Research on an abnormality diagnosis method of the structural behavior of spatial crack systems in concrete dams

Abstract Cracks are nonlinear systems existing in 3D space. Traditional diagnosis methods Wu (2003) [1] of crack structural behavior abnormalities are often directed at one point of concrete dam cracks. Thus, such methods lack scientific and reasonable criteria for crack spatial structural behavior abnormalities and exhibit certain limitations when diagnosing the health state of cracks. In 3D space, crack structural behavior has regional dissimilarity. The current research studied the partitioning methods of spatial crack systems based on the Ward spatial clustering [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] . Thereafter, the current study analyzed the causes of crack abnormality from the energy angle, and determined that spatial cracks experienced abnormality because the spatial crack system exhibited irreversible energy exchange with the surroundings. By combining entropy, synergetics, and other theories, the expression of the abnormality energy of the spatial crack systems is built and the energy method criterion of the dam crack spatial structural behavior abnormality is proposed. Instance analysis indicated that results conformed to the physical truth and that the proposed method could accurately diagnose the health status of the spatial crack system.