Safety Performance of Dams in Chile’s Highly Seismic Environment


Luis Valenzuela P(1), Ramón Verdugo A(2), José Campaña Z(3) & Carmen G Opazo A(4)


Abstract: Chile is well-known as one of the most seismic countries in the world, responsible for more than 40% of seismic energy liberated globally. The Valdivia earthquake (EQ) of


1960, with a magnitude of Mw = 9.5, is the greatest earthquake ever registered. Recently, in February 2010, the Maule earthquake occurred with a magnitude of Mw = 8.8 which is among the world’s six largest earthquakes. This paper first presents a general description of the


tectonic and seismic environment of Chile, and a summary of the most important earthquakes (M ≥ 7.5) which have occurred in the country in the last 200 years, and more detailed characteristics of three strong earthquakes in the last 35 years in the Central Northern region of Chile: Valparaiso (1985), Maule (2010) and Illapel (2015). Then a summary of the performance of large dams in Chile (height ≥ 15m) is presnted, from the end of XIX century to the present day, including moderate high dams for irrigation and water supply built between 1850 and 1930, and larger dams used for the same purpose, as well as for energy generation from 1930 to the present day. As Chile is an important mining country there are numerous tailings dams of different types for which seismic performance is also discussed. The variety of dam types used for different purposes, and built using different construction materials, constitutes an interesting scenery for the analysis of dam behaviour under high seismic loading. Although the number of concrete dams in Chile is rather limited, comments on the seismic behaviour of two arch dams and several rolled concrete dams of medium height are also presented, as well as a case of the only rockfill dam with asphalt core existing in Chile. Special attention is given to compacted gravel dams with concrete faces and two sand tailings dams, both types representing good examples of local development in dam engineering. In the case of sand tailings dams constructed using the downstream method, there is already a 200m high dam that ended operation and another designed for a height of 240m. The geotechnical characteristics and seismic behaviour of some specific dams of different types are presented as representative examples of Chilean dams for different purposes built in different periods. This paper analyses the design criteria, local dam safety legislation and dam design and construction practices in different industries. Finally, this paper ends with a discussion on the validity of different seismic stability and deformation analysis, both pseudo-static and dynamic.


Author Details: (1)Geotechnical Consultant. Email: valenzue-


Keywords: Dams, safety, seismicity, performance, resilience.


lapluis@gmail.com; (2)CMGI. Email: rverdugo@cmgi.cl; (3)ARCADIS Chile. Email: jose.campana@arcadis.com; (4)MOP-DOH Chile. Email: carmen.opazo@mop.gov.cl; All the authors are members of ICOLD Chile.


This paper was originally presented to delegates who attended the Dam World Webinar on 22-24 September 2020 (https://dw2020.lnec.pt/dw-webinar). For further information please contact the organisers via email: damworld@lnec.pt


Vol XXXI Issue 3 DAM ENGINEERING 185


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95