Review of macro- and mesoscopic analysis on rockfill materials in high dams

Abstract

With the quick development of the hydrolic engineering in China, the height of the rockfill dams reaches the level of 200– 300 m. High rockfill dams over 200 m behave differently in deformation mode compared to previous lower dams. Due to the particular features of rockfill materials in macroscopic and mesoscopic scales, such as continuity, discrete and crushability, the constitutive models and the deformation mechanisms for rockfills are not yet clear. It is necessary to investigate the mechanical behaviors of rockfill materials from macro- to meso-scale. This paper makes a review on macro- and mesoscopic analysis of rockfill dams and rockfill materials in recent years. The constituitive modeling and the parameter calibration of rockfill dams, the mesoscopic method, deformation mechanisms and the scale effect for rockfill materials are discussed. Besides, the further investigation trends of deformation analysis and control methods in rockfill dams are shown.