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Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 39304

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Special Issue Editors

Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Interests: hydraulic structures; rockfill dams; dam safety; geotechnical engineering; seismic; reliability analysis; stochastic dynamic analysis; probability
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Guest Editor
Division of Water Conservation and Hydropower Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China
Interests: hydraulic structures; arch dams; dams and dikes; dam safety; numerical method; seismic analysis; reservoir reinforcement; nondestructive testing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Water Conserwancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: hydraulic structures; concrete dams; dams and dikes; dam safety; structural health monitoring; reliability analysis; risk analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: dam engineering; overburden foundation, dynamic response; damage of concrete diaphragm structure; liquefaction and stability analysis; numerical analysis method; refined analysis method
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Guest Editor
College of Water Conservancy Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: engineering safety and disaster prevention; coal-measure unconventional natural gas accumulation mechanism; coal-measure unconventional natural gas development geology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many dams and geotechnical engineering structures are built for hydraulic engineering purposes. Therefore, the safety of dams and geotechnical engineering structures is particularly important  when it comes to the normal engineering operation. This Special Issue focuses on the safety evaluation of dams and geotechnical engineering structures in the hydraulics and hydrodynamics field. We would like to invite you to submit your research paper to this Special Issue. Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following:

(1) Static and dynamic analysis;

(2) Reliability analysis;

(3) Risk analysis;

(4) Seismic analysis;

(5) Safety precautions;

(6) Safety monitoring;

(7) Safety operation;

(8) Safety evaluation methods.

All aspects related to the safety of dams and geotechnical engineering structures in the hydraulics and hydrodynamics field are included.

Dr. Rui Pang
Dr. Binghan Xue
Dr. Yantao Zhu
Dr. Xiang Yu
Dr. Xiaoying Lin
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • dam
  • geotechnical engineering
  • safety
  • hydraulics and hydrodynamics field
  • seismic
  • reliability analysis
  • numerical simulation

