Genesis Analysis of Special Deformation Characteristics for Super-High Arch Dams in the Alpine and Gorge Regions of Southwest China

Abstract

During the operational period, unexpected upstream deformation has been observed in several super-high arch dams located in the alpine and gorge regions. In addition, the phenomenon of the downstream dam deformation monitoring values being apparently smaller than the numerical simulation results appears in some super-high arch dams. This paper focuses on the genetic mechanism of a super-high arch dam’s special deformation characteristics. The finite element method (FEM) was used to analyze the effects of solar radiation, valley contraction, and overhanging on super-high arch dam’s deformation behavior. First, the influences of solar radiation on the temperature field and deformation characteristics of the super-high arch dam under the shading effects of the mountain and the dam body were investigated. Second, the impacts of valley contraction on the deformation characteristics of the super-high arch dam during the storage period were studied. Subsequently, the impact of the overhanging effect on the super-high arch dam’s deformation was explored. Finally, a case study was conducted on the basis of the Jinping I super-high arch dam to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed analytical method. It is indicated that the dam’s special deformation can be explained reasonably. Above all, in order to accurately analyze and predict the deformation characteristics of super high-arch dams in the alpine and gorge regions of Southwest China, solar radiation, valley contraction, and the dam-overhanging effect need to be considered as influencing factors of dam deformation.

Modal Parameter Recursive Estimation of Concrete Arch Dams under Seismic Loading Using an Adaptive Recursive Subspace Method

“…As an important dam type, concrete arch dams, which are constructed worldwide, have notable advantages, including robust structural stability, savings in construction materials, heightened safety, and formidable flood resistance [1][2][3]. As one essential component of society's infrastructure system, concrete arch dams play the roles of flood control, power Sensors 2024, 24, 3845 2 of 24 generation, irrigation, shipping, and water supply.…”

Insights about Modelling Environmental Spatiotemporal Actions in Thermal Analysis of Concrete Dams: A Case Study

“…Shadow effect, instead, requires the use of labor-intensive and time-consuming shadow detection procedures. From the pioneering work of Jin et al [4] to the most recent works [5,6], authors have used the ray-tracing algorithm to define the shaded area caused by the surrounding terrain and the dam itself. An exception is the work of Santillán and coworkers, who computed the shading of the dam by recourse to the projection of the different surfaces in the direction of the sun rays [7,8]; however, later on, they also adopted the ray-tracing algorithm [9,10].…”