Computers and Geotechnics 6 (1988) 95-129

COUPLED CONSOLIDATION ANALYSIS O F THE CONSTRUCTION AND SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCE O F MONASAVU DAM D. J. Naylor Department of Civil Engineering University College of Swansea Singleton Park Swansea SA2 8PP U.K. D. J. Knight Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners Farley House 427 London Road Farley Reading RG6 1BL U.K.
D. Ding Wuhan Institute of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering Wuhan, People's Republic of China

ABSTRACT A two--dimensional coupled consolidation finite element beck-analysis of the construction and first impounding of the dam is described. Interest centres on the relatively soft clay core. This was first modelled elastically, after which the analyses were repeated using an elasto-plastic critical state model for the clay. Comparisons are made of the measured and computed distributions of settlement, pore pressure, and vertical and horizontal stresses. Generally good agreement with measured values was obtained. The results show some arching across the core and the variations in stress (total and effective) across it. The elasto-plastic modelling supports the design expectation that the soft clay will yield plastically rather than develop tension. Conclusions are drawn that will assist designers in evaluating numerical models of embankment dams.

INTRODUCTION Monasavu dam [1] is an 85 m high embankment with rockfill shells supporting a very wet, and thus soft, halloysitic, residual clay core, situated at Monasavu Falls in Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. It was constructed for the Fiji Electricity Authority 95

Computers and Geotechnics 0266-352X/88/$03.50 1988 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain

96 between 1979 and 1982. The dam site is underlain by a sequence of sedimentary rocks

into which is intruded a thick monzonite sill, constituting the river section foundations. Immediately downstream is the top of a substantial cliff (Figure 1) where Nanuku Creek once formed the spectacular 126 m high Monasavu Falls. Horizontally bedded

sandstones form the dam abutments. material and

The sand grains consist of reworked tuffaceous tropical climatic conditions have caused to

rock fragments, which the

weather to a clay material.

The dam, instrumented stresses in to the

its foundations and the downstream rock massif were extensively measure seepage, seismic deformations, behaviour pore pressures, construction, three-dimensional impounding and

core

and

during

operation.

Settlement cells,

hydraulic piezometers and total earth pressure cells were This instrumentation is located on three cross sections

installed in the embankment. (Figure 2).

These are on the right abutment, valley centre and left abutment at the The instruments were installed at three

respective Chainages 125, 175 and 210 m. levels: Ch 175.

E1 705, E1 730 and E1 735, at each cross section, with a fourth at E1 680 at

The results presented in this paper are obtained from coupled consolidation finite element analyses. These are in two parts. The first part uses the Biot consolidation In the second part The

theory with the soil idealised as isotropic and linear elastic [2-4].

the soil skeleton is modelled by an elasto-plastic critical state constitutive law.

description 'coupled' relates to the interaction between the soil skeleton stiffness and Darcy's flow law due to the change of voids with time. With 'uncoupled' flow there

is no such interaction and the governing equations are the same as used to describe, for example, heat flow.

The uncoupled or Terzaghi-Rendulic consolidation theory may be used to obtain approximate solutions to two or three dimensional problems [5,6]. In view, however,

of the potential of the coupled theories to take into account the effect of soil skeleton strains on the pore pressure field it was decided to use a coupled formulation in the present work.

The first implementation of the Biot theory by the finite element method was made by Sandhu and Wilson [7]. mechanics equations. and used Gurtin's They based their method on previous work in fluid principle [8]to derive a set of integral

variational

These formulations accounted for the coupling between deformation and

pore water pressure. Finite elements were used for spatial discretisation together with a finite difference time-stepping scheme. Later, several different versions were published;

8001
700 4 600

97

500
m

L_
5C)0 460 3(~3 Section at 2()0 Eh. 175
I00 0 m

Ch.175 CIQyborrow __..---~ ~'~~~"gL'~'~,o~-~%~' <~~ < >( Diversion

~7~o ' / / . ~ l l [ I

///

/J~'/JJ

Morcsovu

Foils

Oh.175
Figure 1 Monasavu dam, plan and cross-section

98
in particular Christian et al. [9], Hwang et al. [10], Yokoo et al. [11,12], Booker [13], Ghabonssi et al. [14] and Ding [15]. During this time nonlinear models for the soil

skeleton were being incorporated, for example, Lewis et at [16], Small et al [17,18].

