Modeling Strategies for the Contact Between a Concrete Dam and Its Foundation

Abstract

When numerical modeling of a dam is undertaken, in addition to requiring an adequate characterization of the material that composes it, an important challenge must be faced, which is to characterize the foundation massif. The massif presents significant variability in the spatial distribution of its properties, of which only specific values are known from the surveys conducted at the time of construction. The geotechnical parameters, which are crucial for the stability verifications of dams throughout their useful life, depend on the type of modeling considered. This work presents the modeling of a buttress dam and its foundation, taking into account the variation of the geotechnical parameters by zones. Based on these equivalent resistant parameters, the rock massif was modeled as a continuous and isotropic medium. The discontinuities considered in the model are concentrated at the interface between the concrete of the buttresses and the massif. The actions used correspond to the extreme verification scenario, for which neither displacements nor failures occurred in the system, indicating a safety factor greater than or equal to one. By adjusting the model parameters and employing different strategies to represent the massif, the goal are to determine which combination could lead to a safety factor greater than or equal to one.