Evaluation of dam performance under seismic loads at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam

DCR-CID (demand-capacity ratio and cumulative inelastic duration) is a systematic and rational application to estimate the behaviour of concrete structures under seismic loads, using time-history analysis. This approach, proposed by the US Army Corps of Engineers [20031], can be used to evaluate the safety of new or existing structures and to optimize the cost of the construction during the design phase. This paper describes how the method has been implemented, through the development of a dedicated calculation code, to analyse the behaviour under seismic loads of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD), on the Nile river.