Numerical Modeling of Water Pressure in Propagating Concrete Cracks
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
Modeling of water flow in the propagating cracks plays an important role in the stability analysis of concrete dams. The water pressure within concrete cracks is a function of water permeability of the crack. In this paper, a partially saturated finite-element algorithm is used for numerical modeling of water pressure within a propagating cohesive crack. In order to calculate fracture opening along the crack path suitably, a trilinear cohesive law is considered to describe mechanical behavior of the fracture process zone. The zero-thickness cohesive interface elements are used to capture the mixed-mode fracture behavior in tension and compression. On the basis of the experimental data, it is shown that a unified formula for natural fractures permeability can suitably describe the permeability of a propagating crack in both cases of slow and fast loading rates.
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Acknowledgments
The financial support of the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under the Grant No. 91003668 is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 27, 2015
Accepted: Oct 23, 2015
Published online: Jan 13, 2016
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 13, 2016
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