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3830 KiB  
Article
An Efficient Dynamic Coupling Calculation Method for Dam–Reservoir Systems Based on FEM-SBFEM
by He Xu, Jianjun Xu, Dongming Yan, Kai Chen and Degao Zou
Water 2023, 15(17), 3095; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15173095 - 29 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1166
Abstract
In the dynamic analysis of dam–reservoir interactions, the computational efficiency of coupling system is relatively low. When numerical methods such as the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) or the finite element method (FEM) are used to deal with hydrodynamic pressure, the additional [...] Read more.
In the dynamic analysis of dam–reservoir interactions, the computational efficiency of coupling system is relatively low. When numerical methods such as the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) or the finite element method (FEM) are used to deal with hydrodynamic pressure, the additional mass matrix for the hydrodynamic pressure of incompressible reservoir water obtained is the full matrix. In this study, an efficient three dimensional (3D) dynamic fluid–solid coupling analysis method for dam–reservoir systems based on the FEM-SBFEM is proposed and applied to the dynamic calculation and analysis of an arch dam under seismic conditions, which adopts the SBFEM to solve the hydrodynamic pressure of the reservoir and employs the FEM to discretize the dam. In the proposed method, the hydrodynamic pressure additional mass matrix is simplified according to the physical meaning and distribution characteristics of the additional matrix with only a reduction coefficient α (0 < α ≤ 1.0), which is simple and easy to implement. The suggested value of the reduction coefficient α for the added mass matrix of the hydrodynamic pressure is selected to be 0.6 so as to ensure that the error of the maximum value of the dynamic response of the dam is limited within 5%, which is acceptable, and the elapsed time of calculation can be reduced to one twentieth of the accurate solution, which is a great jump in calculation efficiency. The proposed method provides a practical and effective process for the analysis of dam–reservoir dynamic interaction systems with a large computational scale and a fine grid scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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11 pages, 3596 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Structure Stability of Underwater Shield Tunnel under Different Temperatures Based on Finite Element Method
by Lei Zhu, Qianwen Wu, Yuke Jiang, Zhenyu Li and Yuke Wang
Water 2023, 15(14), 2577; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15142577 - 14 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1304
Abstract
The structural stability of the underwater shield tunnel during operations is affected by temperature variations. The effect of different structure temperatures on the underwater shield tunnel during the operation period was studied. By numerical simulation, the variation in the underwater shield tunnel temperature [...] Read more.
The structural stability of the underwater shield tunnel during operations is affected by temperature variations. The effect of different structure temperatures on the underwater shield tunnel during the operation period was studied. By numerical simulation, the variation in the underwater shield tunnel temperature circle was analyzed. The variation patterns of the top arch, bottom arch, waist arch temperature, maximum principal stress, and settlement of the soil under different temperatures were obtained. The results showed that: (1) The early excavation time of the tunnel was short, and the temperature circle was small. The temperature circle expanded rapidly after 50 days of operating. The diffusion range increased from 1.5 m to 5.35 m: an increase of 256.7%. With the increase in time, the expansion rate of the temperature circle gradually slowed down. (2) The higher the temperature of the soil, the more complex the temperature transfer between the soil and the lining was while generating greater temperature stresses and reducing the safety of the tunnel. (3) When the tunnel was just excavated, the compression settlement of the top arch and the waist arch increased rapidly, reaching 5.43 mm and 0.24 mm, respectively. The bottom arch was squeezed by the soil on both sides, resulting in an uplift and rapid increase, reaching 4.94 mm. The settlement rate increased with the increase in the tunnel structure’s temperature. After the excavation, with the decrease in temperature, the strength of the soil and lining increased. The settlement of the top arch, bottom arch, and waist arch increased slowly with time, and the growth rate decreased gradually. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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18 pages, 5159 KiB  
Article
Geotechnical Assessment of Rock Slope Stability Using Kinematic and Limit Equilibrium Analysis for Safety Evaluation
by Aftab Ur Rahman, Guangcheng Zhang, Salman A. AlQahtani, Hammad Tariq Janjuhah, Irshad Hussain, Habib Ur Rehman and Liaqat Ali Shah
Water 2023, 15(10), 1924; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15101924 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 10101
