Refined numerical simulation of structural behaviors for high core wall rockfill dams based on construction digitization

In order to consider the impact of actual construction quality on the structural behaviors for high core wall rockfill dams, a refined numerical simulation method for analyzing the structural behaviors of rockfill dams based on construction digitization is proposed. Firstly, the construction quality at any location of the dam is estimated by utilizing the construction digitization technologies. Secondly, the regression models between dam compaction quality and the model parameters are established using the samples of laboratory tests. Then the spatial estimation of model parameters at any dam location is achieved. On this basis, these parameters of each element are assigned by program development. Finally, the refined finite element simulation is proposed for analyzing the stress and deformation of high core wall rockfill dams. And the refined extended-finite-element simulation is presented for predicting the potential hydraulic fractures of high core wall. The calculated results show that the proposed method represents the structural behaviors more objectively and accurately, and it fully considers the spatial differences in mechanical model parameters resulting from the spatial difference in actual construction quality, thus representing an improvement in accuracy from the conventional methods which typically assign the same parameter values to the elements of the same dam zone.