Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 20, 95--109 (1987)

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

9 by Springer-Verlag 1987

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

By

Dong Xuecheng
Yangtze Water Conservancy & Hydroelectric Power Research Institute Wuhan, China

Abstract
This paper summarizes the research work done for the study of the deformability of foundation rocks at the Gezhouba Hydraulic Engineering Project on the Yangtze River, China. A total of 109 in-situ deformation tests in 4 kinds of rock have been conducted, using various testing methods. The test results are analyzed to clarify factors influencing the values of modulus of deformation. The dependence of axial strain (or displacement) on the stress state has been investigated and the way of assigning deformability parameters for calculation is discussed. Finally, some suggestions for improving the rock deformability study of future major hydraulic engineering projects are made.

1. Introduction
The well-known Gezhouba Hydraulic Engineering Project is situated at the mouth of the famous Three-Gorges of the Yangtze River near the City of Yichang in Hubei Province, China. It consists of a 6-bay siltscouring sluice, three ship locks, two power plants housing 21 hydroelectric generating units with total capacity of 2,715 MW and spillway sluices with a maximum flood discharging capacity of 110,000 cu. m. per sec. The total length of the dam is about 2560 m with a height of 40 m (see Fig. 1). The construction of this project is divided into two stages. The first stage was completed in January 1981 and is operating successfully at present. The second one is now being executed. The foundation rocks are mainly sandstones, clayey siltstones and conglomerates with numerous argillaceous weak intercalations. Their mechanical properties are, in general, very weak. On account of this, a comprehensive rock mechanics testing program has been performed to provide a sound basis for stability analyses and design calculations of the

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Dong Xuecheng:

hydraulic structures. The study of the deformability of the foundations is a part of this program.

:k No. 3 ;k No. 2 ~er station of ,nnel No. 2 llway of nnel No. 2 ~uring sluices of nnel No. 3 vet station of in channel -k No. 1

Fig. 1. Plan view of Gezhouba Project

2. Geological Conditions
The Gezhouba dam is founded on the Yichang Syncline at the west margin of the depression area of Jiang-Han plain of the neocathaysian tectonic system. The foundation rocks are of the Lower Cretaceous system, i. e. red clastic rocks of river facies, mainly, conglomerate, siltstone, clayey siltstone and sandstone. The strata strikes are N 3 0 - - 6 0 E . They dip to the left bank at 4 to 8 degrees and are composed of (from the bottom to the top): Shimen formation K(1)-I, 100 m in thickness, the upper part of which, the calcareous conglomerate, 25 m in thickness with a wet compressive strength of about 40 MPa and a deformation modulus of more than 10 GPa, is directly beneath the dam. Wulong formation K(1)-2, the lower part of which, 300 m in thickness, is mainly composed of interbedded thin layers of clayey siltstone and sandstone with a wet compressive strength of about 20 and 10 MPa and a deformation modulus of about 2.6 GPa and 1.0 GPa, respectively. There are also several thin layers of siltstone in this rock formation. There are in the rock formation more than 80 soft intercalations, most of which are formed of claystones, others are clayey siltstone and siltstone. Their mechanical properties are, in general, very low. Under the action of

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

97

tectonic stresses most parts of these soft intercalations have undergone interstratified shear dislocations, forming shear fractured zones along them. A few of them are argillized with very low shear resistance. They were encountered after the construction work had already been started and presented serious instability problems. The geological cross-section of the dam site is shown in Fig. 2.

Z89 o

mgo
S00
I

80
60 ~0

~-z

~6M Aiorma/w~lcr /eve/

20
0 -20 -~0

\
~ -.~.