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the leading causes of slope instability along a local highway in Anhui, People’s Republic of China. As part of the east expansion project, the mountain range will be excavated to create a two-way, nearly 30 [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study is to identify the leading causes of slope instability along a local highway in Anhui, People’s Republic of China. As part of the east expansion project, the mountain range will be excavated to create a two-way, nearly 30 m wide highway. The site’s topography consists of a hill with palm-shaped faces carved from limestone running along its sides. The geological characteristics and slope stability of the research area highlight the possibility of slope failure along both sides of the roadway. Slope stability analysis was performed in order to determine the failure mechanism and create a stable slope. Initial slope characterization and shear properties of the rock were determined by means of fieldwork and laboratory analysis. By causing wedging failure and toppling collapse, the bedding joints and discontinuity orientations increase instability, as determined by a kinematic analysis performed with DIP.6 software. The Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) of analysis is presented in the software Slide 6.020 to illustrate the instability of the slope. The unstable condition of the slopes was determined using empirical methods that were validated and enhanced by limit equilibrium analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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17 pages, 6634 KiB  
Article
Research on Improvement of Slope Protection Concrete Precast Block Joints Based on Physical Model Experiment
by Fang Chen, Songtao Hu, Qinghe Fang, Liehong Ju, Da Liu and Zhe Huang
Water 2023, 15(10), 1874; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15101874 - 15 May 2023
Viewed by 3158
Abstract
Precast concrete block slope protection is widely used due to its advantages of easy detection and laying, ease of organization, and the limited time required for construction. In order to prevent the soil or gravel bedding of precast concrete from being subjected to [...] Read more.
Precast concrete block slope protection is widely used due to its advantages of easy detection and laying, ease of organization, and the limited time required for construction. In order to prevent the soil or gravel bedding of precast concrete from being subjected to wind and wave pressures, the joints between precast concrete blocks are usually filled with mortar. However, the existing standards do not specify the width or material of the joints. Furthermore, excessively wide mortar joints or shrinkage of the mortar can result in loss, a hollowed-out cushion, and damage to the slope, thus compromising the quality of slope protection engineering. To establish standards for controlling the quality of slope protection seams, this paper designed and conducted a physical model test of precast concrete block revetment seams. By embedding pore water pressure sensors in the cushion layer, changes in the pore water pressure were observed under varying conditions, including different water pore pressure sensor locations, water levels in front of the embankment, and different joint widths. Based on the test results, design standards for joint widths and recommendations for the treatment of joint mortar materials were proposed. After adding different amounts of a calcium oxide–calcium sulfoaluminate composite expansion agent (HME) into a joint mortar material, the paper also carried out a shear test on the contact surface between the joint mortar and the slope protection concrete after adding varying amounts of a calcium oxide-calcium sulfoaluminate composite expansion agent (HME) to the joint mortar material. Following a microporous structure test, recommendations for joint mortar construction treatment were proposed. The results indicate that the pore water pressure of the precast concrete slope protection cushion is closely related to the position of the cushion, the water level in front of the embankment, and the width of the paving seam. When the masonry seam width increased from 0.5 mm to 1 mm and from 1 mm to 1.5 mm, the variation ranges of the pore water pressure were 40–80% and 6–20%, respectively, with the latter being significantly lower than the former. Therefore, in practical engineering, joint treatment should take into account the impact of the cushion position, the water level in front of the dike, and the joint mortar width. Mortar shedding within the range of wave climbing height should be addressed promptly, and joint width should be controlled to below 1 cm as much as possible to effectively prevent damage to the cushion surface. The addition of an expansion agent can improve the bond strength of the concrete and mortar to a certain extent. The study found that an 8% content of the expansion agent resulted in the best mortar bond strength and the densest microstructure. These research findings can serve as a basis for the development of quality control standards for precast concrete slope protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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20 pages, 10512 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Reliability Analysis of Layered Slope Considering Soil Spatial Variability Subjected to Mainshock–Aftershock Sequence
by Huaiming Zhou, Gan Wang, Xiang Yu and Rui Pang
Water 2023, 15(8), 1540; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15081540 - 14 Apr 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1788
Abstract
The slope instability brought on by earthquakes frequently results in significant property damage and casualties. At present, the research on displacement response of a slope under earthquake has mainly emphasized the action of the mainshock, without accounting for the impact of an aftershock, [...] Read more.