4 ELm 800750-

Embankment Instrumented sections

Spillway b L. .J Core borrowl I- area-

" " ~ . . ' - - ~oGtL . o ~-~--.~ \.~ ~ Core trench ~ ~ r ' - - " ~ , . ~oop&/-q, .~ 700- ecovat~on " ....,Sandstone roc~: ~ ~ . ; o o
650-

__ ~f--j ,,~/j" --~ ~.~-~ - ~ Sandstone 1 " --"; " " ~"~.,~*~'~-~~ ....... 7-- ,~7-5.~------co~et~ ,nf,Hs Conglomerate . . . . o. . . . . . . . . .
~ ~ , ' ~ + Monzonite RIGHT +100
I

LEFT 600 +LO0

I

Diversion funnel ~o +300

I

~s
I

~5 0
I

+200

-100
,Main instrument

^'L.nalnage (m)

locations

Figure 2

Longitudinal profile along core trench

The linear-elastic stiffness parameters used for the analyses were determined from the earlier studies [I]. The critical state model parameters (which applied to the clay

core only) were based on laboratory tests on samples taken from the dam during construction, as detailed later in the paper. Permeability values, however, were

obtained by trial to reproduce measured pore pressure : time relations. thus obtained provide both information on realistic values for the

The results permeability

coefficients and a more comprehensive picture of the inferred distribution of stress and pore pressure than that directly indicated by the instrumentation. It must be noted, of

course, that the instrumentation is the only means by which it is possible to measure the dam's actual state.

99 THEORY In this section the theory leading to the finite element formulation used for the two types of analysis is outlined. soil modeb. The linear (Biot) formulation is first given and then This is suitable for both linear and non-linear an incremental form is derived from it.

It applies to both sets of analyses.

The theory is based on (1) the equations of equilibrium for the total s t r e $ ~ (2) the effective stress--strain relations for the soil skeleton and (3) the condition of continuity for the movement of the solid and fluid components in a soil element. a soil element b acted on by a set of ~ r c e s and ~ in equilibrium then the equations of equilibrium ~lating the components of the total stress and body force intensity acting on the e ~ m e n t can be written as: ~ij,j
where ~ij

+ FI " 0

(1)
stress, and

- components o f t h e t e n s o r o f t h e t o t a l c o m p r e s s i o n c o n s i d e r e d as p o s i t i v e ,

Fi

- components o f t h e v e c t o r unit volume, usually

o f body f o r c e p e r

gravity.

The ~poated subscripts in the equation are summed from 1 to 3 and the comma deno~s diffe~mlation with respect to the fol~wing component. If the soil skeleton is assumed as linear elastic the effective stress--strain relation can be written:

- 6ijP - Oijkl
where

ekl

(2)

~'ij 61j P Dijkl

components o f t h e e f f e c t i v e the K r o n e c k e r d e l t a the pore water pressure elastic law f o r coefficients the soil

stress

tensor

in the generalised

Hooke's

skeleton dimensionless components o f t h e

~kl Uk

--(Uk, 1 + Ul,k)/2, strain tensor,

and vector

- components o f t h e d i s p l a c e m e n t

100 The relative flow of pore water is assumed to obey Darcy's law which can be

expressed generally as:

~t r

v i - v I - 7w ( j - p , j )
where

(3)

f vi
s

- components of the superficial velocity per unit area) of the fluid phase - components of the velocity
-

vector

(i.e.

flow

vi kij 7w

vector

of the solid

phase law

coefficients unit

of permeability

in the general

Darcy's

weight of water on t h e w a t e r p e r u n i t
F2 =

Fj
(If

- c o m p o n e n t s o f body f o r c e

volume

this is gravity and direction 2 is vertically upwards,

-Tw)

Note that velocities are measured relative to axes fixed in space, i.e. formulation is Lagranglan rather than Eulerian.

the

For engineering applications the simplification is usually made that the soil is saturated and that the compressibility of the water and soil particles is negligible. divergence of the fluid velocity vector must therefore be zero, i.e. f vi, 1 - 0 Adding the compressive strain rate of the soil skeleton, ~v-v~ i t o b o t h s i d e s
J

The

gives (4)

f s s (v i - vt) t - - vi, i This allows the left hand side of equation (3) to be replaced by ivEquations (1) to (4) are the governing equations on which the

finite

element

formulations are based.

Finite Elm~nt Formulation - Linear Case

The Blot theory for two phase linear elastic materials can be expressed as follows:

101
Assume a finite element to dimensions in physical space, i.e. have n nodes, and that i is the number of to the displacement

two or

three.

