Study on the deformation mechanism of abutment slope and its influence on the dam during the impoundment of high arch dam

Abstract

The deformation of abutment slope during impoundment poses great challenges to the working behavior and long-term safety of the arch dam. According to the monitoring data of impoundment and slope, slope deformation, valley width change, and arch dam chord length change are systematically analyzed and studied. It is pointed out that the deformation of the dam body and foundation is an irreversible plastic deformation and is evidently correlated with impoundment. Based on the unsaturated effective stress principle of fractured rock mass and the action mode of the reservoir basin pressure, the deformation mechanism of abutment slope has been discussed. The large-scale 3D nonlinear finite element model is established based on numerical analysis, and the deformation mechanism during impoundment and the effect of the effective stress change on the displacement and stress of the dam body are analyzed. The results indicate that effective stress can elucidate the valley contraction to some extent and that the contribution of the reservoir basin pressure is small. Slope deformation is beneficial to the dam displacement to some extent. Moreover, it has a negligible influence on the dam surface stress. However, the junction of the dam and foundation needs to be given special attention.