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Stability Assessment of the Three-Gorges Dam Foundation, China, Using Physical and Numerical Modeling—Part I

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Stability Assessment of the Three-Gorges Dam Foundation, China, Using Physical and Numerical Modeling—Part I ARTICLE IN PRESS International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 40 (2003) 609–631 Stability assessment of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation, China, using physical and numerical modeling—Part I: physical model tests Jian Liua,b,*, Xia-Ting Fenga, Xiu-Li Dingb, Jie Zhangb, Deng-Ming Yueb a Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiaohongshan, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China b Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan 430019, China Accepted 31 March 2003 Abstract Foundation stability is one of the most important factors influencing the safety of a concrete dam and has been one of the key technical problems in the design of the Three-Gorges Project. The major difficulties lie in two facts. The first one is that the dam foundation consists of rock blocks, with joints and so-called ‘rock bridges’ and the gently dipping joints play a critical role in the foundation stability against sliding. The second one is that, even in the regions where the gently dipping fractures are most developed, there are no through-going sliding paths in the rock mass due to the existence of the rock bridges; so the dam could slide only if some of the rock bridges fail, so as to create at least one through-going sliding path. To date, due to unavoidable shortcomings in physical and numerical modeling techniques, there is not a single satisfactory method to solve the problem completely. For this reason, the integration of multiple methods was adopted in this study and proved to be an effective and reliable approach. This Part I paper describes work based on the results of geological investigations and mechanical tests, relating to the geological and geomechanical models of the Three-Gorges Dam, and then a systematic study procedure was developed to carry out the stability assessment project. Then, 2D and 3D physical model tests for some critical dam sections were performed. In the physical tests, based on similarity theory, various testing materials were selected to simulate the rock, concrete, fracture and rock bridge. The loading and boundary conditions were also modeled to meet the similarity requirements. The failure mechanism was derived through a progressive overloading that simulated the upstream hydrostatic pressure applied to the dam, and the factor of safety was defined as the ratio between the maximum external load inducing the start of sliding instability of the dam foundation and the upstream hydrostatic load. The experimental results indicated that the stability of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation satisfies the safety requirements. Nevertheless, further discussions demonstrated that because of the incomplete definition of factor of safety adopted in the physical model tests, it is also essential to study the stability of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation using numerical modeling, which will be presented in the companion Part II paper. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Dam foundation; Stability assessment; Physical model test; Gently dipping joint; Rock bridge; Three-Gorges Dam 1. Introduction stability analyses and assessment are essential and form a critical part of the safety assessment. Foundation stability is one of the most important The Three-Gorges water conservancy complex lo- factors influencing safety of a dam. Instability of a dam cated about half way along the Yangtze River is the generally results from pre-existing geological features in largest multipurpose water conservancy project ever the foundation, such as faults, joints, soft rocks and built in China, indeed in the world (Fig. 1). The Three- solution channels, etc. Therefore, for a dam foundation, Gorges Dam is one of the three main parts of this project (the others are the power houses and navigation facilities). It is a concrete gravity dam with a maximum *Corresponding author. Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China. height of 185 m and is designed to withstand a normal Tel.: +86-27-871-97913; fax: +86-27-871-97386. pool level of 175 m. According to the general layout of E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Liu). the dam (Figs. 2–4), 23 spillway-dam sections are 1365-1609/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1365-1609(03)00055-8 ARTICLE IN PRESS 610 J. Liu et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 40 (2003) 609–631 Nomenclature nm Poisson’s ratio of the model Xm volume force of the model Lp geometrical parameter of the prototype rm density of the model sp stress of the prototype fm friction coefficient of the model ep strain of the prototype cm cohesion of the model dp displacement of the prototype Rm compressive strength