In addition

variables there will be a pore pressure variable. node. Assume it is assigned to m nodes, m <

This need not be assigned to every n. The basic equations of a single

element for consolidation can then be expressed as:

l ( r- u -

+ C- r

-p

_-R
--U

(5)

cT -r u-

-p

gf

where

K
C

= stiffness matrix of the solid skeleton = coupling matrix = flow matrix

r_u

= vector of nodal displacement components (length i.n) = rate of nodal displacement vector

~p a_u a_f

= vector of nodal pore pressure (length m) = vector of prescribed nodal forces = vector of prescribed nodal flow

The first of the pair of matrix equations (5) expresses the equilibrium condition and incorporates equations (1) and (2). The second represents continuity. It

incorporates equation (4), with Darcy's law of equation (3) included in the flow matrix
H.

Established procedures are used to assemble these element equations to form the global equations to be solved for the unknown nodal displacements and pore pressures.

In the present work 8 - n o d e d quadrilaterals with some 6 - n o d e d triangles v0ere used. These allowed quadratic displacement variations hut a pore pressure variation Thus there were

that was linear for the triangles and bi-linear for the quadrilaterals.

two displacement and a pore pressure variable at each corner node, with displacements only assigned to midside nodes.

Incremental Formulation

This is derived from the above as follows. by:

The first of equations (5) is replaced

102

I( zlr u + C zl_rp - ~/-u K is now an incremental or tangential stiffness matrix. equation (5) for linear-elastic applications. will be denoted -~ep. At.

(6) It will be the same as in

In the context of elasto-plastic analysis it time step

A indicates the presumed small change in values in a

Note that, in general, loading will be applied over a period of time although load

stepping with At = 0 may be used to model 'instantaneous' loading.

[p in equation (5) can be expressed in terms of its value at tunes t and t+,%t as follows: rp - ~ rp + +

+ (1-a)r;

(7)

where

-Pr - _rp(t + A t )
-r- p

= -r-p ( t )

0~<t~<l A mid-difference scheme with c~ = ~ is used. This implies that for small time steps

-rp ~ p ( t Since AEp

+ ~At)

r + - ; equation _p

(7)

can

be

written
(8)

rp - r - p + c ~ r - p -

Substituting equation (8) into the second of (5), writing u = Ar-u/At, multiplying through by At and rearranging, gives:

CT Ar u - ~ At H A r p - At(It r p + _Rf)

(9)

Combining equations (6) and (9) gives the incremental governing equations:

Note that the matrices K., C_, H and Rf should all be ~ (strictly, Q = c~ + + (l-cOQwhere Q represents the matrix).

for the time step In the present

applications C_C_ and H are constant.

Mid-increment values are used for the other two.

(These are at an estimated mid-increment point in the case of _K).

Equations (10) are assembled for all the elements in the usual way.

103

FINITE ELEMENT IDEALISATION

~mlg.ame, auMma
A plane strain idealization of the valley centre section (at chainage 175 which is the highest part of the dam) has been made. The mesh is shown in Figure 3.

= El.

in metres

752 ~77&5

v73o
-

705
680 ~7

] 50

I 100

I 150

I 200

I 250

x w

300 metres

Figure 3

Finite element mesh

C o l t m ~ d o n aad l~el~rvoir Fillin

As large embankment dams are normally constructed in substantially horizontal layers, this has to be incorporated in the modelling. This involves a sequence of finite

element analyses with the fill surface being raised to different element boundaries in subsequent layers. a single batch job. Naylor and Mattar [19]. Effective stresses, pore water pressures and displacements are accumulated automatically from one analysis to the next. displacements of the previously placed material only. All the layers may be run in The procedure is explained by

Displacements are accumulated in such a way as to include Eight layers were used in the mesh of Figure 3.

The continuous raising of the fill with time was approximated by assuming instantaneous loading at the time when the fill was half way up the layer being added. Thus an eight step loading sequence was used.

104

A similar treatment was used for the impounding analysis with the reservoir being raised in eight stages.

It was found that a suitable length of time step was about 2% of the time for the completion of primary consolidation. were used. On this basis time steps of about 20 days

This resulted in the use of a total of 27 time steps for the construction

analysis and 33 for the impounding and reservoir full stages.

Isotropic elasticity was assumed for the first set of analyses. assumed for the permeability. The parameters involved are

Isotropy was also Young's

therefore the

modulus, E', Poisson ratio ~,' and permeability k.

