Buckling Failure Mechanism of a Rock Dam Foundation Fractured by Gentle Through-Going and Steep Structural Discontinuities

Donghui Chen, Huie Chen, Wen Zhang, Chun Tan, Zhifa Ma, Jianye Chen and Bo Shan
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Donghui Chen: College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Huie Chen: College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Wen Zhang: College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Chun Tan: China Water Northeastern Investigation, Design & Research Co., Ltd., Changchun 130021, China
Zhifa Ma: China Water Northeastern Investigation, Design & Research Co., Ltd., Changchun 130021, China
Jianye Chen: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resources and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Bo Shan: Northeast Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd., Changchun 130021, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: The failure mechanism analysis of dam foundations is key for designing hydropower stations. This study analyses the rock masses in a sluice section, which is an important part of the main dam of the Datengxia Hydropower Station currently built in China. The stability of the sluice rock masses is predominantly affected by gentle through-going soft interlayers and steep structural fractures. Its foundation failure mechanism is investigated by means of a numerical method, i.e., Universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC) and the geomechanical model method. The modeling principle and process, and results for the rock dam foundation are introduced and generated by using the abovementioned two methods. The results indicate that the failure mechanism of the foundation rock masses, as characterized by gentle through-going and steep structural discontinuities, is not a conventional type of shear failure mechanism but a buckling one. This type of failure mechanism is verified by analyzing the deformation features resulting from the overloading of both methods and strength reduction of the numerical method.

Keywords: buckling failure mechanism; rock dam foundation; UDEC; geomechanical model method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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