The slope instability brought on by earthquakes frequently results in significant property damage and casualties. At present, the research on displacement response of a slope under earthquake has mainly emphasized the action of the mainshock, without accounting for the impact of an aftershock, and the spatial variability of material parameters is often neglected. The spatial variability of parameters is fully accounted for in this paper, and dynamic reliability of permanent displacement (DP) of a slope produced by the mainshock–aftershock sequence (MAS) is studied. A slope reliability analysis method is proposed based on the Newmark displacement method and the generalized probability density evolution method (GPDEM) to quantify the effect of the spatial variability of materials parameters on dynamic reliability. Firstly, the parameter random field is generated based on the spectral representation method, and the randomly generated parameters are assigned to the finite element model (FEM). In addition, the random simulation method of MAS considering the correlation between aftershock and mainshock is adopted based on the Copula function to generate the MAS. Then, the DP of slopes caused by the MAS considering the spatial variability is calculated based on the Newmark method. The impacts of the coefficient of variation (COV) and aftershock on the DP of slope is analyzed by means of mean values. Finally, the effect of COV and aftershock on the reliability of DP is explained from a probabilistic point of view based on the GPDEM. The results revealed that with the increase in the COV, the mean of the DP of the slope shows a trend of increasing gradually. The DP of slope is more sensitive to the coefficient of variation of friction angle (COVF). The mean DP of the slope induced by the MAS is larger compared to the single mainshock, and the PGA has a significant impact on the DP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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17 pages, 10549 KiB  
Article
Focal Mechanisms and Stress Field Characteristics of Microearthquakes in Baihetan Reservoir in the Downstream Area of Jinsha River
by Wei Guo and Cuiping Zhao
Water 2023, 15(4), 709; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15040709 - 10 Feb 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2241
Abstract
The Baihetan Reservoir was impounded on 6 April 2021, after which the water level rose significantly. Notably, after one week of impoundment, microseismic activities were prominent around the reservoir area, which was highly associated with the water level change. From 6 April 2021 [...] Read more.
The Baihetan Reservoir was impounded on 6 April 2021, after which the water level rose significantly. Notably, after one week of impoundment, microseismic activities were prominent around the reservoir area, which was highly associated with the water level change. From 6 April 2021 to 31 December 2021, over 7000 microearthquakes were recorded by the seismic stations in the vicinity of the reservoir, including 12 ML > 3 events. The maximum was the 21 December 2021 ML3.9 earthquake in Qiluogou town, Sichuan. The post-impoundment seismic events were clustered in Hulukou town in the Qiaojia Basin, with an overall “Y-shaped” pattern. In this study, taking advantage of the high-frequency waveform matching approach, the pre- and post-impoundment focal mechanism solutions totaling 207 ML > 2 earthquakes are successfully obtained. The impoundment-induced stress change is analyzed, and the iterative joint inversion method is used to invert the stress field. Major results and conclusions include the following: (1) After impoundment, the number of normal fault earthquakes remarkably increased in the reservoir area; (2) Impoundment has led to a vertical compressive stress field and horizontal tensile stress field in the area where microearthquakes occurred. It is necessary to pay close attention to possible moderate-to-strong earthquakes in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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16 pages, 7039 KiB  
Article
Study on the Influence of Water Level on Earth Dam Reinforced by Cut-Off Wall: A Case Study in Wujing Reservoir
by Da Liu, Taiqing Lin, Jianglin Gao, Binghan Xue, Jianhua Yang, Congxin Chen, Weipeng Zhang and Wenbin Sun
Water 2023, 15(1), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15010140 - 30 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2915
Abstract
The construction of a cut-off wall is a common reinforcement method for earth rock dams. At present, compared with the in-depth study on homogeneous earth dams, more and more attention is being paid to the stability and deformation of earth dams strengthened by [...] Read more.
The construction of a cut-off wall is a common reinforcement method for earth rock dams. At present, compared with the in-depth study on homogeneous earth dams, more and more attention is being paid to the stability and deformation of earth dams strengthened by a concrete cut-off wall. In this study, aiming at the Wujing project of the earth dam strengthened by cut-off wall, the influence of the water level rise and fall on the stability of the dam slope, the deformation of the dam body, and the crack width on dam crest were analyzed by numerical calculation and in situ measurement. The analysis results show that when the reservoir encounters a sudden drawdown, the safety factor of the dam slope decreases sharply. The faster the sudden drawdown, the faster the safety factor decreases. When the reservoir water level rises, the dam’s horizontal displacement shifts to the upstream direction, and the change of horizontal displacement of the downstream slope is significantly larger than that at the measuring point of the upstream slope. The water level of the reservoir rises, and the surface of the dam body rises, and the fluctuation of settlement deformation shows that the upstream side is larger than the downstream side, especially during the period of abrupt change in the reservoir water level. The longitudinal cracks on the dam crest show a tendency of shrinkage when the reservoir water level rises, and opening decreases with the decrease of deformation gradient increment and increases with the increase of gradient increment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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14 pages, 1119 KiB  
Article
Risk Assessment of Dike Based on Risk Chain Model and Fuzzy Influence Diagram
by Xiaobing Wang, Xiaozhou Xia, Renjie Teng, Xin Gu and Qing Zhang
Water 2023, 15(1), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15010108 - 28 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1756
Abstract
