Predicting Seismic Slope Displacements of Embankment Dams Using Fuzzy Systems

Iran, as a leading country in the dam construction industry, is located in one of the earthquake-prone regions of the world. Dams are important sources of hydroelectric power. Failure of these structures causes catastrophic damage. Therefore, evaluating the behavior of dams under seismic loading is an important issue. The present study focuses on the prediction of the slope displacements of embankment dams under earthquake loading. Real deformation in embankment dams due to earthquakes were gathered and analyzed. The amount of seismic slope displacement of embankment dams was predicted using fuzzy systems. Contributions of the effective variables were evaluated through a parametric study. Ultimately, the performance of the developed model was compared with existing analytical methods. Results indicate the acceptable accuracy of the proposed fuzzy-based model in estimating the slope displacement of embankment dams. This can be considered as an effective step in reducing the uncertainty involved in the deformation analysis of embankment dams.