......or
~ ~ _ ~ s.'~-~"~"~.~ 309

zoo

~oo

soo

8o0

m~o

~zoo

~oo

16oo

moo

zooo

2zoo

z~oo

z~oo~

grswe/ s/V/ cleys//z ulo~/conglomerate ~ ~he nrglllo~ceous ~ IPllePoYlYtlbii

s/Ttsto/Tc conglomerate

fOPi77~tlbPl

Fig. 2. Geological cross-section of Gezhouba dam site

3. The In-Situ Deformability Tests The dam foundations comprise, as mentioned above, four kinds of rocks, namely, from the right bank to the left, conglomerate, siltstone, clayey siltstone and sandstone. Since the mineral composition of the strata and, consequently, their mechanical properties change gradually, transforming from one to another, each one of these four can further be divided into several varieties. To investigate their deformation characteristics, 109 in-situ deformation tests were conducted in 11test galleries, including plate bearing tests, flat jack-in-slot and compression tests (both uniaxial and triaxial). The techniques used are described in the following. 3.1 Plate Bearing Test with Rigid Steel Plates The load transmitting plate is a circular steel plate, 50.5 cm in diameter and at least 6 cm in thickness. Tests were carried out by a cyclic loading program. The maximum pressure on the rock surface of each loading cycle is larger than that of the previous one. In this way

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Dong Xuecheng:

the relationship between the residual (unrecoverable) d e f o r m a t i o n s and the m a x i m u m loading pressure o f each cycle can be investigated. Elastic ( d e f o r m a t i o n ) moduli are to be calculated using Boussinesq form u l a as follows:

E=
where E: W: /.t: p: d:

. (1-)pd
4 W

(1)

elastic ( d e f o r m a t i o n ) m o d u l i o f rock masses in G P a d e f o r m a t i o n o f rock masses in cm Poisson's ratio o f rock masses loading pressure on the rock surface in G P a d i a m e t e r o f load transmitting plate in cm

With this quite c o n v e n t i o n a l m e t h o d 25 tests were p e r f o r m e d in 9 test adits on all f o u r types o f rocks. The testing installation is s h o w n in Fig. 3.

1. Grout , 4 Steel plate Steel column ~i Pressure gauge Hydraulic jack 71 High pressure pipe 89 Frame for fixing dial gauge I Steel beam I i Steel plate 11. Loading plate 12. Measuring mark Dial gauge Rollers Concrete Platen

77

IZ

73

7~ 15

Fig. 3. Plate bearing test

3.2 Plate Bearing Test with Rectangular Flat Jacks

In order to create a u n i f o r m pressure distribution on the tested rock surface, two 100 cm by 40 cm flat jacks were used as the loading equipment. The a r r a n g e m e n t o f this m e t h o d is shown in Fig. 4.

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Steel column Steel plate Steel platen Active flat jack Grout Pressure gauge Passive flat jack

99

G":I~ ?.' :2: :i).~ c.2 '::?:"777.:.~_ s c : : : . . . . ' : . : D t-~ C . : : " : ? : : : : ~ s { <) ff'2///)')2~222.22222A~.<.) ~-~/~.~///2/;'YA ( <,)I"T{ : ~'r'r ,
u~----

--|

I Ql!
. . . . .

|
=gzO0

-I

Fig. 4. Plate bearing test with flat jacks

The loading program is the same as that in 3.1. An analytical solution has been deduced to estimate the rock deformation modulus (see Eq. 2). Four tests on conglomerate have been done with this method.

(2)

where b, a: length and width of the flat jacks E, #, p and W: see Eq. (1)

3.3 The H a t Jack-In-Slot Method A slot 55 cm in length and depth, and 5 cm in width, is cut into the rock wall and the flat jack is grouted into the slot to apply pressure on the rock mass. The displacement of some reference points related to each other is measured (see Fig. 5).

100 4~ 5

Dong Xuecheng: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Flat jack Rock mass High pressure pipe Steel beam Dial gauge Frame for fixing dial gauge Measuring mark Grout Pressure gauge Dial gauge Pump

8
2"._'- . . . . . .
.....

