Question

The small openings made in the huge body of a concrete gravity dam such as sluices and inspection galleries can be assumed to be causing only local effects without any appreciable effect on the distribution of stresses as per the principle of_____________________

(a) Laplace

(b) St. Venant

(c) Reynold

(d) St. Francis

I got this question in an international level competition.

The question is from Design of Gravity Dams topic in portion Gravity Dam Design and Construction of Irrigation Engineering

Answer 1

Correct choice is (b) St. Venant

Easy explanation: Small openings made in the dam only produce local effects as per St. Venant’s principle. They do not affect the general distribution of stresses. This is one of the most important assumptions made in the two-dimensional analysis of gravity dams.