CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING RESEARCH LABORATORY EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT STUDIES OF A LARGE ARCH DAM By Ziyad H. Duron Report No. EERL 87-02 A Report on Research Supported by Grants from the National Science Foundation Pasadena, California 1987EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT STUDIES OF A LARGE ARCH DAM Thesis by Ziyad H. Duron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 1988 (Submitted September 11, 1987)ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my thesis advisor, John Hall, for his valued help and advice during the past four years. His dedication, leadership and sincerity will always be appreciated. I would also like to thank the many people who had a part in my work here and made my stay so enjoyable. In particular, I wish to thank Mike Dowling for his friendship and companionship. My thanks also go to SOPS and to the staff of Thomas Laboratory. Sharon Beckenbach, Crista Potter, and Cecilia Lin were simply outstanding in helping me ial thanks goes to Raul Relles, Garrett Jeong and Bill Donton for everything they did for me. to produce this thesis. A sp. T have truly been blessed to have parents such as mine, who have been so instrumental and involved in my life. No words can express my appreciation and no man could be more fortunate. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Suzanne, for without her, my success here would not have been possible. Her dedication and love for me can never be doubted and I hope that I will continue to be worthy of her love.