WP2 / TG4

Analysis of Concrete Gravity Dam using the Finite Element

Program DIANA

Dr Terry Bennett
Cardiff University
+44-29-2087-6322
email: bennettt2@cf.ac.uk

1.0 Introduction
This document provides details of the analysis of a concrete gravity dam using the commercial
finite element program DIANA. The model of the concrete gravity dam chosen for analysis is
based upon Linsbauer and Bhattacharjee (1999), whose focus was upon the effect of uplift
pressures at the dam-foundation interface on the dam safety. Here similar geometry is employed,
but a perfect bond between the dam and foundation is initially assumed, followed by a frictional

80 m

10 m

10 m

interface between the dam and rock foundation.

Concrete

80 m

120 m

60 m

120 m

Rock

Fig 1. Dam and Foundation Dimensions

2.0 Finite Element Analysis

2.1 Assumptions
The dam is 80m in height with a base width of 60m. The dam is considered long enough to be
idealised as a plain strain problem.
2.2 Description of Finite Element Mesh
The mesh consists of 896 8-noded quadrilateral plain strain elements, with a total of 5702 degrees
of freedom. This increases with the introduction of 10 6-noded quadratic interface elements along
the dam-foundation interface to 5744 degrees of freedom (fig 2.).

Fig 2. Dam Benchmark Mesh

The model is fully fixed at the base and sides of the foundations (fig 3.).

Fig 3. Boundary Conditions

2.3 Material Properties
The continuum material properties used for the analyses are summarised below in Table 1:
Material Parameters
Youngs Modulus (N/m2)
Poissons Ratio
Mass Density (kg/m3)
Compressive Strength (N/m2)
Tensile Strength (N/m2)
Mode I Fracture Energy (N/m)
Tensile Softening Curve
Compression Curve
(Constant) Shear Retention

Concrete
24.0e9
0.15
2400
24.0e6
1.5e6
100
Hordijk
Thorenfeldt
0.01
Table 1. Material Parameters

Rock
41.0e9
0.1
2200
-

The foundation material is here treated as a simple linear elastic isotropic medium. Many choices
exist within DIANA as to how materials may be modelled using the total strain based crack
models. The basic parameters to be set are the isotropic, linear elastic constants, the uniaxial
compressive and tensile strengths and the Mode I fracture energy Gf1. The user subsequently has

the option to alter the nature of the nonlinear behaviour through the choice of the type of crack
model, tensile softening curve, compression curve and shear retention.
There exist in DIANA three different implementations of the total strain based crack models,
namely fixed crack, rotating crack and non-orthogonal crack models. In this investigation only the
first two have been employed.
The choices available for the tensile behaviour include linear elastic, ideal plastic, brittle, linear
softening, exponential softening, softening after Hordijk (1991), multilinear softening and by the
use of a user supplied subroutine.

The compression behaviour of a material may be modelled as linear elastic, ideal plastic,
compression softening after Thorenfeldt (1987), linear hardening, multilinear hardening, saturation
type hardening, parabolic softening and by the use of a user supplied subroutine.

The shear behaviour may be modelled using a constant shear retention factor, a multilinear diagram
between shear stresses and shear strains, a multilinear diagram between shear retention and shear
strains and also by the use of a user supplied subroutine.
The material properties for the soil-structure interface are given in tables 2 and 3, below:
Material Parameter
Coulomb Interface
Dummy elastic stiffness
20e12 N/m2
Cohesion
0.7e6 N/m2
Friction angle
30o
Dilatancy angle
10o
Table 2. Frictional Interface Properties
Material Parameter
Discrete Crack Interface
Tensile Strength
0.35e6N/m2
Tension Softening
Linear
Fracture Energy
50 M/m
Unloading
Secant
Shear Behaviour
Constant
Shear Modulus
8.33e9
Table 3. Discrete Crack Interface Properties

2.4 Boundary Conditions

In the interests of both computational efficiency and simplicity the foundation material is truncated
horizontally 120m from each of the dam faces and vertically at 80m depth below the base of the
dam. The degrees of freedom on the boundary are fully fixed.

