Safety assessment of massive buttress dams in the presence of thermal cracks in them

Abstract

In the 1950s, the construction of hydropower facilities began in the regions of Siberia and the Far East, characterized by harsh climatic conditions, which should be taking into account to predict the stress state of dams. The aim of the study is an assessment of the conditions for the formation of temperature cracks in concrete dams and their influence on the further operation of the structure, as well as measures and technologies to combat cracking in massive concrete. Thermal stresses often exceed the stresses caused by the action of external loads and lead to the appearance of cracks in the concrete. Almost all modern concrete dams are subject to thermal cracking today. Appropriate design and technological measures must be provided for. When studying the thermally stressed state of lightweight concrete dams, the method of direct reproduction of thermal deformations on models made of brittle materials and computational methods oriented towards computer methods of solving problems are used. The results of modeling and computational studies of massive buttress dams are presented and the influence of the main influencing factors is considered, taking into account the effect of cracking on the operation of such dams.