J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11 Original Article 
DOI : 10.34118/jbms.v9i1.1374  

 

ISSN  2353-0057, EISSN : 2600-6936 

Seismic analysis of Souk Tlata dam behaviour using finite 
element simulation 

Louadj S *, Smail L  

 
Laboratoire Géomatériaux, Environnement et Aménagement, Université Mouloud Mammeri de Tizi-Ouzou, 
BP. 17, RP 15000, Algérie 
* Corresponding Author: samia.louadj@ummto.dz 

Received: 07-06-2021 
 

 Accepted: 13-01-2022 

Abstract. In this study, earthquake resistance of Souk Tlata earth dam was examined. It 
corresponds to a preliminary investigation of the behaviour of the dam under earthquake 
loading with a dominant frequency close to the fundamental frequency of the dam. The dam 
was modeled with plane-strain finite elements using Plaxis-2D program. The behaviour of 
both the fill and core of the dam is described using the simple non associated Mohr-Coulomb 
criterion. The development of the safety factors as a function of the displacement of the dam 
crest dam reveals that the static stability of the dam under conditions of drawdown is not 
assured. Dynamic analyses are conducted under a real earthquake motion, which 
corresponds to the main shock of May 21, 2003 in Algeria. The results show that the seismic 
loading, with peak acceleration exceeding 0.10g, induces significant settlement at the crest of 
the dam and substantial displacement in the upper part of the rip-rap in the upstream side. 

Key words: Earth dam, finite element analysis, safety factor, earthquake loading, settlement at crest. 

1. Introduction 

Earth or rockfill dams that predominate for some 65 % of dams are the archetype of 
embankment dams (ICOLD, 2019). Their resistance is provided by natural soil-type materials 
available nearby. The design and construction of these structures have evolved significantly over 
the past century, and has gone from a relatively simple construction of homogeneous dikes or 
embankment dams composed of two zones at the beginning of the 20th century, to extremely 
complex earth or rockfill dams. The height of theses dams is continually increasing also, with 
many dams being more than 200 m high and even reaching 300 m like Nurek dam (300 m) and 
Rogun dam (335 m) in Tajikistan(ICOLD, 2019). Many of them are located in areas with a number 
of large-scale, high-intensity active faults and have been damaged during strong earthquakes 
and even broken in some serious cases. Ambraseys (1960) reviewed 58 dams damaged in 24 
earthquakes and suggested that inertial forces and pore-pressure had the greatest effect on the 
structure.  Wood (1973) showed that when the frequency at which the seismic power of the 
input motions approaches the fundamental frequency of the unrestrained backfill, dynamic 
amplification becomes an important factor, which is not considered in engineering approaches 
that assess the embankment dam stability. Seed et al. (1978) and Seed (1979) reported that the 
seismic performance of embankment dams has been good in general. They noted that well-built 
compacted embankment dam can withstand moderate earthquake shaking, with peak 
acceleration of 0.2 g and more with no detrimental effects. Harder et al. (1998) summarized 
more than 20 case histories of earth and rockfill dams experienced earthquakes and presented 
the relationship of peak crest accelerations against peak ground accelerations. Youd and Idriss, 
(2001), Wang (2007), Chen et al. (2009), Holzer et al. (2010), Huang and Jiang (2010), Cao et al. 
(2011), Hou et al. (2011) and Liu et al. (2016) have shown that medium–strong earthquakes 
(Mw 5.5–6.5) will not cause fissures in earth dams, but do cause sand liquefaction over large 
areas. Dakoulas (2012) reported that the seismic response of an earth or rockfill dam depends 
on a large number of factors, such as the quality of rockfill compaction, the dam geometry, the 

mailto:samia.louadj@ummto.dz


2 Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11  

 

 

narrowness of the canyon, the irregularity of the abutments, the flexibility of the canyon rock, 
the ground motion intensity and its frequency characteristics, spatial variability of the seismic 
motion.  Internal erosion and seepage problems increased leakage through cracks resulting from 
differential settlements and different dynamic responses of various parts of the dam following 
the earthquake. Shear failure of the dam caused by the movement of a fault crossing the 
foundation is also indicated.  Only settlements of the crest and landslides may be computed. For 
internal erosion, a modeling of the phenomena is not easy because of the random mechanisms of 
particle flow and transport. Yu et al. (2012) summarized 43 case histories and 18 numerical 
analyses of earth and rockfill dam behaviour during earthquake, focusing on the characteristics 
of seismic response and found that the narrowness of canyon, seismic motion input, angle of 
incidence, shear modulus of rockfill, and dam height have moderate effects on the value of the 
peak crest acceleration. In addition, they concluded that both case histories and numerical 
analyses show that seismic measures for high embankment dams should focus on the mid-top 
area of the dam.  Chen et al. (2014) analyzed a total of 670 earth dams damaged by the 
Wenchuan earthquake and found that fissures in the dams were one of the most important 
causes of damage. Kong et al. (2018) considered relative settlement ratios of 0.4%, 0.7%, and 
1% of the dam crest as the assessment limitation and analyzed the fragility when this dam 
exhibited minor, moderate and severe failure.   