For the risk assessment of flood defense, a comprehensive understanding of risk factors affecting dike failure is essential. Traditional risk assessment methods are mostly based on experts’ experience and focus on just one type of failure mode of flood defensive structures. The risk [...] Read more.
For the risk assessment of flood defense, a comprehensive understanding of risk factors affecting dike failure is essential. Traditional risk assessment methods are mostly based on experts’ experience and focus on just one type of failure mode of flood defensive structures. The risk resources, including the analytical factors and non-analytical factors, were summarized firstly according to the general experience of dikes. The uncertainty of the resources that affect dike safety can be quantified by membership degree. Hence, a fuzzy influence diagram based on fuzzy mathematics was proposed to assess the safety of the dikes. We evaluated the multi-failure modes at the same time by a fuzzy influence diagram. Taking a dike as an example, the expected value of the dike failure was 6.25%. Furthermore, the chance of damage to this dike was “very unlikely” according to the descriptive term of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The evaluation result was obtained as a probabilistic value, which enabled an intuitive perception of the safety of the dikes. Therefore, we provided some reasonable suggestions for project management and regular maintenance. Since the proposed method can account for uncertainties, it is well suited for the risk assessment of dikes with obvious uncertainties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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17 pages, 4696 KiB  
Article
Numerical Limit Analysis of the Stability of Reinforced Retaining Walls with the Strength Reduction Method
by Jinsheng Li, Xueqi Li, Mingyuan Jing and Rui Pang
Water 2022, 14(15), 2319; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152319 - 26 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2714
Abstract
The failure mechanism of MSE (mechanically stabilized earth) walls was studied via numerical analysis with the finite element strength reduction method, which was verified as an effective technique by simulating the experimental results reported in previous papers. The finite element program was applied [...] Read more.
The failure mechanism of MSE (mechanically stabilized earth) walls was studied via numerical analysis with the finite element strength reduction method, which was verified as an effective technique by simulating the experimental results reported in previous papers. The finite element program was applied to explore the effects of reinforcement, geometry, and seismic parameters on failure mechanism control at the design stage of MSE walls to avoid the unavoidable errors experienced in common numerical analysis caused by the assumptions of the failure mode and complex input parameters. The research parameters included the wall height, length, and spacing of the geogrid-reinforced retaining wall and seismic load. The results indicated that the wall height and reinforcement length play a major role in failure mode change. When the reinforcement length is less than 2 m, overturning failure could occur, which was unrelated to the other parameters in all cases studied in this paper. In this paper, the parametric study results were presented by evaluating the critical reinforcement length, generating the failure surface pattern, and summarizing design recommendation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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23 pages, 5014 KiB  
Article
Coordination Characteristics Analysis of Deformation between Polymer Anti-Seepage Wall and Earth Dam under Traffic Load
by Hongyuan Fang, Hong Zhang, Binghan Xue, Jianglin Gao, Yan Li, Xinlei Gao and Aiping Tian
Water 2022, 14(9), 1442; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14091442 - 30 Apr 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1940
Abstract
Polymer anti-seepage walls have been widely used in the anti-seepage reinforcement projects of earth dams. Dam crest is always supposed to meet the requirements of traffic load which has significant influence on the dam body and anti-seepage wall. In order to analyze the [...] Read more.
Polymer anti-seepage walls have been widely used in the anti-seepage reinforcement projects of earth dams. Dam crest is always supposed to meet the requirements of traffic load which has significant influence on the dam body and anti-seepage wall. In order to analyze the coordination characteristics of the deformation between polymer anti-seepage wall and dam under traffic loads, a 3D finite element model of an earth dam that considers the coupling effect of seepage field and stress field was established. Besides, the influence of load amplitude, vehicle speed and driving position on the stress and deformation characteristics of polymer anti-seepage wall and dam was analyzed, with the displacement difference between dam and wall, wall Mises stress and wall subsidence as indicators. The results show that, compared with vehicle speed, the load amplitude and vehicle speed of traffic load exerted a greater impact on the coordination characteristics of the deformation of the dam. The variation range of the displacement difference caused by axial load change reached 87.1%, while that resulted from driving position change reached 90.3%. That is, when the passing vehicle has a light axle load and passes quickly over the anti-seepage wall, it has less impact on the dam. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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21 pages, 17974 KiB  
Article
A Novel Calculation Method of Hydrodynamic Pressure Based on Polyhedron SBFEM and Its Application in Nonlinear Cross-Scale CFRD-Reservoir Systems
by Jianjun Xu, He Xu, Dongming Yan, Kai Chen and Degao Zou
Water 2022, 14(6), 867; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14060867 - 10 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2621
Abstract