:..
9

" n - - " ~ ).:

:/

Fig. 5. Flat jack-in-slot test

24 tests have b e e n c o m p l e t e d with this m e t h o d . The d e f o r m a t i o n m o d u l i were calculated b y the following e q u a t i o n for plane strain conditions:

E= WA"
where WA: C0: A0:

.co[ (

A0-

A0 ]

(3)

absolute d i s p l a c e m e n t o f rock mass in cm half o f the length o f the slot in cm A0 =

E, P: see Eq. (1)

I/q:

+ Co 2

3.4 L a r g e S c a l e T r i a x i a l C o m p r e s s i o n T e s t

Large scale rock samples s h a p e d into square prisms were p r e p a r e d f r o m the b o t t o m o f the test galleries by hand. T h e y were then m o v e d and put on a special test stand set u p in the same gallery. Axial and confining pressures were a p p l i e d with flat jacks. Dial gauges were installed on all four sides to m e a s u r e the d e f o r m a t i o n s o f the sample in three directions. Ultrasonic transducers have b e e n attached to the sample surfaces. Thus correlation b e t w e e n the ultrasonic wave velocities a n d rock m e c h a n i c a l p a r a m e t e r s could be o b t a i n e d (Fig. 6).

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

101

2. 3. 4. 5.
6.

7.
8.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Concrete platten Steel plate Active flat jack Passive flat jack Steel column Steel frame for loading Dial gauge (vertical) Dial gauge (lateral) Reference system for measuring displacements Sample Measuring mark Jack Concrete column

Fig. 6. Test set-up for larger scale triaxial test

56 tests divided into 9 groups, were conducted in six test adits with block sizes up to 1.5 m in height and 1.0 m in section under the confining pressures ranging from 0 to 3.33 MPa. These tests, being a compound method for estimating not only the deformability characteristics but also the strength of rock, though very elaborate, time consuming and expensive, gave valuable data for analysing the deformation and failure mechanism of rock masses. In order to calculate the deformation moduli from the data obtained in the above described tests, total deformations reached at the maximum cyclic testing stresses were considered in the corresponding formulas. The maximum testing stresses have been chosen according to the design stresses in the dam foundation. Table 1 summarizes the obtained deformation moduli for all main rock types in the dam foundation.
Table 1. Deformation Moduli for Main Rock Types Rock type Number of test Moduli of deformation (GPa) Range Mean 47.76--51.48 3.27 6.86--10.33 19.61--24.52 2.60--3.32 0.39--1.50 0.43--1.82 0.26--2.59 49.62 -10.15 20.06 2.80 0.85 0.90 1.09 Coeff. of variation 0.038 -0.243 0.111 0.108 0.379 0.415 0.734

1 Calcareous conglomerate 2 Clayey conglomerate 3 Clayey calcareous conglomerate 4 Hard calcareous sandstone 5 Sandstone 6 Loosened sandstone 7 Siltstone 8 Clayey siltstone

2 1 5 2 4 11 29 16

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Dong Xuecheng:
4. Factors Influencing the Moduli of Deformation

A general view of the data obtained reveals a large discrepancy. The differences between the deformation moduli for the same type of rock reached a factor of 10. A further analysis reveals that many factors influence the values of moduli. They are caused by the differences between the tested rock masses, both in geological texture and in testing techniques.

4.1 Texture
Although the rock masses of many test specimens have been given the same name, they are actually different from each other both in mineral composition and in structure. The conglomerates, for example, can be divided according to their cement content, into calcareous conglomerate, clayey calcareous conglomerate, calcareous clayey conglomerate and clayey conglomerate. Their average moduli of deformation are 1.96 GPa, 10.6 GPa, 10.2 GPa and 3.3 GPa respectively, notably decreasing with the increase of the clayey component in the cement. Test samples of the same rock type from different rock formations also differ from each other. The clayey calcareous conglomerate from K(1)2-1-1 formation with thin siltstone intercalations has a higher deformability (average modulus E=8.7 GPa) than that from the K(1)I formation (average modulus E=14.3 GPa). The average modulus of deformation of siltstone from K(1)2-1-2 formation with fine-grained siltstone cumulaspharalithes is 0.66 GPa, much lower than that of siltstone from K(1)2-3-1 formation (1.03 GPa). As for the clayey siltstone tests, in K(1)2-3-6 formation, they give an average deformation modulus of 1.59 GPa, which is much higher than that given by the tests in K(1)2-3-1 formation (0.93 GPa). The existence of fissures in or near the tested rock mass also greatly influences the test results. The tests on clayey siltstone with several fissures and an argillaceous intercalation in gallery No. 8, for example, give moduli of deformation as low as 0.26 to 0.32 GPa, while the moduli obtained for the same type of rock without pronounced fissures in the same gallery are 1.24 to 2.59 GPa.