The paper presents a numerical study of the seismic behaviour of Souk Tlata earth dam using a 
2-D finite element modeling. It will mainly focus on the seismic response of the dam under the 
main shock of May 21, 2003 in Algeria with dominant frequency close to the fundamental 
frequency of the dam and with a peak acceleration exceeding the peak accelerations estimated 
for the dam project. 

To conduct the analyses within the framework of plasticity, the behaviour of both the fill and 
core of the dam is described using the simple non associated Mohr-Coulomb criterion. The static 
analysis is conducted, prior to cyclic loading in the dam body, for various stages including end of 
construction, impounding and rapid drawdown.  
The induced displacement under seismic loading is computed for the evaluation of the stability 
of the dam since it is dependent on the geometric and mechanical properties of the dam as well 
as the frequency and amplitude of the input loading.  

This paper considers the dam with water impoundment but does not consider the fluid-skeleton 
interaction which could have a significant influence on the seismic response of the dam.  

2. Experimental site description and geotechnical characterisation 

The Souk Tlata dam on the BouGdoura stream is located at the western end of the great Kabylia 
8.5 km from Tizi-Ouzou, about 80 km from Algiers in the eastern direction. The reservoir will 
consist essentially of two branches formed by the valleys of Acif Tlata and Tala Imedrane 
respectively, which meet all upstream of the dam. Souk Tlata dam of approximately 95 m high 
above the foundation is under construction and is the second largest hydraulic dam in the 
province of Tizi-Ouzou. The crest of the dams is 151 m long, 10 m wide and about 376 m width 
at the base. The dam will serve primarily to satisfy water supply of Tizi-Ouzou, Boumerdes and 
Algiers provinces, and will also cover certain local irrigation needs. 

A total of 1,132,000 m3 of earth and fill materials will be used for the construction of the Souk 
Tlata dam. The dam is composed of several different types of materials. In the central part of the 
dam, a core made up of clayey colluviums is implemented. The dam body is commonly composed 
of disaggregated sandstone, sandy and gravelly alluvium. Also, filter and transition materials 
exist in the dam. A rockfill cover protects upstream slope from erosion possibly produced by 
changes in the water level. It is made of a layer of limestone boulders from the Hassi Youcef 
quarry resting on a gravel bed from the same quarry. On the other hand, the Burdigalian 
sandstone sediments are widely present in the dam area and in fact constitute the foundation 



Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11 3 

 

 

rock for the supports of the structure. The principal dike is founded on twenty meters of gravelly 
alluviums that are excavated under the core of the dam. Figure 1 shows the maximum cross 
section of the Souk Tlata dam. 

It is mentioned in the dam monography that an extensive field exploration program was 
undertaken by GEOSONDA from Yugoslavia for the purpose of identifying the embankment 
materials, foundation soils and bedrock, and establishing the phreatic surface in the 
embankment. A total of 63 holes have been performed. Samples, which were carried out by the 
public center laboratory (LTCP), were recovered for laboratory tests which included 
classification tests (water content, humid and saturated density, Atterberg limits), compaction 
tests and triaxial tests. Some properties of the used materials in construction of Souk Tlata dam, 
and that were deducted from this extensive investigation, are summarized in Table 1 and Table 
2 (dam monography). 

No seismic fault has been recorded at the dam site for the past 200 years within a radius of 40 
km but the dam is not very far from the transverse tectonic accidents with direction N140° and 
N75° which played an important role in the uplift of the Atlas Mountains. Therefore, it is possible 
that the dam area could feel the earthquakes from the surrounding active seismotectonic 
regions. Indeed, it is far from the large sedimentary basins, still subsidizing today from the 
Lower Miocene (Cheliff, Mitidja, Soummam, Hodna) which are the center of the most dangerous 
seismic faults in Algeria. According to Algeria's historical seismicity catalog, many earthquakes 
were felt in the dam area with intensities of VI at least. The peak accelerations estimated for the 
dam project are between 0.06 g and 0.10 g with a return period of 100 years and 0.15 g with a 
return period of 500 years (dam monography).  

