of the behavior of structures, especially dams as massive structures, against explosive charges are needed. Arch dams should be safe against different conditions. Analysis and design of dams not only for conventional loads but also for blast loads could be futuristic. In this paper, 3D numerical model of Karun IV arch dam was modeled using ABAQUS software and dam responses for different levels of explosive masses were investigated. The results for different cases with different levels of explosion show that maximum principal stress and maximum displacement in all cases occurs in front of explosive mass and dam crest, respectively. Analysis showed that in case of explosive mass near to the dam crest, maximum calculated displacement of the crest reaches to 3.12mm.