4.2 Testing Techniques

Since all the testing methods used are based on the supposition that the rocks consist of a linear elastic medium, but actually they are highly complex geological materials and far from elastic; it is natural that tests for the same type of rock, using different methods do not give the same results. From a single glance at the test data, it is clear that moduli obtained by uniaxial compression tests are much lower (more than two times) than those by other methods. Table 2 gives the comparison between the average deformation moduli by uniaxial compression tests and by other methods for the same rock types.

Deformability Study of G e z h o u b a D a m F o u n d a t i o n Rocks Table 2. Comparison of Deformation Modu6 Formation K(1) 2-3-1 K (1) 2-3-1 K (1) 2-3-6 K (1) 2-4 Rock type Siltstone Clayey siltstone Clayey siltstone Loosened sandstone Deformation moduli (in GPa) Uniaxial test Other (R) methods (0) 0.59 0.42 0.59 0.40 1.18 1.07 1.93 0.96

103

Ratio 0/R 2.0 2.6 3.3 2.4

Evidently, the releasing of confining pressure and the loosening of the rock mass caused by the preparation of the uniaxial compression test samples have damaged the rock sample and increased their deformability considerably. As for the plate bearing tests and the flat jack tests, the data show no consistent differences between them. For three rock types the average moduli by the former method are less than those by the latter one, but for the other two types the plate bearing test method gives larger average moduli. Perhaps there are some other factors that have pronounced influences and compensate the regular difference between these two testing methods. However, the flat jack method gives greater scatter of the deformation moduli than the plate bearing test method. The coefficients of variation of the moduli obtained by the former method for four rock types are all greater than by the latter one respectively. This might have been caused by the following fact. In the plate bearing tests the displacements of the loading plate are measured, which represent the average deformability of the whole rock mass beneath the plate, while in the flat jack tests what has been measured is the displacement between certain reference points on the rock surface, which give only the deformability of the rock between and near them. Consequently, the flat jack method is more sensitive to the existence of fissures in the rock.

5. Deformability and Stress State of the Rock Mass Unlike many of the materials used in construction which can roughly be dealt with as an elastic medium, and their deformability can be described by elastic constants, the so-called deformation modulus of rock varies with the stress state under which the rock mass is tested. H a b i b (1979) has indicated that, since the stress normal to the rock wall of an underground opening is released, in stress analyses lower deformation moduli should be used in this direction. On the contrary, the tangential stress component in the tunnel wall increases in comparison with the initial stress as the result of stress concentration, so higher values should be given to the deformation moduli in the direction along the walls of the tunnel. In this respect some analyses were conducted with the Gezhouba deformation test results.

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5.1 Deformation M o d u l u s a n d the Applied L o a d

It is well known that the deformation moduli of rocks are different at different levels of test load. Almost all the load-displacement curves in the Gezhouba tests or their envelopes in the case of cyclic loading are convex upward, except some of those of the uniaxial tests. Thus, if the deformation modulus is defined as calculated from the total displacement (or deformation), including the recoverable and irrecoverable parts, it decreases with increasing loading pressure (see Table 3).
Table 3. The Variation o f Modulus with Loading Pressure Loading pressure Modulus MPa GPa 0.42 1.82 0.63 1.40 0.83 1.05 1.04 0.86 1.67 0.82

In order to study the mechanism of rock deformation more closely, the cyclic loading curves of load versus displacement have been analyzed (Fig. 7).

9ff

1~o0

Z85

38~7

4~76" 577 6/:8/)7 70 -//

666"

751

6'57

9d-Z

Fig. 7. Cyclic loading curve for test point Evl0-1

It has been found that, as a rule, for all the tests conducted both the elastic or recoverable and the residual or irrecoverable deformation (displacement) after each loading cycle increases with increase of the maximum loading pressure of this cycle, and for siltstone these two are related to each other by a cubical function very well (Fig. 8). It follows that the deformations caused by compacting microfissures and pores in the rock mass increase regularly with the increase of the maximum loading pressure for each cycle. Thus, the displacement and loading pressure relation takes the functional form
D = al" P + az" p2 + a3. p3