 

Fig 1. Cross section of Souk Tlata dam and foundation layers (adapted from dam monography). 

3. Numerical model and static analysis 

The analysis is performed with the finite element program Plaxis-2D. A simplified embankment 
cross section, shown in Figure 2, is considered. The numerical model, shown in Figure 3, consists 
of a dam overlying a foundation. The model consists of 2387 plane strain finite elements. To 
consider the stage construction of the dam in the analysis, the dam body is built in diverse 
phases. The dam materials are added in horizontal layers after the calculation for the initial 
equilibrium state of the foundation with a depth of 100 m. The boundary conditions are 
specified, such as the bottom of the model is fixed from movement in both the –horizontal- and –
vertical directions.  

In order to assess the stresses, prior to cyclic loading in the dam body, static analyses were 
carried out for various stages including end of construction, impounding and rapid drawdown.  
The behaviour of dam materials is described using the simple non associated Mohr Coulomb 
criterion. The use of this constitutive model is justified by the difficulty to obtain constitutive 
parameters for more advanced constitutive relations including both isotropic and kinematic 



4 Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11  

 

 

hardening. The used material properties for numerical analyses are presented in Table 1 and 
Table 2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 2. Simplified cross section showing different material zones.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 3. Finite element mesh employed in the analysis.  

Table 1. Index and physical properties. 

Material 
γh 
(kN/m3) 

γsat 
(kN/m3) 

K 
(cm/s) 

Wo 
(%) 

WL 
(%) 

Ip 
(%) 

Schist 24.5 24.5 - - - - 
Gravelly materials 21 22 10-3-10-4 7.3 - - 
Sand-gravel 20 20.5 - - - - 
Clayey colluviums 18 19 10-5-10-6 14.7 35.3 16.6 
Sandstone 19.5 20 4×10-7 3.6 27.4 12.2 
Backfill 18 20 2.4×10-6 17.5 44 22.5 

Table 2. Shear strength characteristics. 

Material c’ (kPa) φ' (°) 

Schist 70 30 
Gravelly materials 0 35 
Sand-gravel 0 32 
Clayey colluviums 35-55 18-19 
Sandstone 0 34 
Backfill 0.5 10 

3. 1. End of construction stage  

To consider the stage construction of the dam in the analysis, the dam body is built in diverse 
phases. After the calculation for the initial equilibrium state of the foundation with a depth of 
100 m, the dam materials are added in horizontal layers in order to take into account the stress 
history resulting from gravitational loading. As shown in Figure 4(a), a total of 30.63 cm of 
vertical displacement is predicted from this analysis. From Figure 4(b), a maximum horizontal 
displacement about 14.5 cm is induced in the upper part of the downstream side of the dam. 

Zone 1: Schist 

Zone 2: Gravelly Materials 

Zone 3: Sand-Gravel 

Zone 4: Limestone 

Zone 5: Clayey Colluviums 

Zone 6: Sandstone 

Zone 7: Backfill  

 



Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11 5 

 

 

       

Fig 4.  Vertical and horizontal displacements under gravity loads at the end of construction stage. 

3.2. Impounding and drawdown conditions  

Water level increases to a height of 86 m above the foundation which is considered 
impermeable. During impounding, the hydrostatic force acts on the upstream surface. Initial 
stresses and initial pore water pressures of the dam under normal working conditions are 
calculated using gravity loading. The water pressure distribution contours, shown in Figure 5(a), 
are obtained after filling to full supply level using steady state ground water flow analysis. The 
induced horizontal displacement is not significant like shown in Figure 6(a). 

The stability of the dam under conditions of drawdown is also analyzed. The situation is 
considered where the water level drops 46 m rapidly.  The water inside the dam does not have 
time to dissipate and it is important to know the behaviour of the dam in this case. To analyze 
this situation, a fully coupled flow-deformation is used. As shown in Figure 6(b), fast reduction 
of the reservoir level leads to instability of the upstream side of the dam with a peak horizontal 
displacement of about 1.076 m due to high pore water pressures that remain inside the dam as 
indicated in Figure 5(b). 