The continuous plasticity critical state model (c.p.c.s.m.) described by Naylor [20] was used for parameters. parameters E' the second set of these the are analyses. material state This requires the properties and angle specification of two ~cs, six

Four of and ~',

comprise the

elastic and a

critical

of shearing resistance,

parameter, ~, which is a measure of the irreversible compressibility of the soil skeleton. A fifth parameter, t~co, represents the preconsolidation stress state. It is more

conveniently classified as an 'initial stress' and will be considered under that heading below. The sixth, n, is a 'tuning' parameter for the c.p.c.s.m. It controls the

amount of plastic flow generated at below yield stress states.

The value 2, suggested

for n in reference [20] for lack of evidence for a different value, has been used in the present work.

The parameter ~ replaces X, ~ and the initial voids ratio, e, (or specific volume v) used in standard texts on the critical state model [21,22,23]. It is defined as

X - K
X 1 + e "

C C c - e
2.3(1+e)

where = voids ratio (either the initial or, preferably, an average value for the analysis) X or C c = the slope of the virgin consolidation line on respectively e : Lno-' or e : Log 10 a ' plots or C c = corresponding slopes of the assumed reversible unloadingreloading e : Lna' or e : Log 1 o t~' lines.

105

The rockfill was modelled as linear--elastic for both sets of analyses.

This is

justified on the basis that it is very much stiffer than the clay so that displacements in it are relatively small and are of little significance. same as used in ref.[l ] and are given in Table I. T h e values of E ' and v' are the

The clay core E' and v' for the elastic analyses were essentially those used in Ref, 1. E ' was made to vary automatically with the vertical effective stress according These analyses were not therefore strictly linear. Hence they are

to Figure 4.

described simply as 'elastic'.

The clay core parameters for the c.p.c.s.m, were determined by the trial and error matching of the laboratory stress-strain curves from tests on samples taken from the clay core during construction. These parameters are given in Table I.

5 -EI

HPa

Ado

I 100

I 200

I 300 a ~y kPa

I ~00

I 500

o = E' caicutated from oedometer t e s t s for v'=0.~

Figure 4

Variation of core Youn~'s modulus with vertical effective stress

106 TABLE 1 Parameter values

Analyses

Parameter E'(MPa) v' a'o(kPa) k(nm/s)* E'(MPa)

I' f

Core 2-5 0.4 20 3-9 24 0.3 35 0.02 40 60 0.3-12

Rockfill 60 0.3 0 ~ 60 0.3

Comments See F i g . See t e x t See t e x t Rockfill elastic linear 4

Linear elastic

~'cs(deg) c.p.c.s.m. ~co(kPa) a'o(kPa) k(nm/s)*

0
co

See t e x t See t e x t

* 1 nm/s = 10 -9 m / s

Initial Stresses

For the rockfill it is reasonable to assume that the stress state is fully due to the application of gravity. Consequently it was not assigned any initial stress.

For the clay core,

h~ ever,

it was necessary to assign an initial isotropic

compressive effective stress (a'xo = ~'yo = t~'o), and an equal initial pore suction (-Uo) to model the effect of compaction. For the finite element analyses this initial suction

needs to be higher than the actual since the clay is idealized as saturated and no gain in shear strength can occur under undrained loading. Dissipation of pore pressure is In reality a core

required before an increase in shear strength can be modelled.

material, even as wet as was used in Monasavu, will not be fully saturated when placed and there will be a gain in shear strength during the placing of the first few metres even if there is insufficient time on one occasion for significant consolidation. construction when removal Such of a fill gain was

demonstrated

during

revealed

underlying stronger material.

The initial

stress ~'o for the elastic analyses was set at 20 kPa. total stresses computed

This was would be

chosen fairly arbitrarily as the deformations and unaffected by it. work, and 60

The selection of o' o was considered more carefully for the c.p.c.s.m. kPa was chosen. In cot:junction with this the pre-consolidation

parameter Crco was assigned the value 40 kPa. be justified.

The selection of these values will now

107
For undrained loading the path AC in Figure 5 would be followed. of a aco value slightly less then a'o represents the soil as T h e choice being lightly

over-consolidated. layers.

This will be realistic due to the compaction of the clay in thin

T h e model therefore incorporates some negative dilatancy (or contractancy) so

that the effective stress path is deflected to the left under undrained loading as shown in Figure 5. Yield will eventually occur at the critical state C. At this stage the

deviator stress, ~d, is 2~cSin ~cs"

Neglecting the small increase of ~rc above its initial

value of 40 kPa due to strain hardening, and taking ~cs as 35", ~rd at failure is approximately 46 kPa. c u is therefore 23 kPa. This may be compared with the

measured average of 17 kPa deduced from unconfined compression tests on samples from the core [1]. A higher value for the model is appropriate since, as has been

mentioned, the real situation of a partially saturated soil at low stress levels will result in the strength being increased above the measured value when a few metres of fill are placed, quite apart from the increase in strength associated with consolidation.