(4)

where D is the total displacement, P is the load per unit area of loading plate and aa, a2, a3 are constants. The deformation modulus, proportional to

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

105

295

i
~ 796 .~ ~ g8 q,o
I I i

L,G"4

73

lg

26" 32

alrcss P (kg/cm ~)
Fig. 8. Residual displacement Dr versus loading pressure P for test point EvlO-1

the value of P/D, decreases with increasing loading pressure P within the tested load range. Furthermore, the ratio of Dr to the total displacement D is also related in some way to the maximum cyclic load P. Fig. 9 is a Dr/D-P curve for test point Evl0-1 which is typical of the Gezhouba deformation tests, especially in the siltstone.
'|

68 Od"

l l l l I

O.2

~7
, _ _ ,

lJig

25

d2

slress P / & / c m s}
Fig. 9. Ratio D r / D versus loading pressure P

Judging by these curves we may conjecture that the Dr/D-P curves would have the form of a hyperbola that intercepts the ordinate Dr/D at point 1.0. That means that during the first stages of test loading the main part of displacement is caused by compacting the microfissures and pores in the rock mass. These are, mainly, irrecoverable. But in the process of load increase the recoverable or elastic deformation shows its influence

106

Dong Xuecheng:

and the D r / D ratio decreases gradually towards a limit of about 0.1 to 0.3 within a certain load range, in which the rock deforms without failure initiation.

5.2 The Influence of the Confining Stresses on the Deformability

It can be observed in nearly all the triaxial compression tests that the envelopes of their cyclic loading curves are convex upwards. Moreover, the envelope curve of the test with lower confining pressure is always nearer to the abscissa than those with higher confining pressure in the same group of test samples, so that the moduli of deformation calculated from the former curves are higher than those from the latter ones for the same axial stress. Some of them differ from each other b y more than two times. A typical example is the test group R 103 for siltstone (Fig. 10).

7//#

////7

48 Z#

#8

88

/X7 767 ~tpalPX70 -~

ZOZ

Fig. 10. Envelope curves and their regression curves for triaxial compression tests R103

Similar results have been obtained by H u s t r u 1i d (1979) on Kayenta sandstone, in which the modulus of elasticity increased from 1.82 GPa to 7.40 GPa, while the confining stress increased from 0 to 10.1 MPa. In order to estimate the relationship between the confining stress and the axial strain of the test sample, a regression analysis of these envelope curves has been conducted with a parabolic function of the form a e l = ~ + 2 c-o1 (5)

where o-1 (in MPa) and el (in 10 -4) are the axial stress and strain respectively, and the coefficients a and c are constants. The results are shown in Fig. 10. There is obtained for every confining stress a pair of coefficients a and c. Evidently, there exists a linear relationship between the coefficients a, r and the confining pressure.

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

107

By using the least square method, linear regression functions of a and c have been obtained (Fig. 11, 12).
o~ TS~Z 13ZC 1L9,7 8Z.5 3-5 ZZ5
J I I I I

/
3 0 7

/
~

c 34.1
/ / /

28.4z ZZ.Z 77 I13 5.6"

,...,f.,

.4

ZO lzt [A'g/cm2)

18

~3 'r

10

Z4

T8

Fig. 11. Coefficient "a"versus confining stress relation

Fig. 12. Coefficient "'c"versus confining stress relation

Finally, a function of stress components o-1 and 03 for the axial strain el can be deduced. o-12-t-(4.31 + 1.59 0-3)90-1
$1 - -

0.5 + 0.71 o-3

20 - 4

(6)

where 0-a and 0-3 are in MPa. This formula, though applicable only for the Gezhouba siltstone in the tested stress range, shows that the axial strain of rock under triaxial compression is a function of both axial and lateral stresses.

