ELASTICITY SOLUTION FOR NONSYMMETRIC WEDGE DAMS UNDER GRAVITY AND HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE

The textbook of Elasticity presents a theoretical solution to the stress filed of a wedge dam. This model assumes that the boundary subjected to hydrostatic pressure is parallel to the gravity and that the lower end extends infinitely, which does not align with engineering design. In the current work, we establish a mechanics model for a nonsymmetric wedge dam that is more practically relevant, and derive the analytical solution to the stress field by virtue of the principle of superposition and the semi-inverse method. Finite element analysis is performed to obtain numerical results for the stress field, demonstrating the accuracy of the theoretical solution in regions far from the dam base. This work provides valuable insights for the engineering design of gravity dams and contributes a concrete example to the theory of elasticity.