Abstract：The known seismic damages of concrete dams indicate that cracks will appear during strong earthquakes. The extended finite element method (XFEM) can make the characterization of discontinuous displacement field independent of cell boundaries through enriching discontinuous displacement mode on the influence domain of related nodes. Therefore, the crack propagation in concrete can be effectively described using XFEM. In the paper, we used a reasonable model of seismic wave to analyze the process of the dynamic damage of a domestic concrete gravity dam. The dynamic responses and failure modes of the dam before and after strengthening have been simulated by using the embedded slip model，based on which the effect of the seismic reinforcement is evaluated. Our studies demonstrate that although the seismic reinforcement in dams cannot prevent cracks from initiating, it is capable of controlling the development and extension of cracks and reducing the crack opening displacement. In conclusion, it is an effective measure to improve the earthquake-resistant performance.
2013, Vol. 32 
