Spatial Estimation of Material Parameters and Refined Finite-Element Analysis of Rockfill Dam Based on Construction Digitization

Quality levels for rockfill dam compaction (herein, porosity is an important index for assessing dam-material compaction quality) in any location can be estimated based on construction digitization technologies. According to the results of large-scale laboratory triaxial tests, the quantitative relationship between dam-material compaction quality and Duncan-Chang constitutive model parameters is established. In turn, the spatial estimation of model parameters of any location of a rockfill dam can be achieved. These parameters, which can reflect the actual conditions of dam-material compaction quality, can be assigned to each finite element by customizing Abaqus software. The refined three-dimensional (3D) rockfill dam model is then built for considering the influence of the actual foundation terrain on dam deformation. On this basis, the actual load process is determined from construction progress and practical dam appearances, and in turn, the refined finite-element modeling and analysis of structural behaviors (deformation and stress) occurring during rockfill dam construction is achieved. The proposed method considers spatial differences in constitutive model parameters resulting from the spatial differences in actual dam construction quality, thus representing an improvement in accuracy from the conventional method, which typically assigns the same parameters to elements of the same dam zone. A case study shows that the calculation results of the proposed method are more consistent with the measured values and can reflect structural behaviors more objectively. The method can serve as a new tool for simulating the regularity of the structural behaviors of rockfill dams.