Safety, Reliability, Risk, Resilience and Sustainability of Structures and Infrastructure

12th Int. Conf. on Structural Safety and Reliability, Vienna, Austria, 6–10 August 2017
Christian Bucher, Bruce R. Ellingwood, Dan M. Frangopol (Editors)
IASSAR c
2017 TU-Verlag Vienna, ISBN 978-3-903024-28-1

Safety Assessment of High Roller Compacted Concrete

Arch Dam with Shaking Table Tests
Jing Zhoua, Tong Zhua, Kai Zhanga, Yu Zhanga and Xin Fenga
a
Institute of Earthquake Engineering, Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology.

Abstract: The presented article pertains to the safety assessment of high roller-
compacted concrete (RCC) arch dam under strong ground motion. This study in-
volved the shaking table tests to investigate the dynamic responses and failure
modes of high RCC arch dam. Elasticity-gravity similitude was used to design the
test model of the prototype 132-m-high Shapai RCC arch dam, ignoring the inte-
raction between the reservoir water and the dam foundation. The contraction and
induced joints were simulated in the model. The experimental results showed that
both ends of the dam arch as well as the crest near the crown were relatively sus-
ceptible to damage. The successive opening of the contraction and induced joints
respectively released the dam stress near the abutments and the crown, thereby
guiding the cracking direction and mitigating damage of the dam. The experimen-
tal results were also compared with actual observations of the earthquake hazard of
the Shapai RCC arch dam during the Wenchuan Earthquake. It was found that the
physical model was capable of simulating an earthquake-induced collapse of a
high concrete dam, and can thus be used to obtain useful information for safety
assessment and seismic design of RCC arch dams.

1 Introduction
The seismic safety assessment of concrete dams has received substantial attention ever since
the Wenchuan Earthquake (Ms8.0) occurred on May 12, 2008, in the Sichuan Province of
China, where there are also many high dams under construction or in operation. Their seismic
evaluation is therefore a challenge for engineering designers and researchers. Up to now, li-
near earthquake analysis, in conjunction with maximum principal stress criterion, is common-
ly used in the seismic design of dams. however, it is still rather impossible to predict the
cracking or failure patterns in dam structures, which is significant for dam safety evaluation.
The roller compacted concrete (RCC) dam is one of the most commonly used types of dams
in hydraulic engineering, which is typically constructed without interruption. Structure cracks
will be caused by temperature stress which is generated from hydration heat during construc-
tion. To prevent the formation of temperature cracks, structural joints such as contraction and
induced joints are often employed. It is therefore of great significance to investigate the ef-
fects of the structural joints on an earthquake induced collapse of a high RCC arch dam for
seismic evaluation.

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 In recent years, many scholars has focused on nonlinear constitutive models [1-3] or devel-
oped new nonlinear element [4-6] of the structure joints. Lin and Hu [7] presented a non-
smooth Newton algorithm for solving the nonlinear contact problem of structural joints for
seismic analysis of a concrete dam. Wang et al. [8] investigated the contraction joint effect by
considering the interactions among the dam-water-foundation. In particular, there are extreme
discrepancies between the estimated positions and directions of cracks in dams [9], so that
numerical results are still unable to precisely evaluate the seismic safety of real arch dam in
critical state.
Shaking table tests are often used to study the seismic potential and vulnerable zones and
earthquake responses of high concrete dams. Niwa and Clough [10,11] noted that the shaking
table test is a practical method for investigating nonlinear earthquake response and the failure
patterns of a concrete arch dam. Zhou et al. [12] proposed the use of the acceleration at the
time that the first tension crack appeared to quantitatively estimate the overload capacity of an
arch dam. Wang and Li [13] conducted model tests in which the damping boundary was used
to simulate the emission of dynamic energy by properly considering the dynamic interaction
between the dam and the foundation. Chen et al. [14] used gypsum as the model material to
discuss the failure patterns of the Shapai arch dam.
In order to evaluate the dam safety, this paper is to investigate the effects of structural
joints on the seismic collapse of high RCC dams. The Shapai high RCC arch dam, which
withstood the Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake, was selected as the prototype dam. The experi-
mental results showed that the seismic failure patterns of the model and compared with actual
observations of the earthquake hazard of the Shapai RCC arch dam during the Wenchuan
Earthquake. It was found that the physical model was capable of simulating an earthquake
induced collapse of a high concrete dam, and also can be used to obtain useful information for
safety assessment and seismic design of RCC arch dams.

