SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF DAMS IN CHILE’S HIGHLY SEISMIC ENVIRONMENT
Table 2. Recordings of earthquake on 27th February 2020 along with main aftershocks[18]
The Melado dam is a zoned earth dam, 90m high, and built in 1991 as part of a hydroelectric scheme. It is 310m long with a central core and gravel shoulders. The shoulders were compacted at 85% relative density, and the core to 95% of Standard Proctor. The dam is founded on a coarse gravel fluvial deposit 50-75m thick, and has a cut-off wall through the fluvial deposit. The canyon walls are steep, and the embankment is contiguous to the reinforced concrete spillway on the right abutment[20] (see Figure 21). A dynamic seismic analysis of the dam was carried out in 1992[21].
Figure 21. Typical cross-section of Melado dam[20]
