Coupled seepage and stress fields in roller compacted concrete dam

Abstract

Based on the characteristic of seepage through layered roller compacted concrete dam (RCCD), the interaction between seepage and stress in RCCD is analysed and the mathematical model for coupled seepage and stress fields in RCCD is proposed. The flow through layers in RCCD exerts normal seepage pressure and tangent drag force on the dam body. The equivalent crack openings of layers vary with the stress conditions. The coupled model is established by these relationships. The coupled model is also applied to the Longtan RCCD project by means of the finite element method and the interative solution. It can be concluded from the computation results that the coupling effect makes the stress components larger and the stress concentration near the dam heel more obvious. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.