Penitas Dam – In Situ Stress-Strain Characteristics of Materials

The deformability properties of all the materials of Penitas Dam (43-m high) are estimated based upon the measurement of total stresses, pore pressures and strains by means of the instrumentation placed inside the embankment. The results of these measurements indicate that all the materials show octahedral stress-octahedral strain cuasilinear relationships as if they were elastic. The values of the deformability moduli E and the Poisson\u27s ratios v computed from these relationships are compared with the moduli E obtained by means of confined plate bearing tests made in situ during construction of the dam, and are also used to feed a bidimensional finite element model analysis by which the states of stress and strain within the dam are computed and compared with the real stresses and strains measured