O'd= 0"1-0" 3
C

//" Crii'ica[ sfafe line /4/J 2 Sin ~cs

/

/+0 20
' Yield s u r f a c e

20

~0 60 80 Sfresses in kPa

~'~=c~+c~;

Figure 5

Effective stress path for undrained shearing of point %n clay core using c.p.c.s, mode]

108
Seleetim of Permeal~Uitv O~

The assumption of isotropy for the permeability was based on preliminary tests which showed that the results were not sensitive to variations in the horizontal

permeability, kx, if the vertical, ky, was kept constant. was assumed for the main analyses.

Consequently, k = k x = ky

For the elastic analyses it was decided to base k on the assumption of a constant coefficient of consolidation, Cv, where

kE' ( 1 - v ' ) Cv = 7 w ( l + v ' ) ( 1 - 2 v ' )

(11)

Since v' has been assumed constant this implies that k varies inversely with E'. The program was modified to impose this requirement so that k was varied

automatically as E' varied.

Best overall agreement was obtained with c v = 3.9 mm2/s. See Table 1

This gave k values reducing from 9 nm/s for the lowest E' of 2 MPa. and Figure 4. stages.

The same values were used in the construction and reservoir filling

This is considerably higher than laboratory-measured values which were in the

region of 0.1 nm/s.

For the c.p.c.s.m,

analyses different permeability values were used for the For the former k varied over the range 12

construction and reservoir filling stages. nm/s to 1.5 nm/s.

For the latter the range was 1.5 to 0.3 nm/s.

RESULTS

The computed displacements, pore pressures and stresses are compared with measurements, and their variation with time and in space is plotted in Figures 6 to 23 inclusive. The data are arranged as follows:

Figures 6 to 8 Figure 9 Figures 10 and 11 Figures 12 to 23

Settlement results Pore pressure v. time on core centre line Effective stress v. time on core centre line Spatial distribution of stress and pore pressures (as the

difference between total and effective stress) at the end of construction (April 1982) and the end of 1983 (impounding complete in March 1983).

109 Computed
750 7gO

- Mar. 1981 2 - Mar. 1982 3 - Mar. 1982 (end of construction)

I

Measured 3 >

730 720 i 710 700 690

680

-- --

Mar. 1981 Sep. 1981 Mar. 1982 (end of construction) Elastic c.p.c.s.m.

670 0

I I 1 2 SettLement (m)

Figure 6

S e t t l e m e n t v. e l e v a t i o n o n core c e n t r e line

110

In some of the figures the elastic and c.p.c.s.m, results are both shown, using a full line for the former and broken for the latter. Where this would make the plots too This applies to Figures 14 to 17

congested they are separated into parts (a) and (b). and 20 to 23.

I_

Core

LI_

Downstream
h v

-r
0
-o.s -

I A

[ A

200m I A

~E E
OJ

-1,0 -I.5 -2,0

--

-"

~
(a) Etasfic

150 I "6 -0.5

OJ

I o

200m I I A _ o Computed 1 - Sep. 1981 2 - Mar. 1982 3 - Mar. 1983 A Sep. 1981 Mar. 1982 Mar. 1983

-1.0

'~ -1.5
-2.0 -(b) c.p.c.s.m. Measured

Figure 7

Settlement profiles at el. 705

111

1983 --i= -IJIFIMIAIMIJIJIAIslOINIOIJIFIMIAIMIJIJIAIslO]NIOIJIFIMI,41M[JIJIAIsloINIDI

=~o .... Je'-_.---

1981

1982

~_-1.5 $'-2.0 ] Construction Computed a - EL 730 b - El. 705

a
.]_

. . . . . . A /% /% Impounding ..[_ Operation Etastic c.p.c,s.m.

Measured

c- Et. 680

Et. 730 - /% El. 705 - - - O Et. 680

Figure 8

S e t t l e m e n t v. time at three points on core centre line

Construction
750 7~0 -F"

Impounding
-I-

Operation =
4

~-~--~

~ --~-~- ~ - -

730 720 710 E_ 700

69~; ' ~
Q.

