A back-analysis of Beliche Dam

A back-propagation analysis, which incorporated an elastoplastic critical state model applied in terms of effective stress, was performed on the Beliche Dam to simulate the effect of collapse settlement thereby reproducing a maximum settlement which was close to that measured. Apart from the good agreement with the maximum recorded settlement, the measured settlements generally exceeded the calculated values. The computed stress distributions indicated a favorable load transfer from shell to core, confirming the safety of the dam against internal erosion due to hydraulic fracture.