Monitoring of small and medium embankment dams on permafrost in a changing climate

Global climate warming which began in the second half of the twentieth century is continuing. It is associated with increased risks for ecological management, especially in permafrost areas comprising over 65% of Russia. Of special concern are dams constructed on permafrost. They are subject not only to climatic impacts, but also to additional hydrothermal loads from water reservoirs. This paper presents the concept of geocryological monitoring of dams and other water resource projects and substantiates its necessity in view of climatic change. It also presents methods, scope and implementation of geocryological monitoring at medium and small dams, considering the specific nature of Far Northern areas, as well as the complicated geotechnical, hydrogeological and permafrost conditions.

Medium and small embankment dams on permafrost: A discussion of current concepts

This article discusses the current concepts of dam design and construction in permafrost regions. It is demonstrated that embankment dams often change their state from frozen to thawed and back during the operation period. It is shown that these transitions are not always attributable to observed climate warming. Where geotechnical, hydrogeological, and permafrost conditions are complicated, proper performance of embankment dams can only be provided by adhering to a selected thermal design for, as an example, a frozen state.

Applying Empirical Methods to Assess the Internal Stability of Embankment Dam Cores of Glacial Till

This paper presents a database of glacial till gradations that are compiled from laboratory internal stability tests from the literature and from core soils of existing dams, some of which have experienced internal erosion. The potential internal instability of these gradations is assessed using empirical methods. Two approaches of evaluation are used: the Kenney-Lau method, which analyzes the shape of the gradation curve;and the Burenkova method, which uses factors of uniformity of the slope of the gradation. Although they include some uncertainties in terms of soils with fines, these methods, which are primarily developed from laboratory studies of sand and gravels, are used in engineering practice to evaluate widely graded soils that include fines, such as glacial tills. This study evaluates the glacial till gradations of the database using these approaches and discusses their applicability and relative predictive success. This study indicates that both the Kenney-Lau method and the Burenkova method have merit, but a closer analysis indicates that the Kenney-Lau approach has relatively better predictive ability based on the glacial till gradations analyzed in this study.

Coupled solid-fluid FE-analysis of an embankment dam

A coupled solid-fluid FE-model for partially saturated soils,characterized by modeling the soil as a three-phase material consisting of a deformable soil skeleton and the fluid phases water and air,is reviewed briefly.As a constitutive model for the soil skeleton,the well-known Barcelona Basic model(BBM)is employed,which is formulated in terms of net stress and matric suction.For the BBM,a computationally efficient return mapping algorithm is proposed,which only requires the solution of a scalar nonlinear equation at the integration point level.The coupled FE-model is applied to the coupled transient numerical simulation of the water flow and the deformations and stresses in an embankment dam.

Effect of freeze-thaw cycle on hydraulic conductivity of compacted clayey soil

When filling embankment dams in cold regions,engineers must solve two freeze–thaw cycle(FTC)-induced soil problems.First,compacted soil constituting the dam is subjected to the FTC during dam construction.Second,loose soil material(LSM),which is subjected to the FTC,fills the dam.To investigate the effects of the aforementioned two problems on the hydraulic conductivity of compacted clayey soil,a series of permeation tests on clayey soil compacted before and after FTC were conducted in this study.The results showed that for the first problem,the hydraulic conductivity of compacted clayey soil subjected to one FTC significantly increases by two to three orders of magnitude because FTC-induced cracks can cause preferential flow in the permeation process.For the second problem,when the FTC number is less than a critical number,the FTC of the LSM may result in the development of united soil particles,thereby increasing the effective porosity ratio and hydraulic conductivity of the compacted soil.It was discovered that the hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil can increase by one to three times when the LSM is subjected to 10 FTCs.When the FTC number exceeds a critical number,the effective porosity ratio and hydraulic conductivity of the compacted soil may decrease with the FTC of the LSM.This should be investigated in future studies,and the results can be used to improve engineering management processes when filling embankment dams during winter in cold regions.

Influence of soft rock-fill material as dam embankment with central bituminous concrete membrane

This paper demonstrates the difficulties in determining the relevant material parameters for a valuation of the deformation behavior of the up-and downstream dam shell by means of an embankment dam of medium height.Laboratory as well as field tests on solid rock-fill material were performed before the beginning of construction.During the construction the properties of the available rock-fill changed from solid to soft materials.This gave rise to the necessity of adjusting the dam design of the downstream dam shoulder.Several times higher dam settlements as well as significant differential settlements between the up-and downstream dam shell were observed during construction and operation.Apart from this situation,the dam has been operated for nearly 20 years and the behavior of the water barrier has been very good.

Quantitative deterministic versus probability analyses based on a safety margin criterion

This paper proposes a new criterion called the ratio of safety margin(RSM)for use in the areas of the global factor of safety,reliability and limit states analyses with reference to their respective allowable criteria.An equation for calculating RSM based on the reliability index is formulated.Efforts for proving the applicability of this criterion include a theoretical demonstration in a simple one-variable case;an investigation on a test problem involving two random variables,followed by a slope stability study on a 156 m high embankment dam and an illustrative example presented in a EuroCode 7 guidebook.Calculation of the ratios of safety margin in the three areas provides a quantitative way to accommodate the analytical results within the same theoretical framework and makes the outcomes mutually comparable and supportive,which is much more enlightening than that would be the case by considering only one of them.Calculating RSMs for reliability and limit states methods has also helped solve the key issue concerning the uniqueness of the partial factors calibrated from a particular‘target case’.

ADAPTIVE FEM ANALYSIS FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL UNCONFINED SEEPAGE PROBLEMS

A methodology for the adaptive FEM analysis of two-dimensional seepage problems with free surface has been proposed. The methodology is based on three main aspects: (1) the advancing-front quadrilateral mesh generation technique, (2) the FEM analysis of the seepage problems with free surface, (3) a posteriori error estimator and refined mesh size estimator. An example of embankment dam with toe drain was studied.

HYDRODYNAMIC FORCES FOR OVERTOPPING SPILLWAYS

Expressions are derived for calculating hydrodynamic forces from the unit dis- charge,channel slope,and flow and velocity profiles on an overflow spillway.A sample prob- lem is included to illustrate the use of the ideas presented and magnitudes of hydrodynamic forces for a 50-foot-high embankment dam.