The development of the safety factors as a function of the displacement of the dam crest is 
shown in Figure 7 for the three situations considered for the static analysis. By comparing with 
the minimum admissible regulatory values for each case of stability, one can note that the 
stability of the dam is ensured at the end of construction (Fs = 2.08), and even after the 
impoundment (Fs = 1.57), but in the case of a rapid drawdown, the stability of the structure is 
not ensured (Fs = 1.08).  

   

Fig 5. Pore pressure contours- (a) after impounding, (b) after rapid drawdown. 

(a) (b) 

(a) (b) 



6 Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11  

 

 

   

Fig 6. Horizontal displacement- (a) after impounding, (b) after rapid drawdown. 

0 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15 0.18 0.21 0.24 0.27

U (m)

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

2

2.1

S
M

 s
f

at the end of construction

Full reservoir

Rapid drawdown

 

Fig 7. Safety factors as a function of the displacement of the dam crest. 

4. Dynamic analysis 

4.1. Input loading 

The earth dam is subjected to earthquake loading representative of the 2003 Boumerdes main 
shock in Algeria (Mw=6.8), recorded at bedrock by the stations of the national accelerograph 
network in the N-S direction. The estimated peak acceleration is approximately -0.228 g, and the 
duration is approximately 28 s. The record for base acceleration and velocity waves are shown 
in Figure 8(a) and Figure 9(a) (records at Keddara site). The computed acceleration Fourier 
spectra indicates that the seismic power mainly concentrated in a range of frequencies lower 
than 15 Hz. It should be noted that two wavelets are present in the spectral representation of the 
motions like shown in Figure 8(b). The first one corresponds to content lower than 5 Hz and the 
second one greater than 5 Hz. Fourier analysis of the recorded velocity results in a power 
spectrum depicted in Figure 9(b). The velocity spectrum reveals a dominant frequency of about 
0.52 Hz. From the other hand, the natural frequencies of the dam-foundation system were 
determined by a Fourier analysis of the free vibration response of the dam (Figure 10). It shows 
a fundamental frequency f1=0.38 Hz which is close to dominant frequency of seismic loading 
(f=0.51 Hz). 

 

 

(b) (a) 



Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11 7 

 

 

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Frequency (Hz)

0

100

200

300

400

500

S
p
e

c
tr

a
l 
v
e
lo

c
it
y

(b)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Time (s)

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

V
e
lo

c
it
y
 (

c
m

/s
)

(a)

       

Fig 8. Acceleration time history of rock station in the N-S direction recorded during 2003 main shock in 
Algeria and respective Fourier spectrum. 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Fig 9. Velocity time history of rock station in the N-S direction recorded during 2003 main shock in Algeria 
and respective Fourier spectrum.  

 

Fig 10. Response spectra of the free horizontal motion at the dam crest. 

4.2. Analysis of the seismically induced response in the Souk Tlata dam 

Dynamic loading is applied at the base of the foundation layer as an acceleration excitation. The 
procedure of free-field boundaries used in Plaxis-2D aims absorbing outward waves originating 
from the structure. The lateral boundaries of the main grid are coupled to the free field grid by 
viscous dashpots to simulate a quiet boundary. Amount of 2% of Rayleigh damping is considered 
to compensate the energy dissipation through the medium (Paolucci, 2002; Lokmer et al. 2002). 

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Time (s)

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

A
c
c
e

le
ra

ti
o

n
 (

m
/s

²)

(a)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (Hz)

0

40

80

120

160

200

A
m

p
li
tu

d
e

 F
o

u
ri

e
r 

S
p

e
c
tr

u
m

(b)



8 Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11  

 

 

Figure 11 shows the acceleration time history computed at crest in the upstream-downstream 
direction, and respective Fourier transform. At the base of the foundation, the aforementioned 
peak acceleration was -0.228g. The dam responded to the applied motion with amplification, 
and a peak acceleration of approximately -0.31 g is reached. The computed Fourier spectra 
indicates that the response of the dam at crest is observed during the first wavelet 
corresponding to a frequency content less than 5 Hz while the response of the dam to the second 
wavelet with the frequency content below 15 Hz is not significant. 

0 5 10 15 20

Time(s)

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

A
c
c
e
le

ra
ti
o
n
 (

m
/s

²)

       

      
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequencies(Hz)

0

50

100

150

F
o

u
ri

e
r 

A
m

p
li

tu
d

e
 S

p
e

c
tr

u
m

 

Fig 11. Acceleration time history of dam crest response in the upstream-downstream direction and respective 

Fourier spectrum. 

