Monitoring heat transfer for seepage in earth-rock dams with clay cores considering damaged areas: Laboratory experiments and numerical modeling

Abstract

This study conducted a laboratory test and two-dimensional numerical simulation on seepage heat monitoring of a core rockfill dam. A fully automatic laboratory test system for dam seepage monitoring has been developed, which can achieve automatic control of water flow and temperature, as well as automatic data collection. A flow-heat coupling model based on [Johansen, O., (1975). Thermal conductivity of soils. P. D. thesis. University of Trondheim, Norway, Trondheim] empirical thermal conductivity model was established through secondary development using COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software, and its accuracy was verified. The influence of the location of damaged leakage in the core wall of the dam on flow and heat migration was analyzed. Among the investigated conditions, a damaged channel with a curved cross-section causes the formation of the prominent arc in the saturation line of the dam body downstream, induces the largest increase in the average seepage discharge, and makes the dam body most unstable. The effects of damage on the temperature and seepage fields are positively correlated for different damage types. The presence of a damaged area induces sudden changes in the pressure, velocity, and temperature at each monitoring point. The pressure, velocity and temperature are correlated, and there is a lag in temperature transfer. This study provides a reference for the application of distributed fiber optic temperature measurement technology in core rockfill dam engineering, especially in terms of fiber optic placement position. The established numerical model can provide an accurate and effective reference method for identifying abnormal temperature data and locating dam leakage. Our next step will be to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics throughout the entire process from undamaged to dam failure.