Cracking safety evaluation on gravity concrete dams during the construction phase

Abstract

The cracking phenomenon in concrete gravity dams during the construction phase is analysed in this work. Stresses due to the self-weight of the dam, thermal gradients, creep and drying shrinkage are computed, taking into account the different stages of the construction process. A twodimensional constitutive model considering time dependent and temperature dependent mechanical properties is adopted for the concrete. Safety against cracking is obtained using a criterion independent of the finite element mesh.