of the model Ep deformation modulus of the prototype s% m boundary stress of the model np Poisson’s ratio of the prototype CL similarity constants for geometry Xp volume force of the prototype Cs similarity constants for stress rp density of the prototype Ce similarity constants for strain fp friction coefficient of the prototype Cd similarity constants for displacement cp cohesion of the prototype CE similarity constants for deformation modulus Rp compressive strength of the prototype Cn similarity constants for Poisson’s ratio s% p boundary stress of the prototype CX similarity constants for volume force Lm geometrical parameter of the model Cr similarity constants for density sm stress of the model Cf similarity constants for friction coefficient em strain of the model Cc similarity constants for cohesion dm displacement of the model CR similarity constants for compressive strength Em deformation modulus of the model Cs% similarity constants for boundary stresses Harbin Urumqi Shenyang Hohhot Beijing r e v i R w lo l e r The Three Gorges Project Y e v i R Lanzhou Yellow Y a n g z t Xi'an Nanjing e R i Shanghai v e r Wuhan Chengdu Lhasa er Riv Chengqing e t z g n a Y Taiwan Kunming Guangzhou Nanning Haikou Fig. 1. Location of the Three-Gorges Project in China. located in the middle of the riverbed with a total length mainly comprises plagioclase granite that is intact, of 483 m, 26 powerhouse-dam sections are situated at homogeneous, of low permeability and high strength, the two sides of the spillway dam and have a total length there also exist weathered zones, faults and joints in the of 1228 m. Along the foundation line, the dam sections rock mass. In particular, gently dipping joints are well are built on different ground levels, low on the river developed locally. When the project is finished and runs bottom and high on the riverbank. Detailed geological at the normal pool level, the resulting reservoir will investigations show that although the dam foundation extend nearly 600 km upstream and have a total storage ARTICLE IN PRESS J. Liu et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 40 (2003) 609–631 611 Assemblage section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 9 11 12 13 14 The numbered left powerhouse dam sections Permanent shiploc N k S hip lift Temporar eft power plant L y shiploc k dam Spilway Right power plant Yangtze River 1 km Scale Fig. 2. Layout of the Three-Gorges Project and the numbered left powerhouse-dam sections. Fig. 3. Upstream view of the Three-Gorges Project under construction. capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters, which is of extreme Geology, and a number of universities and institutes importance to the safety of the dam. of China, carried out extensive geological investigations, During the past decades, the Yangtze Water Re- field and laboratory testing of the rock and soil sources Commission (CWRC), with the collaboration of properties related to the Three-Gorges Dam. This the Chinese Academy of Science, the Ministry of research work has been thorough and systematic, and ARTICLE IN PRESS 612 J. Liu et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 40 (2003) 609–631 Fig. 4. Downstream view of the Three-Gorges Project under construction. provided sufficient data for the stability analyses [1]. based on dynamic motion of rock blocks that can However, to study and assess the stability of the Three- also be deformable [4]. One of the strengths of the Gorges Dam foundation, the following questions have DEM/DDA method is that, as time progresses, the to be addressed: blocks are allowed to move and deform, so that the mode of failure becomes apparent [2]. However, * The dam foundation mainly consists of rock blocks, although this approach is specifically suited for various faults, fractures, joints and so-called ‘rock carrying out discontinuum analyses in rock mass, it bridges’ (defined as the intact rock between the ends suffers some practical limitations since numerical of sub-parallel fractures). Most of the faults and stability and convergence depend on the joints have a steep dip angle, but there are gently proper selection of time steps and damping para- downstream-dipping joints that are actually the most meters [5]. More importantly, the discrete numerical important factors influencing the stability of the dam. approaches, like DDA and DEM, needs detailed On the other hand, even in the regions where the fracture system geometry that is often not readily gently dipping fractures are most developed, no available [6], and they are not efficient for problems deterministic and through-going sliding paths in the with non-persistent fracture systems and rock rock mass exist due to the presence of the rock bridges. The physical model tests that use simulated bridges. Thus, the dam could slide only if some of the materials based on the theory of similarity can rock bridges fail, so as to create at least one through- provide a direct perceptional methodology [7,8] and going sliding path.
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