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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Dam Engineering and Design
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1452415

Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ) in Structural Analysis of Concrete Dams

Provisionally accepted
Jerzy Salamon Jerzy Salamon 1M. Amin Hariri-Ardebili M. Amin Hariri-Ardebili 2,3*
  • 1 Technical Service Center, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado, United States
  • 2 University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States
  • 3 University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Over the past three decades, advancements in computational power and numerical methods have significantly enhanced the role of structural analyses in the design and safety assessment of dams. Simulating concrete dam behavior, particularly in interactions with reservoir water and rock foundations, poses formidable computational challenges. Additionally, the need to define uncertainties related to material parameters, loading conditions, and modeling strategy adds complexity to the modeling process, therefore, quantifying sources of uncertainty is crucial for maintaining credibility and confidence in analysis results. This paper provides a critical synthesis of existing research and presents a generic framework for evaluating the credibility of advanced structural analysis methods for concrete dams, with a focus on their limitations and associated uncertainties. The methodology includes a comprehensive process for structural analysis, verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification, aiming to facilitate risk-informed assessments of concrete dams.

    Keywords: Concrete dams, modeling, simulation, uncertainty quantification, verification, Validation, Numerical Analysis

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Salamon and Hariri-Ardebili. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: M. Amin Hariri-Ardebili, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, 20742, Maryland, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.