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Geomechanics and Engineering
  Volume 22, Number 6, September25 2020 , pages 519-528
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/gae.2020.22.6.519
 


Modeling the wetting deformation behavior of rockfill dams
Wanli Guo, Ge Chen, Yingli Wu and Junjie Wang

 
Abstract
    A mathematical wetting model is usually used to predict the deformation of core wall rockfill dams induced by the wetting effect. In this paper, a series of wetting triaxial tests on a rockfill was conducted using a large-sized triaxial apparatus, and the wetting deformation behavior of the rockfill was studied. The wetting strains were found to be related to the confining pressure and shear stress levels, and two empirical equations, which are regarded as the proposed mathematical wetting model, were proposed to express these properties. The stress and deformation of a core wall rockfill dam was studied by using finite element analysis and the proposed wetting model. On the one hand, the simulations of the wetting model can estimate well the observed wetting strains of the upstream rockfill of the dam, which demonstrated that the proposed wetting model is applicable to express the wetting deformation behavior of the rockfill specimen. On the other hand, the simulated additional deformation of the dam induced by the wetting effect is thought to be reasonable according to practical engineering experience, which indicates the potential of the model in dam engineering.
 
Key Words
    dams; wetting deformation; finite-element modeling; rockfills
 
Address
Wanli Guo and Yingli Wu: Geotechnical Engineering Department, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210024, China

Ge Chen: Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China

Junjie Wang: Key Laboratory for Hydraulic and Waterway Engineering of Ministry of Education, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
 

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