2 General Description of The Test

2.1 Description of the model
The Shapai RCC arch dam (132m) is located in Sichuan Province. One contraction joint is
used at each end of the arch, and two induced joints are used near the arch crown. Figure 1
shows the upstream view of the model of the dam with the contraction and induced joints.
The model parameters were determined by on elasto-gravity similitude law. The similitude
scale factors will be given in Section 2.2. Considering the space limitations of the shaking
table, the physical model was designed using a geometric ratio of 1:112, which produced a
height of 1176 mm, crest length of 2215 mm, crest thickness of 85 mm, and bottom thickness
of 257 mm. The model system also included the mountains that form the abutments and a
partial foundation with a topographic feature near the dam. The system was fixed to the shak-
ing table through a 120-mm thick concrete plate. The authors [15,16] produced an appropriate
simulation material that satisfied the above requirements. The density of model material is
3150 kg/m3. The dynamic tension strength is 32.17 kPa while the dynamic compression one is
438.91 kPa.

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 Figure 1: Upstream view of the Shapai RCC arch dam model

2.2 Similitude Considerations and Structural Joints

2.2.1 Similitude Considerations
Elasticity similitude is usually used to study the dynamic response of arch dams in the elastic
state. However, Lin et al. [17] proposed the combination of the static load with the dynamic
load for investigation of an arch dam under earthquakes. Gravity accounts for a large propor-
tion of the static load and significantly affects the seismic response of a dam. Elasticity-
gravity similitude was thus employed in the present study. This meant that the similitude be-
tween the prototype and the model was required to satisfy the following two equations:
Cl  CE C1 (1)
Cl  Ct2 (2)
where Cl , CE , C and Ct denote the geometric ratio, dynamic elastic modulus ratio, density
ratio, and time ratio between the prototype dam and its model, respectively.
Considering the limited space on the shaking table, the geometric ratio of the model was set
to 111.86. The ratio scales obtained from equations (1) and (2) based on the geometric ratio
and the dynamic elastic modulus ratio are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Ratio scales of test model

Physical Elastic Acceleratio Frequenc
Geometry* Density* Time Stress Strain
dimension modulus* n* y

Scale ratio Cl=118.6 Cρ=0.76 CE=85.23 Ca=1.0 Ct=10.58 Cf=0.10 Cσ=85.23 Cε=1.0
*
Represent the basic ratio scale

2.2.2 Simulation of Structural Joints

The primary function of the contraction joints is to prevent temperature cracking during the
construction of an arch dam. However, previous experimental studies [12-14] on the dynamic
behaviors of arch dams with joints often neglected the effect of the key grooves. To overcome
the limitations of these previous studies in the present experiments, the key grooves were set
to reduce sliding along the joints. Similitude of the stress intensity factor (SIF) was used to

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model the induced cracks, ignoring geometric similitude. The fracture toughness for the mod-
el test was determined by a three-point bending test of the model material. An average value
of 6.88×10-3 MN/m3/2 was obtained. Table 2 gives the sizes and fracture properties of the in-
duced joints of the model and prototype dams. When the length and interval of the induced
joints were both 85 mm, the ratios of the SIF and fracture toughness between the induced
joints of the prototype and the model were very close.
Table 2: Parameters of the induced joints of the prototype and model dams

Prototype joint size (mm) Model joint size (mm) Scale ratio

Length Spacing Length Spacing Stress intensity factor Fracture toughness

300 600 85 85 149.01 141.04

3 Experimental Results and Analysis

3.1 Response of Acceleration and Strain
The variations of the fundamental frequencies, as determined from the acceleration responses
at the crest of the crown, for all the loading cases are plotted in Figure 2. As the amplitude of
the harmonic wave increased, the fundamental frequency of the model dam gradually de-
creased. The resonant frequency is an indication of damage of the structure but does not di-
rectly provide information about the damage location.

Figure 2: Variationof the fundamental frequency after each shaking

The distribution of the radial accelerations on the crest is shown in Figure 3. As can be seen
from the figure, the higher accelerations of the crest were observed near the crown and on the
right side, and the peak accelerations gradually decreased from the crown to both banks. This
indicates that the symmetrical mode played a major role in the distribution of the radial acce-
leration for the streamwise excitation of the sine wave. The peak acceleration near the crown
proportionally increased with the level of excitation up to case 3, with the growth of the
crown acceleration slowing down in cases 4 and 5. This suggests that the nonlinear behavior
of the model dam might have contributed to the dissipation of energy. Case 6 had the highest
growth rate of the crown acceleration, under which condition the model dam suffered signifi-
cant damage.