A more realistic representation of the boundary conditions could be performed by utilising Infinite
Elements (or Boundary Elements coupled to the finite element mesh) to create a linear elastic halfspace. In DIANA Infinite Elements are in a pilot state of development and are not generally
available, however, consistent spring elements are available to model the stiffness of the far-field
founding material.
2.5 Description of Loads
Two load cases are applied to each model, firstly a self weight analysis is performed to determine
the insitu stress distribution in the dam and foundations, the displacements arising from the self
weight are reset to zero prior to applying a hydrostatic load to the dam structure. A number of
analyses are performed for each material model with the hydrostatic loading varied to show the
effects of increasing reservoir water level.
2.6 Material Models
A number of different crack models are available in DIANA, the dam analysis is repeated for each
of these models as well as with a frictional interface and a discrete crack interface between the dam
and foundation material. A brief description of each of these models, from de Witte and Kikstra
(2003), is given below:
2.6.1 Total Strain Based Fixed Crack Model
A constitutive model based upon total strain describes the stress as a function of the strain, i.e. the
stresses are evaluated in the directions which are given by the crack directions. In the fixed stressstrain concept, the stress-strain relationships are evaluated in a fixed coordinate system which is
fixed upon crack initiation. Beyond the strain at which cracking occurs, loading and unloading
takes place elastically according to the secant modulus.
2.6.2 Total Strain Based Rotating Crack Model

The rotating crack model uses the coaxial stress-strain concept, whereby the stress-strain
relationships are evaluated in the principal directions of the strain vector. Thus, the direction in
which the stresses are evaluated is able to rotate as an analysis progresses. The elastic secant
modulus is again used in loading and unloading in the softening region.
2.6.3 Frictional Interface
The soil-structure interface is modelled using interface elements (dual nodes). Relatively high
dummy elastic properties are defined to minimise deformation prior to the initiation of slipping
and/or gap opening behaviour. The interface between the concrete structure and the rock
foundations is modelled using a Coulomb friction law. The basic input parameters for this model
are the cohesion, the (tangent of the) friction angle and the (tangent of the) dilatancy angle.

In addition to the standard Coulomb model it is possible to introduce a gap criterion, whereby the
normal traction is set to zero if the tensile traction normal to the interface exceeds a certain critical
value. The shear behaviour of the interface after the appearance of a gap is controlled by a constant
shear retention. In this investigation this feature has not been utilised.
2.6.4 Discrete Crack Interface
A discrete crack interface is introduced between the dam structure and the founding rock material.
The primary input for the discrete crack model is the tensile strength of the interface and the form
of the tension softening criteria (either brittle, linear, Hordijk, see Cornielissen et al (1986), or
multi-linear). For the models other than brittle the fracture energy is required as input. The
unloading/reloading behaviour of the interface is here modelled using the secant stiffness, however,
it is also possible to use the linear elastic stiffness or include hysteresis using the function of
Hordijk, see Cornielissen et al (1986). The shear behaviour after cracking maybe controlled by
specifying either zero shear stiffness or a constant shear modulus. In this investigation a constant
shear modulus has been employed. Crack dilatancy may also be modelled in DIANA, but is not
investigated here.
2.7 Uplift Pressures
The potential for uplift pressures on the base of the dam has not been considered in these analyses.
The uplift pressures could be introduced by applying pressure profiles as used by Linsbauer (1999),
however, with the loading been dependant upon the extent of the opening at the dam-foundation
interface, this would involve some manual incrementation.

2.8 Solution Algorithm

A regular Newton-Raphson iteration scheme is adopted as the solution algorithm. Load steps sizes
are specified explicitly, generally at one tenth of the total load (decreasing near failure), however,
some fluctuation away from the desired step size occurs due to application of the arc length
method.

The arc length method is used to accommodate local sanp-through and snap-back behaviour. In an
ordinary iteration process the predictions for the displacement increments can become very large.
The Arc-length method constrains the norm of the incremental displacements to a prescribed value.
This is done by simultaneously adapting the size of the increment. Note that the size is adapted
within the iteration process and is not fixed at the moment the increment starts (de Witte and
Kikstra 2003).

A tolerance of 1e-6 on the force norm has been used as the convergence criteria for all of the
analyses performed.
2.7 Pre and Postprocessing
Pre and Postprocessing with DIANA takes place within the newly developed iDIANA. The
majority of the modelling (meshing, assigning material and geometric properties, applying
boundary conditions and external forces etc) and results processing is derived from the FEMGV
suite of tools which has been fully integrated into a single graphical user interface along with new
interactive analysis control and execution facilities.