The general pattern of horizontal and vertical displacement, respectively, as a result of seismic 
loading is shown in Figure 12. It is evident that the predicted deformation involves settlement at 
the crest. At 10 s of shaking, a peak of vertical displacement of 22 cm is reached and slumping of 
upper part of the rip rap on the upstream side of the dam is observed. 

      

Fig 12. Vertical and horizontal displacement under seismic excitation at 10 s.  

Figure 13 summarizes the change of horizontal and vertical displacement at crest of the dam for 
20 s of shaking. As this figure illustrates, the maximum horizontal and vertical displacement 
occurs at approximately 10 s of dynamic excitation. The displacement is increasing almost 
linearly until 10 s and then remains relatively constant. The maximum magnitude of the 
horizontal movement is about 14 cm like shown in Figure 13(a) and as depicted in Figure 13(b) 
a maximum settlement of 22.18 cm is reached. 

 



Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11 9 

 

 

0 5 10 15 20

Time(s)

-0.16

-0.12

-0.08

-0.04

0

0.04
x
d
is

p
la

c
e
m

e
n
t 

(m
)

      
0 5 10 15 20

Time(s)

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

y
d
is

p
la

c
e
m

e
n
t 

(m
)

 

Fig 13. Horizontal and vertical displacement under seismic excitation at crest of the dam. 

Figure 14 shows the displacement pattern in the axis of the dam and in the transversal direction 
at the middle height of the dam at the maximum of seismic excitation. It can be observed that the 
displacement increases with the distance from the foundation to the crest of the dam. It displays 
significant increase in the upper one-third of the dam, like shown in Figure 14(a). Okamoto 
(1973) points out that all observations indicate that the top part of the dam vibrates more 
severely as compared to the bottom part, and moreover the ration is fairly high, it reasonable to 
consider the design seismic coefficient at a high value for the top of the dam in the case of a high 
dam. On the other hand, the variation of the lateral displacement in the transversal direction at 
the middle height of the dam, shown in Figure 14(b), indicates a uniform distribution of the 
displacement in the downstream side but we observe a significant increase of the displacement 
when approaching the lateral extremity near the upstream side of the dam. 

 

0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2

xdisplacement (m)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

h
/H

     
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

l/L

0

0.04

0.08

0.12

0.16

xd
is

p
la

ce
m

e
n
t 

(m
)

 

Fig 14. Displacement pattern at maximum of acceleration- (a) in the axis of the dam, (b) the transversal 
direction at the middle height of the dam. 

Figure 15 shows the location of the zones concerned by plastic deformation at the peak of the 
seismic excitation. It can be observed that plasticity is induced on the rip-rap on the upstream 
face of the dam and in the backfill layer in the downstream side of the dam. The whole others 
parts of the dam remain in the elastic domain. 

(a) (b) 

(a) (b) 



10 Louadj and  Smail, J. Build. Mater. Struct. (2022) 9: 1-11  

 

 

 

Fig. 15. Distribution of plasticity points in the dam under the dynamic excitationat 10 s. 

5. Conclusions 

This study presents a preliminary investigation of the behaviour of Souk Tlata earth dam under 
earthquake loading with a dominant frequency close to the fundamental frequency of the dam. 
The induced response was evaluated using the two-dimensional finite element program Plaxis 
and the Mohr Coulomb constitutive model. The main shock of May 21, 2003, Boumerdes 
earthquake in Algeria was selected for this study. The seismic behaviour corresponds to the 
response of the dam after water impoundment. The conducted static analysis to assess the 
stresses, prior to cyclic loading in the dam body, reveals significant instability of the upstream 
side of the dam under drawdown conditions with a safety factor lower than 1.2.  

Under the given excitation, nonlinear dynamic analyses show that the predicted deformation 
involves settlement of 22 cm at the crest and slumping of rip rap and alluviums on the upstream 
side of the dam. The mechanical role of the central core is not significant compared to the shell 
in the induced response of the dam. The variation of the displacement in the middle height 
shows a sharp increase at the upstream extremity, which could indicate the imminence of 
instability in this area. A design should take into account dominant frequency of the seismic 
excitation and the dam where the amplification is significant and particular consideration should 
be given to the crest and the upstream side. Advanced analyses must also be undertaken to 
predict alluviums liquefaction above the foundation of the dam as well as the extent and timing 
leading to significant permanent deformation. 

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