FEM–DEM modeling of pseudo static experiments on scaled‐down rockfill dams with dry stone pitching

Abstract

Rockfill dams with stone pitching are specific hydraulic structures generally built in the early XXth century where stones used to be hand‐placed without mortar to constitute the upward and downward dam faces. Few studies have been carried out to quantify the specific and critical role of the pitching in the dam stability against both static and seismic forces. Herein, a numerical model is proposed to model pseudo‐static tests performed on four different scaled‐down rockfill dams with a stone pitching. A mixed FEM–DEM approach is used, and two different constitutive models were considered for the backfill. A validation of the numerical model is first proposed based on the scaled‐down tests. Then, the stone pitching displacement profiles and the dams safety factors against failure are analyzed and compared for the four studied cases. This study allows qualitative conclusions to be drawn and pave the way to upcoming investigations on actual structures of the same kind.

From Scaled-Down to Full-Scale Rockfill Dams with Dry-Stone Pitching: A Numerical Study

“…It is an elastoplastic model developed by EDF with isotropic and deviatoric plastic mechanisms and an isotropic hardening. It involves 16 parameters which were calibrated by a trial-and-error method (The calibrated parameters can be found in [5]) based on experimental triaxial tests performed with a large cell (diameter of 1m). The results of the calibration along with the experimental curves are shown in Figure 3.…”

“…The larger safety factors obtained for case 3 and case 4 lie in the thicker pitching in case 4 and in both an equivalent thicker pitching and a larger equivalent friction angle at the backfill-pitching interface in case 3. More details about all the procedures of this study can be found in [5].…”

Seismic Numerical Analysis of an Inca Stone Wall in Sacsayhuaman Using Rigid Body Dynamics within a Finite Element Framework

“…Various researchers conducted experimental tests to understand the behaviour of stone structures based on real or reduced-scale specimens [9][10][11][12][13]. Dry joint stone walls were evaluated by numerical modelling using Finite Element Method (FEM) [9,13,14], Discrete (or Distinct) Element Method (DEM), which refers to Smoothed Explicit Numerical Methods [11,[15][16][17][18] or a combination of them (FDEM) [19,20]. In most of these analyses, the preparation of computer-aided 3D geometric models (CAD) is usually required to build numerical models due to the geometric complexity of elaborate shapes and morphology [21].…”