Response of concrete Arch Dam due to Temperature Variation
Published on 15 Apr 2022. Written by Aditya Agarwal
Most of the dams existing today were constructed around 40-50 years ago and determining the level of safety for existing dams is a difficult task as knowledge, in terms of old drawings and materials as well as the level of degradation, can be insufficient.
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There is need of new techniques and tools for monitoring in order to evaluate the stability and level of safety of existing dams. Condition monitoring is an important part of the dam safety work and can provide early warnings of dam failure or incidents. Condition monitoring includes surveillance, measurements, inspections and evaluation of data.
The recent development in numerical analysis techniques, and finite element analysis, provides the advantage to integrate numerical models with the condition monitoring program. New measurements can be compared to model predictions to determine whether they indicate a change of behaviour or if they correspond to the dam’s natural variations. In simple words, a finite element model offers the opportunity to separate natural variations from actual events and thus facilitate the risk assessment.
Project Description:
The main aim of the project would be to develop a finite element model of a concrete arch dam and calibrate the model with respect to data of temperature and deformation as provided by the dam owner. Concrete in the dam is assumed as un-cracked because the analysis is limited to the linear-elastic range. Rock foundation is considered as one solid mass and shear zones, crush zones and fracture are neglected.
Project Implementation:
Collect the Rock mass Properties - thermal expansion & modulus of elasticity
Properties of the concrete arch- Modulus of elasticity, hydrostatic pressure, creep etc.
Material Properties – Conductivity, Specific Heat & Density.
Dam Measurement-Slab properties & Mesh properties.
Temperature Measurement with PT100 sensor- You can use other sensors also as per the availability.
Water level measurements- Deformation measurements- Hanging pendulum is used to measure the crest displacements.
Finite Element Model – Numerical FE model is defined with Abaqus/CAE and both heat transfer and mechanical analysis are performed in Abacus. Mechanical analysis includes the boundary conditions like the interaction between the outermost monoliths and the abutment. Loads are applied with Abaqus ramp-function, meaning that the loads were increased linearly and divided into several increments and seasonal variations are considered.
Kit required to develop Response of concrete Arch Dam due to Temperature Variation:
