Abstract
Roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams are attractive to many water and energy corporations around the world due to their ease in construction and low construction cost. The hydration of cement and the climatic changes on the convective boundaries are the two main heat sources for the temperature rise in the roller compacted concrete dams. Thus, changing the RCC placement schedule according to climate conditions might eliminate the problem of thermal cracks. In this research, the RCC dam method was applied in an arid region; the Bisha state in Saudi Arabia was chosen as a case study. We found that RCC dam technology can be applied safely with an alternative solution, like selecting a suitable placement schedule and reducing the placing temperature of facing at upstream and downstream sides to overcome the risk of thermal cracks.
Highlights
At the beginning of the construction of roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams, the problem of thermal cracks was thought to have been eliminated due to the lower quantity of cement in the RCC mix compared to conventional concrete, which greatly reduces the thermal strains
It was discovered that attention must be paid to the tensile stresses in RCC dams, where the use of cooling pipes during construction of these dams is not possible as usually done in conventional concrete dams
In addition to other effects like the speed of construction, different RCC placing temperatures, and climatic conditions, may raise the temperature of the dam body. This dam body heat takes a long time to dissipate, causing tensile stresses. When these tensile stresses exceed the RCC tensile strength, cracks develop in the dam body
Summary
At the beginning of the construction of roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams, the problem of thermal cracks was thought to have been eliminated due to the lower quantity of cement in the RCC mix compared to conventional concrete, which greatly reduces the thermal strains. In addition to other effects like the speed of construction, different RCC placing temperatures, and climatic conditions, may raise the temperature of the dam body This dam body heat takes a long time to dissipate, causing tensile stresses. Žvanut et al [16] presented thermal analysis results of a large concrete arch gravity dam taking into account the concrete, water, and the surrounding temperatures. It is clearly understood from the above studies that, the climate conditions and the evolved hydration heat have great effects on induced stresses in the bodies of RCC dams. The actual daily recorded environmental temperatures obtained from related authorities were used in the analysis
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