Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

2011, 3 (2): 186192

Stress-strain analysis of Aikou rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete core

Chaoyang Fang, Zhenzhen Liu
State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
Received 13 December 2010; received in revised form 4 March 2011; accepted 24 March 2011

Abstract: Aikou rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete core is situated in a karst area in Chongqing City, China. In order to study
the operative conditions of the rockfill dam, especially those of the asphalt-concrete core, the Duncan model is adopted to
compute the stress and strain of both the rockfill dam and the asphalt-concrete core after karst grouting and other treatments.
The results indicate that the complicated stress and deformation of both the dam body and the core are within reasonable
ranges. It is shown that structure design and foundation treatment of the dam are feasible and can be used as a reference for
other similar projects.
Key words: asphalt-concrete core; rockfill dam; Aikou reservoir; stress and deformation

cushion layer, transition layer, and downstream main

1 Introduction rockfill. The maximal cross-sectional profile of the
dam is shown in Fig.1.
Aikou rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete core is The main stratum of the dam foundation is
located on the Pingjiang River, about 1.7 km away composed of dolomite 3 of Houba group of
from Aikou Town in Xiushan County, Chongqing City, Cambrian system, limestone with dolomite of Moda
and about 0.6 km downstream of the estuary of the group; Ordovician system O1t in dam left abutment,
Liangqiao River merging with the Cenlong River. limestone O1h , and a small amount of dolomite
Some data related to the reservoir, the dam and the limestone. Here, 3m , O11t , O1t3 and O1h are karst
core are listed in Table 1. layers, 3h is normally a weak karst layer, and O1t2
and O1d are water-resistant layers. Karst is also
Table 1 Data related to the reservoir, the dam and the core. m strongly developed at the fault. The descriptions of the
Normal Safety check Elevation of Elevation of Maximum Crest rocks corresponding to different strata are shown in
water level flood level dam top the wave wall dam height width
Table 2.
544.45 548.90 549.20 550.30 80.20 10 Karst is developed in the whole dam site. On the left
Maximum Maximum height Top core Core width at bank, a karst system of K w3 and K w2 is developed,
Crest length
base width of core width elevation of 481.0 m which is duct-like and relatively isolated. The dam
238.28 217.0 70 0.6 1.2 foundation is located on the layer 13m , a strongly
developed karst layer, where the minimal straight rate
The core width expands to 3.0 m from the elevation of limestone cavern is 5.08% and the maximum is 50%.
of 481.0 m to the top of the grouting gallery, following On the right bank, the abutment is mainly located on
the ratio of 1:0.3. Copper seals are set to ensure the an ancient streambed, where karst layers 3m and
connection between the concrete and the asphalt- 3h are fully developed, and K w12 , K w51 and
concrete core. w103 systems exist. The elevation of karst layer in
From upstream to downstream of the river, the dam the dam right abutment and dam right bed can reach
body is arranged as follows: upstream main rockfill, 330370 m.
transition layer, roller-compacted asphalt-concrete core, The hydraulic conductivity of rock mass is moderate
on the left bank, but it is very strong on the riverbed.
Doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1235.2011.00186
Corresponding author. Tel: +86-18986162669; E-mail: 404741985@qq.com Among the total tested sections, 38.9% have a value of
Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192 187

10 m
C20 reinforced concrete wave wall
2.5 m
550.25 m (check
548.63 m (design 557.70 m
flood level) 550.50 m
flood level)
548.00 m
544.45 m (normal pool level) 554.70 m

C15 precast concrete block slope (150 mm)

Crushed stone (200 mm)

3m
Transition layer (2.73.0 m) 525.00 m
C20 precast concrete block slope (150 mm) Asphalt-concrete core wall (0.61.2 m)
Crushed stone (200 mm) Cushion layer (4.44.7 m)
Transition layer (3.0 m)

Asphalt-concrete core
505.15 m (dead water level) centerline
M7.5 grouted rubble drainage ditch
501.50 m 502.15 m (sand accretion elevation) 500.00 m Main rockfill zone (3B) 499.00 m

Blast backfill
Main rockfill zone (3B) Original ground level
Dam axis Blast backfill

Qal4
Qal4 478.00 m Qal4

470.50 m
466.00 m Gallery
Curtain grouting Host rock boundary
13m 13m

13m

Fig.1 Cross-section of the dam body.