Hydrodynamic pressure is an important factor that cannot be ignored in the seismic safety evaluation of dams. However, when the polyhedron-scaled boundary finite element method is used to simulate dams in a cross-scale dynamic analysis, polygonal surfaces often appear on the upstream face [...] Read more.
Hydrodynamic pressure is an important factor that cannot be ignored in the seismic safety evaluation of dams. However, when the polyhedron-scaled boundary finite element method is used to simulate dams in a cross-scale dynamic analysis, polygonal surfaces often appear on the upstream face of dams, which is difficult to deal with for conventional methods of hydrodynamic pressure. In this paper, a three-dimensional calculation method of hydrodynamic pressure based on the polyhedron-scaled boundary finite element method is proposed, in which polygon (triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, etc.) semi-infinite prismatic fluid elements are constructed using the mean-value shape function. The proposed method, with a high efficiency, overcomes the limitation of conventional methods in which only quadrangle or triangle boundary faces of elements are permitted. The accuracy of the proposed method is proved to be high when considering various factors. Furthermore, combined with the polyhedron-scaled boundary finite element method for a solid dam, the proposed method for reservoir water is used to develop a nonlinear dynamic coupling method for cross-scale concrete-faced rockfill dam-reservoir systems based on the polyhedron SBFEM. The results of the numerical analysis show that when the hydrodynamic pressure is not considered, the error of rockfill dynamic acceleration and displacement could reach 15.4% and 12.7%, respectively, and the error of dynamic face slabs’ stresses could be 24.9%, which is not conducive to a reasonable seismic safety evaluation of dams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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12 pages, 1821 KiB  
Article
Comparison of the Seismic Responses of an Arch Dam under Excitation from the Design Response Spectrum in the New and Old Chinese National Standards
by Binghan Xue, Jing Wang, Na Li, Chao Zhang and Jianguo Chen
Water 2022, 14(5), 832; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14050832 - 7 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2106
Abstract
The new Chinese national standard, Standard for the seismic design of hydraulic structures (GB51247-2018), has been published. Compared with the Specifications for the seismic design of hydraulic structures (SL203-1997), the standard design response spectrum curve was revised in the new national standard. In [...] Read more.
The new Chinese national standard, Standard for the seismic design of hydraulic structures (GB51247-2018), has been published. Compared with the Specifications for the seismic design of hydraulic structures (SL203-1997), the standard design response spectrum curve was revised in the new national standard. In order to compare the seismic responses of an arch dam under excitation from the design response spectrum in the new and old standards, the dynamic calculation of a 240 m high arch dam is carried out by a three-dimensional finite element method. In the dynamic calculation, the B-differentiable equation is used to simulate the tension motion of arch dam contraction joints, and the multi-transmitting boundary method and the Westergaard added mass method are used to simulate the dam–infinite foundation and dam–reservoir interactions, respectively. The results show that the dynamic stress responses of the arch dam under excitation from the design response spectrum in the new standard are increased compared with those of the old standard. The seismic safety of an arch dam may decrease under excitation from the design response spectrum in the new standard. Thus, the seismic validation on built arch dams should be carried out by using the new standard when it is possible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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17 pages, 10171 KiB  
Article
Behavior of Porewater Pressures in an Earth Dam by Principal Component Analysis
by Seong-Kyu Yun, Jiseong Kim, Eun-Sang Im and Gichun Kang
Water 2022, 14(4), 672; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040672 - 21 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2472
Abstract
This study deals with the utilization of the pore pressure meter for evaluating the stability of a dam through the correlation between the porewater pressure installed in the fill dam and the water level of the dam. To this end, principal components analysis [...] Read more.
This study deals with the utilization of the pore pressure meter for evaluating the stability of a dam through the correlation between the porewater pressure installed in the fill dam and the water level of the dam. To this end, principal components analysis was performed on a total of 18 porewater pressure meters, and the main components were classified into three groups: internal (Group A), external (Group B), and upper (Group C), on the basis of the seepage line formed within the dam body. The coefficient of correlation between the porewater pressure and water level was found to be 0.86 to 1.00, indicating a strong positive linear relationship. This means that the maintenance of the dam is possible through the pore pressure meter present in Group A. Furthermore, the regression analysis for porewater pressures and water levels resulted in a linear regression model with the coefficient of determination (R2) of Group A being between 0.74 and 0.99. In particular, R2 between the power water pressure installed at the base of the dam and the water level was more than 0.99. Therefore, it was shown that the prediction of the porewater pressure is possible by using the relationships with the water level, making it possible to determine the safety of the dam by comparing it with the currently measured values. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety Evaluation of Dam and Geotechnical Engineering)
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