An Effect of Uplift Pressure Applied to Concrete Gravity Dam on the Stress Intensity Factor

The modeling of uplift pressure within dam, on the foundation on which it was constructed, and on the interface between the dam and foundation is a critical aspect in the analysis of concrete gravity dams, i.e. crack stability in concrete dam can correctly be predicted when uplift pressures are accurately modelled. Current models consider a uniform uplift distribution, but recent experimental results show that it varies along the crack faces and the procedures for modeling uplift pressures are well established for the traditional hand-calculation methods, but this is not the case for finite element (FE) analysis. In large structures, such as dams, because of smaller size of the fracture process zone with respect to the structure size, limited errors should occur under the assumptions of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). In this paper, the fracture behaviour of concrete gravity dams mainly subjected to uplift Pressure at the crack face was studied. Triangular type, trapezoidal type and parabolic type distribution of the uplift pressure including uniform type were considered in case of evaluating stress intensity factor by surface integral method. The effects of body forces, overtopping pressures are also considered and a parametric study of gravity dams under the assumption of LEFM is performed.