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 Figure 3: Distribution of the radial accelerations on the crest

The distribution of the peak accelerations on the crown is shown in Figure 4. The peak ac-
celerations of the crown almost increased linearly up to case 3. In case 4, the peak accelera-
tions of the upper crown cantilever decreased slightly, probably because the structural joints
cracked to weaken the acceleration transmitted along the arch. The large changes in the distri-
bution of the accelerations after case 6 indicated that the crown cantilever of the dam had
been severely damaged.

Figure 4: Distribution of the peak accelerations on the crown

Figure 5 clearly shows that the maximum arch strain on the crest varied with the level of
the input. The upstream tensile strains near the crown and the induced joints were slightly
larger than those downstream. Up to case 3, the distributions of the maximum dynamic arch
strains were uniform and there was no cracking at the induced joints. After case 4, the up-
stream strains of the right-side induced joint increased rapidly, while the downstream strains
increased slowly. This indicated that the upstream right-side induced joint had opened, but not
the downstream one. Meanwhile, there were no significant changes of the strains near the left-
side induced joint, indicating that this joint had not cracked. After case 6, the strains in the
crown and near the induced joints greatly increased, causing some of the strain gauges to fall
off. This indicated the occurrence of large cracks in the induced joints on both sides. It can

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thus be concluded that the damage at the right-side induced joint occurred earlier than that at
the left-side. These are the locations where early damage occurs in a dam due to the induced
joints weakening the dam section.

Figure 5: Distribution of the maximum arch strain on the crest

3.2 Failure Patterns

It can be clearly seen from the Figure 7 that with the increase of the different load case, the
failure patterns of the model dam is gradually accumulated. This failure pattern of the model
dam indicates that the cracks mainly appeared in the upper part of the dam and on the surface
of the dam foundation. The structural joints weakened the stiffness of the dam section and
were therefore the first parts of the dam to crack. Seismic energy was dissipated by the open-
ing of the structural joints. The occurrence of irregular cracks was thus reduced, and possibly
avoided. To summarize, the use of structural joints significantly mitigates the collapse of a
dam under an earthquake.

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 Figure 7: Failure patterns of the model dam for different excitation levels

3.3 Comparison with Actual Damage of Shapai Arch Dam during Wenchuan
Earthquake
The Wenchuan Earthquake (Ms8.0) occurred on May 12, 2008, in the Sichuan Province of
China. The Shapai reservoir was in its normal storage condition during the earthquake. How-
ever, available records of the earthquake acceleration near-field of the dam are insufficient.
Zhang et al. [18] rebuilt the peak acceleration of the Shapai dam ground motion during the
earthquake and determined it to be 262 gal. Post-earthquake field inspection revealed that
there was no obvious damage of the dam by the earthquake other than an opening several me-
ters deep at the top of the right-side contraction joint [19]. In case 1 of the present model test,
the input acceleration at the time that the right-side contraction joint showed signs of opening
was less than the corresponding estimated value for the actual dam during the Wenchuan
Earthquake. This is because of the harmonic wave used to load the model dam and the as-
sumption of an empty dam reservoir in the test. However, the shake table tests were per-
formed in ideal conditions in which microcracks and dam-reservoir interaction were ignored,
the test observation of the right-side contraction joint opening earlier than the other structural
joints during the simulated earthquake is basically consistent with the actual damage pattern
of the Shapai dam. This evidences the reliability of the present test. With increasing load, the
test results increasingly confirmed the important functions of the contraction and induced
joints in the seismic response of the arch dam and their critical effect on the collapse of the
dam.

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4 Conclusion
The effects of the structural joints on the seismic collapse of a high RCC arch dam were expe-
rimentally investigated in this study. Dynamic rupture tests were conducted on a model of the
Shapai RCC arch dam on a shaking table, and the results were compared with actual observa-
tions of the prototype dam during the Wenchuan Earthquake. Following is a summary of the
study and the conclusions drawn from the findings:
(1) The results of the model tests were basically consistent with the actual damage observa-
tions of the dam, indicating that the tests reliably simulated the collapse of the dam un-
der a strong earthquake. The test results predict the failure patterns of the Shapai dam
under a strong earthquake and practically improve understanding of the process of an
earthquake-induced dam collapse.
(2) The test results and actual earthquake hazards confirm that structural joints affect the
failure patterns of a dam and that the implementation of contraction joints near each end
of the arch can be effectively used to release stress and reduce the damage of the dam
body near the abutments. With gradual increase of the load, the opening of the induced
joints controls the cracking direction and reduces or avoids the generation of irregular
cracks. In summary, structural joints release internal stress in an arch dam during an
earthquake, mitigate the destruction of the dam, and improve the dynamic overload ca-
pacity.

Acknowledgement
This study was sponsored by the National Basic Research Development Program of China
(973 Program) (Grant No. 2013CB035906) and the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No.91215301).

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