The thermal analysis of roller compacted concrete dams (RCC) plays an important role in their design and construction. This paper focuses on the application and verification of a twodimensional finite element code developed for the thermal and structural analysis of RCC dams. The Kinta RCC gravity dam, which is the first RCC dam in Malaysia, has been taken for the purpose of verification of the finite element code. The dam is 78 m in height and still under construction. The actual climatic conditions and thermal properties of the materials were considered in the analysis. The predicted temperatures obtained from the finite element code that was developed are found to be in good agreement with actual temperatures measured in the field using thermocouples installed within the dam body.
Thermal analysis of roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams plays an important role in their design and construction. This paper deals with the development of a finite element based computer code for the determination of temperatures within the dam body. The finite element code is then applied to the real full-scale problem to determine the impact of the placement schedule on the thermal response of roller compacted concrete dam. Based on the results obtained, it could be concluded that for a given roller compacted concrete dam, changing the placing schedule can optimize the locations of maximum temperature zones.
Roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams are attractive to many water and energy corporations around the world due to their ease in construction and low construction cost. The hydration of cement and the climatic changes on the convective boundaries are the two main heat sources for the temperature rise in the roller compacted concrete dams. Thus, changing the RCC placement schedule according to climate conditions might eliminate the problem of thermal cracks. In this research, the RCC dam method was applied in an arid region; the Bisha state in Saudi Arabia was chosen as a case study. We found that RCC dam technology can be applied safely with an alternative solution, like selecting a suitable placement schedule and reducing the placing temperature of facing at upstream and downstream sides to overcome the risk of thermal cracks.
Temperature control plays an important role in the design and construction of rollercompacted concrete (RCC) dams. Hydration of cement and climatic changes on the convective boundaries are the two main heat sources of the temperature rise in RCC dams. Therefore, the effects of these two factors have to be determined accurately in order to reduce the risk of thermally induced cracking in these dams. Simplified approaches are usually adopted to approximate the temperature changes on the upstream dam side after the dam reservoir is filled. These simplified approaches are usually based on long-term observations of similar reservoirs. However, it is practically hard to generalise the conditions of these reservoirs with respect to the reservoir under consideration. In this work, the finite-element method has been used to simulate the heat exchange between the RCC dam body and the reservoir water taking into account the reservoir operation. A realistic isothermal profile has been obtained that has been used to determine the cracking probability of the RCC dam body.
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