For tegend see Figure 8

67O

J IFIMIA IMIjIjIAISIOLNfDIJIFIMIA IMIJ FJIAIsIoINIOEJ IpIMIA[MIJIJ~ A Is101N[O

1981

1982

.]_

1983

Figure 9

P i e z o m e t r i c el. v. time at three points on core centre line

112

Consfrucfion W
o_

j_

Impounding

~t_

Operation

~00 350 300 250 200

150 100 50
i--- 5~" O 0--.2_0 o o

m.

<

. . . . ~

=--....__."__'_.

>

0 j

IJ1FIMIAIMbblAISlOINIOIJIFIMIAIMIjblAIslolNIDtJIFIMIAIMIjIj1AIsloINIo
L 1981 ..L. 1982 ~ 1983

_I

For legend see Figure 8

Figure 10

Vertical effective stress v. time at three points on core centre line

Consfrucfion 250 200 150

~100 50

--L..

Impounding .- ~ ^ m - - O ~

_L.

Operation --~

O -- ----Ore--O--

o.- "~o

..o--

> I

. . . . .

--/----=L=

=--

~o

:7"r'FIMIArMTTr~A [S~OIMDIJ IFIMIA IMIJ Ia IA Islo IN IDlE IF IMIA IMI J Ij IA Is IOINID I

1981 Ij_ 1982 j_ 1983

For legend see Figure 8

Figure ii

H o r i z o n t a l effective stress v. time at three points on core centre line

113 Computed ~ .... Measured ~ Elastic c.p.c.sm.

750 7~0
730 -~ 720

750
740

For legend see Figure 12

~\~

o" = Total stress o"= Effective stress

E

730
720 c
0 OJ LU

.~ 710
700
LtJ

710
700

690 680 670

100 300 500 700 Vertical stress (kPa)

69O
680

670

i
100 300 500 700 Horizontal stress (kPa)

Figure 12

Vert. stress v. el. on core centre line at end of c o n s t r u c t i o n

Figure 13

Hot. stress v. el. on core centre line at end of c o n s t r u c t i o n

114 H 2000 Upstream

Core

7 % * z 5 I 2 k

1500

7--==

1000

/ 0 -

./

./

500

I 100

A?
_.-.
,/
-_e

\.

Pore pressure

150 (a1 Elastic Computed

200 m

2000 Measured

------Effective stress -Total stress -.-.Overburden (gh) Effective stress o A Total stress

01 100 150 (b) c.p.c.s.m 200 m

Figure 14 Vertical stress profile at el. 580 at end of construction

115 2000 t Forlegend see Figure 14

G 1000
L

>

500

(a) Elastic

7% 1500 %
VI

5 1000

0
150 (bl c.p.c.s.m. 200 m

Figure 15

Vertical

stress profile at el. 705 at end of construction

116 2000 r u For Legendsee Figure 14 Upstream _I_ ._.-.-' / .I ./ Core Downstream w f'\ /' '1. \

0 100 150 (a) Elastic 200m

2000
3 a

: 2 zi -iG 1000 + s .N P 500

1500

r
/. , .-.-.
0 0.

\.,

I
100

1
150 (b) c.p.c.s.m.

I
200m

Figure 16 Horizontal stress profile at el. 680 at end of construction

2000 r

117

For legend see Figure 14

100

150 (a) Elastic

200m

2000

.A.

A-A
\

.J

-0e

100

150 (b)c.p.c.s.m.

200m

Figure 17

Horizontal stress profile at el. 705 at end of construction

750
7&O 730 E 720

c p c .s .m ,. M e a s u e ~ r d A
118

Corn Juted - -

Elastic

....

750 mI

For legend see Figure 1B

7~0
730 720

.~ 710
700 690

g 710
700

690 680
100 300 500 700 Vertical stress (kPa)

680 670

670 100 300 500 700

Horizontal stress (kPa)

Figure

18

Vert. stress v. el. on core centre line at the end of 1983

Figure

19

Hor. stress v. el. on core c e n t r e line at the end of 1983

119
Upstream Core Downstream
~ L

2000
For tegend see

1500
O.

1000
,.,_

/14"" --'~"~~'~~
/'~.
-!

Figure 1/+

,.--

>

500

I
I I

I
/ /

CL_~,"~- Pore pressure

I
100

I
150

I
200m

(a) Etastic

2000

1500
-n

~u ..

1000

:,v-

500

--I"""~ '~ II I I
-i

b A l
/~. a_Li" Pore pressure

I
100

[
150 (bl c.p.c.sm.

