Effects on an earth and rockfill dam undergoing dam safety measures

Over the lifetime of a dam several measures are usually taken in order to assure the stability and the performance of the dam. In this case a hydropower dam in Northern Sweden is in need of dam safety measures. The question arose, what consequences there might be when such measures are performed. In order to estimate these effects, simulations have been carried out in the finite element programme PLAXIS 2D. Thereby, the deformations and the stability of the dam for the planned work can be evaluated. The performed simulations are based upon previously conducted research at Luleå University of Technology, where soil parameters in the investigated dam were identified by a method of inverse analysis.Three sections have been analysed: A, B and C. In section A increasing pore water pressure has been observed at the downstream side of the dam. Thereby it has been concluded that a new drainage system is needed; new trenches of large size are to be excavated. In section B new toe berms are planned, due to the requirement that the dam should be able to divert leakage without erosion occurring at the dam toe. This contains soil material that might degrade when stresses are increased, with intensified deformations as a consequence. In section C a new berm is to be constructed, before this can be conducted an excavation is performed at the toe of the dam.The results have shown deformations of an acceptable magnitude and factors of safety that indicate conditions for the planned dam safety measures. Numerical values of deformations and factors of safety can be utilised as an attempt to establish alarm values for the stability of the dam. The finite element method is a useful tool for this kind of evaluation.Godkänd; 2016; 20160607 (jastor