This new fully integrated GUI is a recent development available with DIANA v8.0 (current v8.1),
and represents a significant step forward in terms of usability. However, for users already familiar
with the DIANA input file and command file syntax the use of DIANA from a command prompt is
still, and will remain, available to users. The production of input files and command files by the
GUI, even when DIANA is used in a fully interactive manner, is still very important for the
purposes of quality assessment in engineering practice.

3.0 Results
3.1 Deformed Mesh

Fig 2. Fixed Crack Deformed Mesh (90m Load)

Fig 3. Rotating Crack Deformed Mesh (90m Load)

Fig 4. Frictional Soil-Structure Interface Deformed Mesh (80m Load)

Fig 5. Discrete Crack Interface Deformed Mesh (80m Load)

3.2 Crest Displacement

In order to directly compare the effect of the different material models on the dam performance, the
displacement of the dam crest is chosen as a scalar indicator. The displacement of the dam crest
with increasing hydrostatic loading for each model is shown in fig. 6, below:

Dam Crest Displacement for Differing Load Levels

95

90

Water Level (m)

85

80
Total Strain Crack Models
Interface Models

75

70

65
7.00

9.00

11.00

13.00

15.00

17.00

19.00

Crest Displacement (mm)

3.3 Stress Distribution

The major and minor principal stress distributions are shown in figures 7 and 8 for the fixed crack
model subjected to 90m hydrostatic loading.

Fig 7. Fixed Crack Major Principal Stress (90m Load)

Fig 8. Fixed Crack Minor Principal Stress (90m Load)

Figures 9 and 10 show the distribution of the major and minor principal stresses for the rotating
crack model subjected to 90m hydrstatic loading.

Fig 9. Rotating Crack Major Principal Stress (90m Load)

Fig 10. Rotating Crack Minor Principal Stress (90m Load)

In this example the differences between the two total strain based crack models is not significant.
Figures 11 and 12 show the major and minor principal stress distributions for the model including a
frictional soil-structure interface

Fig 11. Coulomb Interface Major Principal Stress (80m Load)

Fig 12. Coulomb Interface Minor Principal Stress (80m Load)

Figures 13 and 14 show the major and minor principal stress distributions for the model including a
discrete crack soil-structure interface

Fig 13. Discrete Crack Interface Major Principal Stress (80m Load)

Fig 14. Discrete Crack Interface Minor Principal Stress (80m Load)
The stresses for the interface models are shown at a 80m hydrostatic load. Due to the differing
nature of the failure mode, when full bond between the structure and the founding rock material is
no longer assumed, the principal stress distributions are altered. In addition the ultimate load that
the structure can resist is much reduced, a 90m hydrostatic load was attempted, however, it was not
possible to obtain a solution.
3.4 Crack / Interface Gap Propagation
The crack / interface strains are shown here to indicate the failure modes of the dam with the
differing constitutive models employed. Each picture depicts the crack / interface strains for the
maximum hydrostatic load sustained.

Fig 15. Fixed Crack Crack Strains (90m Load)

Fig 16. Rotating Crack Crack Strains (90m Load)

Fig 17. Frictional Interface Interface Strains (80m Load)

Fig 18. Discrete Crack Interface Strains (80m Load)

4.0 Conclusions
This report demonstrates the capabilities of the commercial finite element code DIANA for the
analysis of concrete dams. A number of constitutive models available in DIANA suitable for the
analysis of concrete and soil-structure interface properties have been performed. A guide to other
useful features available has been given alongside the description of the models employed.

6.0 References
Linsbauer H.N. and Bhattacharjee S. Dam Safety Assessment due to Uplift Pressure Action in a
Dam-Foundation Interface Crack, in 5th Benchmark Workshop on Numerical Analysis of
Dams, June 2-5 Denver Colorado USA, (1999).

de Witte, F.C. and Kikstra, W-P, DIANA Finite Element Users Manual: Analysis Procedures
(release 8.1, 2nd Ed.), TNO DIANA b.v., (2003)

Hordijk, D. A. Local Approach to Fatigue of Concrete, PhD thesis, Delft University of

Technology, (1991)

Cornelissen, H. A. W., Hordijk, D. A., AND Reinhardt, H. W. Experimental determination of crack

softening characteristics of normalweight and lightweight concrete. Heron 31, 2 (1986).

Thorenfeldt, E., Tomaszewicz, A., and Jensen, J. J. Mechanical properties of high-strength

concrete and applications in design. In Proc. Symp. Utilization of High-Strength Concrete
(Stavanger, Norway) (1987)

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