6. Application of the Test Results in Design and Construction Works Though a large number of in-situ tests, using various techniques have been conducted besides the laboratory deformability tests on small rock samples, there are still in practice inevitable difficulties in determining the deformability parameters for the stress and stability analysis of the rock foundation for the numerous parts of Gezhouba hydraulic engineering structures. They come, firstly, from the fact that the dam foundation occupies a very large area up to a few square kilometers, including 14 strata and several dozens of sublayers. Therefore, the number of tests that fall into each stratum are comparatively small. Besides, the mineral composition, the texture of the rock mass, especially the distribution of discontinuities in it, and therefore, its mechanical properties vary considerably from layer to layer, and from one adit to another, in wide ranges. In

108

Dong Xuecheng:

such circumstances the designer is often puzzled how to choose a deformability parameter properly for FEM analyses and other calculations. In hydroelectric engineering practice in China, the structural designer usually solves this problem by consulting with the geologists and the rock mechanics engineers to estimate the influences on the test values of deformation moduli by the variation of geological conditions, i. e. of the lithological characters and texture, by the technique used in the tests, the representativeness of the rock mass under test. Taking into consideration the actual conditions of the rock mass in the foundation of the structure they are dealing with, the designers finally assign a proper value of deformation modulus to each type of rock in the simplified geomechanical model of the foundation. This was done for the Gezhouba Project. However, this is only a subjective judgement of the matter. Whether it will conform to reality strongly depends upon experience, intuition and many other uncertain factors. At the Gezhouba construction site, data of the foundation settlement showed large discrepancy between the values calculated with the assigned deformation moduli and those measured by instrumentation. For example, the vertical settlements measured at the wall top of ship lock No. 2 ranged from 9.25--11.50 mm while those obtained in FEM analyses reached 29.9 mm i. e. in 2 to 3 times larger. One of the reasons leading to this inconsistency is the use of an oversimplified geological model for the foundation rock of the ship lock in FEM analyses, regarding it as a homogeneous isotropic medium, while in reality it consists of several different rock layers. The differences in their deformation moduli reached several times. In addition to this, the initial stress of the rock mass being tested, the results of which have been taken into consideration of assigning design deformability parameter, has been relieved during the process of sampling, while the rock mass in the ship-lock foundation is being deformed under triaxial stress state (i. e. in confinement).

7. Conclusion

Besides the satisfaction of the requirements for the design and construction works, valuable experience has been obtained through the comprehensive program for the study of the deformability of the Gezhouba dam foundation rocks, from which some conclusions may be drawn for the study of large hydroelectric engineering projects from now on. (1) Though large volumes of rock up to more than I m 3, a few of them even larger, were tested, they were still very small in comparison with the rock mass composing the dam foundation. We have little confidence that the deformability of the foundation rock mass is the same as that of the test samples. A combination of static and dynamic testing methods, including petit seismic and sonic wave methods, capable of involving huge volumes of rock ought to be used. Correlations between these two kinds of testing methods should be established.

Deformability Study of Gezhouba Dam Foundation Rocks

109

(2) Owing to the differences in the stress state between the tested rock and the rock mass at great depth below the dam foundation and to the loosening effect due to stress relief, it is difficult to judge whether the deep rock below the foundation will be deformed in the same manner as the tested rock in a near surface adit. Other means and techniques of deformability test, such as the borehole test devices, should be developed and used in future projects. (3) The deformation of discontinuities in rock masses such as week intercalations in sendimentary rocks, faults and fractured zones, due to their particularly having a higher deformability than the compact rock itself, often forms a significant part of the total deformation (or subsidence) of the dam foundation. But, unfortunately, there is still a lack of proper technique for the deformability test of discontinuities. Consequently, we often have to assign the deformation modulus to them relying only on experience and intuition. Greater attention should be paid to this matter. (4) It is urgently neccessary to find a new way of assigning values of deformation characteristics, taking into consideration all the factors influencing the values of deformation moduli and uncertainties of the geological data in order that they may better describe the actual deformability of the foundation rock mass. Efforts in this respect are much more important than those aimed to improve the testing techniques. Perhaps the statistical method and the probabilistic approach should be used. References H a b i b , P. (1979): M6canique des Roches et Tunnels Autoroutiers. Comit6 Frangais de M6canique Roches. H u s t r u l i d , W. (1979): An Analysis of Several Borehole Techniques for Determining Stress and Modulus. Proceedings of the 4th International Congress ISRM. Vol. I, p. 249--258.