Numerical simulation of cracks of homogeneous earth dams using an extended finite element method

Cracks are most frequently and easily to be detected in seismic damage of earth dams, which may seriously affect the performance and function of the earth dam structure. Statistical analysis for crack situations of homogeneous earth dams in Wenchuan Earthquake is conducted, and based on finite element parallel computing cluster platform of ABAQUS, a model for crack propagation of homogeneous earth dams is established by means of the two-dimensional extended finite element method. The results demonstrate that a relatively high-demanding mesh quality is required in this method, the mesh elements should be uniform in size, and the mesh density present little effect on the calculated results. Under the same input ground motion, the crack extension seems more severe when there is a deeper initial crack, and the crack propagation path grows deeper with the increasing input peak acceleration. The crack propagation rule is consistent with the actual crack situation in the crest of earth dams, thus the proposed model has some significance for judgment and prediction of crack depth in engineering applications.