I
200m

Figure 20

Vertical stress profile at el. 680 at end of 1983

120

2000
t

For legend see Figure 14

a Y

1500

: ; 1000 VI 6 2 5 500

50

'100 (a1Elastic

150m

2000

150 (b) c.p.c.s.m.

200m

Figure 21

Vertical stress profile at el. 705 at end of 1983

121 For legend see Figure 14 Downstream

0
150 2000 2 r 2 : VI (a) Elastic 200m

1500

E
z 'C 2

1000

500

0 100
150 (b) c.p.c.s.m. 200m

Figure

22

Horizontal stress profile at el. 680 at end of 1983

122

2000

For legend see Figure 14

Upstream Core Downstream

x a r : 2

1500

W4

d--L-

1000

0
lOO_----'

k-1 150 (a)Elastic

I 200m

2000

r
.

.-1.

.p. \
\./

1
Pore pressure

0
__-100

0 150 (b) c.p.c.s.m 200m

Figure 23

Horizontal

stress profile

at el. 705 at end of 1983

123
DISCUSSION

Oeaeral

Knight et al [1] compared measured settlements and stresses against computed values. These were obtained by an effective stress analysis which used the measured A key feature of the consolidation analysis calculated. T h e y can therefore be

pore pressures as part of the input data. described here is that the pore

pressures are

compared with the measurements, thus adding the time dimension to the calibration process.

A further feature of the present work is that it provides information on the spatial distribution of pore pressures, stresses and displacements over the full section of the dam. the Consequently, if reasonable agreement with the measurements is obtained at points, is credibility as is the given to the computed take values elsewhere. account local

instrumentation however,

Caution,

necessary

analysis

cannot

into

inhomogeneities in, for example, permeability which could cause local pore variations.

pressure

Stress and Pore Pressure

The variation with time of pore pressure (expressed as piezometric elevation), and vertical and horizontal effective stresses on the core centre line are shown in Figures 9, I0 and II respectively. Agreement with measurement is generally good. T h e main

differences are in the pore pressures and effective stresses towards the end of, and following, reservoir filling. During these stages the pore pressures are less than

measured at El. 680 and 765 for both the elastic and c.p.c.s.m, analyses (Figure 9), the vertical effective stresses are also less than measured at El. 705 for both models (Figure I0), and the horizontal effective stresses at El. 680 are less than measured for the elastic modelling.

A possible explanation of the lower calculated pore pressures during reservoir filling is a reduction in compressibility associated with the dissolving of any remaining air bobbles in the core. This could not be reproduced in the analyses. Also it is This means

likely that the core is negatively dilatant in the lower parts of the dam. that shearing will reduce the voids under drained conditions or pressures if undrained.

induce excess pore

This phenomenon is not incorporated in the elastic modelling.

Pore pressures greater than calculated would therefore result from the shear stresses in the core caused by the rising reservoir. Negative dilatancy is, however, incorporated in

124
the c.p.c.s.m, and it is significant that this has reduced the discrepancy (Figure 9).

The undercalculation of the vertical effective stresses (and also the total stresses) at the core centre is probably due to the actual arching being less than calculated (see below). This may be due tO undercalculation of shear strains within the initially soft

core which would allow it to settle relative to the shoulders thus reducing hang up in the upper regions and allowing the core to be supported within itself rather than by shear and arching to the shoulders. incorporated in the numerical resistance to hydraulic There may be rheological effects which are not This is reassuring as it implies a impounding than indicated by the greater analyses.

models. after

fracturing

Regarding the horizontal effective stresses, the discrepancy in the elastic analyses at the bottom level disappears with the c.p.c.s.m. This is the most marked difference in the

results from the two sets of analyses and suggests that the c.p.c.s.m, work is the more realistic.

Figures 12 and 13 show the variation of total and effective vertical and horizontal stresses, and the pore pressures as the differences between them, with elevation on the core centre at the end of construction. The same information is provided on

horizontal sections at the lower two instrumentation levels (El. 680 and 705) in Figures 14 to 17 inclusive. These data extend the information available from the

instrumentation to other parts of the dam as has been mentioned above.

There are no

very great differences between the analyses and the measurements at this stage.

