Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Concrete Injection on the Concrete Joints of the Arched Dam, Under the Applied Stresses

Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Concrete Injection on the Concrete Joints of the Arched Dam, Under the Applied Stresses    Abstract  Investigating the safety of dams is of great importance given their critical role in the industry and economy of countries and the catastrophic consequences of their failure. Hence, the present paper examines the impact of incomplete contraction joint injection in the Karun 4 double-curvature arch dam as a case study. In this article, the Abaqus 6.12 finite element software was used to model and analyze 3 numerical models of the Karun 4 dam. These models consist of a linear, integrated, and homogeneous model and two nonlinear models considering the nonlinear behavior resulting from two different types of common contraction joints in the dam's body. The results indicated that a lack of injection led to a significant increase in the maximum principal stresses (MPa) at the upstream section of the dam, such that a large part of this section, which originally worked under compression, is now under tension. The tensile stresses at the upstream abutment and the downstream crest also increased. Moreover, a lack of injection considerably increased the vertical compressive stresses between the contact surfaces (µ). These stresses were increased almost twofold near the injection stop level such that the stresses between monolith zero and one increased from a maximum of 5.13 under complete injection to 11.3. According to the results, with an increase in the joint thickness under the absence of joint injection, considerable amounts (of stress) are added to the maximum principal stresses, minimum principal stresses, dam displacement, and the vertical compressive force between the contact surfaces.