Influence of Cohesive Strength in Probabilistic Sliding Stability Reassessment of Concrete Dams
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
For concrete dams, cohesive strength often constitutes a significant share of the overall shear strength of partially bonded concrete-rock interfaces. However, cohesive strength is also associated with great uncertainties that may have a significant impact on the assessed stability of the analyzed structure. In this paper, the merits of including cohesion are evaluated using a probability-based approach to analyze the sliding stability of an existing concrete gravity dam. The shear strength properties of the interface are inferred from a limited number of site-specific tests and previous knowledge from similar structures using Bayesian updating. The study shows that the potential gain from cohesive strength is strongly related to the involved uncertainties and identifies the bonding percentage and basic friction angle as the most influential parameters. The importance of testing, both with regard to the specific project and for future projects, is also highlighted.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented was carried out as a part of Swedish Hydropower Centre—SVC. SVC has been established by the Swedish Energy Agency, Elforsk and Svenska Kraftnät together with Luleå University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, and Uppsala University.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 17, 2015
Accepted: May 24, 2016
Published online: Aug 12, 2016
Discussion open until: Jan 12, 2017
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
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