| Over the past few decades, researchers in the field of civil engineering have studied the effects of dynamic and seismic excitations on hydraulic structures such as dams, spillways, water gates and canal locks. While many researchers have contributed to advancements in the analysis of fluid-structure interaction problems in civil engineering, most of these works are focused mainly on gravity and arch dams vibrating in contact with a reservoir. Research focusing on structures such as gated spillways has been limited in the literature. The complexity of composite structures such as gated spillways is such that they must, in most cases, be modelled in three dimensions. The development of such models can however prove to be prohibitively complex and costly, forcing practising engineers to use simplified methods of analysis making a series of assumptions, the validity of which has not yet been established in the literature for the special case of gated spillways.;This work first presents a new simplified analytical method in three dimensions taking into account the 3D effects of fluid structure-interaction. The method is validated against the coupled finite elements method and is then used to conduct a parametric study of 3D fluid structure interaction-effects in simple wall-reservoir systems.;The second portion of this work focuses on the characterisation of the 3D dynamic and seismic response of gated spillways. We study the effects of gate flexibility, structure-reservoir system lateral extent and water compressibility on the response of these structures in the frequency and time domains. A series of finite elements models of gated spillways of varying widths are developed where the reservoir is modelled (i) using potential-based fluid finite elements and (ii) using the Westergaard added mass method (1933). We first study the vibrational characteristics of the spillways without the reservoir in order to evaluate the impact of their various components on the overall dynamic response. The reservoir is then added and the responses of the newly formed systems are evaluated in the frequency and time domains. We conclude by presenting a series of recommendations for the 3D dynamic and seismic analysis of gated spillways. |