The stress distributions at the end of construction shown in Figures 14, 15, 16 and 17 are of particular interest for two reasons. Firstly the vertical stress distribution

(Figures 14 and 15) indicates some load transfer, or arching, from the core to the rock fill shoulders. The difference between the total vertical stress (full lines) and the

theoretical overburden pressure, i.e. the self weight of a column of overlying material, (chain dotted line) demonstrates this. (The overburden pressure distribution will differ

significantly from the triangular shape of the cross section; furthermore the density of the core material is only about 75% of the density of the shoulders.) data reveal any tendency for tensions to develop in the core by Secondly the the the minimum end of

compressive effective stress developed. construction. considered.

This is everywhere positive at

This is not quite the case at the end of impounding as will now be

The reservoir-full stress and pore pressure distributions presented in Figures 18 to 23 inclusive show limited regions near the upstream edge of the core where the

effective stresses are at or close to zero.

They are marginally tensile in the elastic

125
modelling (Figures 2Oa, 21a, 22a and 23a), These stresses are higher for the
In view of the

c.p.c.s.m, and are all compressive except for the horizontal effective stresses in Figures 22b and 23b which just touch zero at the core/upstream fill interface. fact that these tensile regions are ~ r y stress profiles which would disappear

localized, being sharp dips in the calculated if smoothed lines were drawn, it may be

concluded that tension is not indicated by the modelling. discussed, the effective stresses measured in the core calculated, thus providing reassurance on this point.

Furthermore,

as already

are generally higher than those

Deto~ao~

The computer deformations shown in Figures 6 and 7 give good agreement between measurement and calculation at the end of construction. tally closely with those presented in Reference 1. The elastic results

This is a consequence of the good (In Reference 1 measured

agreement in the calculated pore pressures at this stage. pore pressures were used as data). from the elastic at the core centre. T h e c.p.c.s.m,

deformations are little different

The measured settlements slightly exceed those calculated for the during and after impounding stages (Figures ? and 8). incorporated in the modelling. This is attributed to the rheological effects not

CONCLUSIONS

Two-dimensional coupled consolidation analyses, incorporating f'wst elastic and then the continuous plasticity critical state elasto-plastic model for the clay core, have been used to provide comparison with measured values of settlement, pore pressure and stress during construction, reservoir filling, and for most of the subsequent year.

The

generally good agreement between

the computed

and

measured values

demonstrates the ability of the modelling techniques to reproduce realistic distributions of settlement, pore pressure and stress in space and time. Since the analyses were

beck-analyses, with some of the parameters adjusted to provide a good overall fit with the measurements, conclusions cannot be drawn about the predictive role of the

modelling. and

The tests on the clay core samples did, however, provide realistic stiffness parameters for the critical state model, but the permeability values

strength

obtained from these tests were much lower (about one order of magnitude) than the best overall fit values.

126
The results enhance the data from the instrumentation by allowing these to be extrapolated across the dam section for various idealisations.

The calculated distributions of stresses across horizontal sections provide some indication of h a n g - u p at the edges of the core due to the relatively stiff shoulders. These show low, but positive, effective stresses in the unusually low density core.

I.zcalised tensile values at the core/upstream shoulder interface calculated by the elastic analyses are concluded to be unrealistic. will be prevented by plastic yielding. Any tendency for tensile stresses to develop This is supported by the elasto-plastic

(c.p.c.s.m.) analyses, which show compressive effective stresses in this region.

The tendency for the calculated pore pressure to be less than measured towards the end of impounding is tentatively attributed to an actual reduction in pore-fluid compressibility as the core became fully saturated in the early stages of impounding. This change in compressibility could not be modelled. A further reason in the case of

the elastic analyses was their inability to model negative dilatancy (or contractancy), the existence of which would in reality cause an increase in pore pressure as the core deformed in shear. ability to model this. The higher pore pressures from the c.p.c.s.m, are attributed to its

The undercalculation of effective vertical stresses in the core at the later stages is attributed to undercalculation of shear strains at yield stress states in the clay core, and to the inability of the modelling to incorporate rheologicai (creep) effects which would in practice reduce the load transfer from the core to the relatively rigid shells. The undercalculation of core settlements at the later stages is also attributed to these factors.

ACKNO~

~nG[~.MENTS

The authors thank the Fiji Electricity Authority and their Consulting Engineers Gibb Australia (Pry) Ltd for permission to publish this paper. They are also grateful

to Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners for their support in the joint collaboration involved.

Thanks are also due to the Science and Engineering Research Council, and to Mr. S. L. Tong who was employed as a Research Assistant under S.E.R.C.'s Grant OR/D/23886. Parallel research on the Monasavu Dam was done under this grant which

made a significant contribution to the work presented in this paper.

127 I~_.,I~NC]F__~

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