Table 2 Rocks corresponding to different strata. measures are adopted. First, karst caves were dug up in
Stratum Description the depth of 35 m underground, and then they were
backfilled with concrete C15. Second, consolidation
O11t Muddy band limestone with dark gray crude crystal
grouting was employed. The grouting holes were
O1t2 Black gray dolomitic shale
gradually deepened and thickened by using the
O1t3 Dark gray limestone with dolomite
so-called three-sequence-aperture method. The distance
O1d Siltstone with shale and purple shale with marl between the aperture pitches of sequence I is 12 m, and
3h Light gray to gray microcrystal dolomite the depth of the aperture pitches varies from 36 m in
3m
Light gray to gray dense limestone and dolomitic limestone the dams foundation to 13 m at the dams toe, heel and
and dolomite
abutment. Similarly, the distance between the aperture
pitches of sequence II is 6 m, and the depth varies from
q > 10 Lu. The hydraulic conductivity of rock mass on
21 to 13 m; the distance between the aperture pitches
the right bank is the strongest, with 67.2% having a
of sequence III is 3 m, and the depth is 13 m.
value of q > 10 Lu, and 29.4% having a value of q < 5
During construction, if there appeared any karst
Lu. cave with the diameter more than 12 m at the bottom
The karst at the dam base is strongly, of the apertures of sequence I, the nearby apertures of
asymmetrically and unevenly developed. The karst sequences II and III would be deepened to the depth of
straight rate of the foundation at the depth of 040 m is sequence I. If the diameter of a karst cave at the bottom
0%78%, averaging 21.15%. The karst cave is filled of the apertures of sequence II was more than 8 m, the
with mud, sand and gravel with an average filling rate around apertures of sequence I would be deepened to
of more than 77%. The largest cave is up to 12.92 m in the depth of sequence II [1, 2].
diameter. Therefore, local collapsing of dam Based on these measures, it is indicated that the
foundation probably exists. stability of the dam base can be ensured [3]. In this
In order to prevent collapsing, and to ensure the paper, the deformation and safety of the dam body and
stability of the dam foundation, two reinforcement the asphalt-concrete core are studied [4].
188 Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192

g F lg 3
2 Computational methods and t pa (3)
parameters (1 A) 2
1 3
Since asphalt-concrete is a hybrid material with A n
(4)
Rf (1 sin )( 1 3 )
multi-phase and multi-component characteristics, its Kpa 3 1
pa 2c cos 2 3 sin
compacted structural and physico-mechanical
properties are not only correlated with the material According to geological data, the karst filling
quality and the physical characteristics of the adoptive materials are mostly clayey soil with low-strength
minerals, but also related to the physico-chemical crushed stone.
characteristics of the minerals. Triaxial tests of asphalt- The physico-mechanical parameters of materials
concrete have been conducted at Tongji University. employed in Aikou rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete
Experimental results show that, when the lateral core are shown in Table 4.
pressure reaches 0.61.2 MPa, the stress-strain
relationship of asphalt-concrete can be described Table 4 Physico-mechanical parameters of materials of Aikou
approximately with hyperbola. Thus, it is reasonable to rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete core.
use the Duncan model to describe the stress-strain Unit Internal
Failure
relationship of high rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete weight, friction Cohesion,
Material ratio, K n G F D
angle, c (kPa)
Rf
core [5, 6]. (kN/m3) ()
Many studies have been carried out about rockfill Rockfill 21 35 0 0.8 1 000 0.3 0.37 0.1 11

dams with the asphalt-concrete core. The results show Transition

21.5 33 0 0.78 900 0.3 0.42 0.08 11
material
that with the Duncan model, the stress and deformation Asphalt-
23.5 24 120 0.82 600 0.4 0.42 0.08 7
concrete
analyses of dams are close to the actual ones, which Cushion
22 30 0 0.8 700 0.3 0.40 0.08 7
demonstrates the application of the Duncan model material
Backfill 20 35 0 0.75 500 0.4 0.38 0.15 2.7
[710]. The physico-mechanical parameters of the
materials used by Zhang et al. [7] are shown in Table 3,
where K, n, G, F and D are the experimental 3 Stress-strain analysis
parameters.

Table 3 Physico-mechanical parameters used in the analysis of

3.1 Classification of calculated loads
rockfill dam with asphalt-concrete core [7]. The deadweight of the dam body is the dominant
load during construction period. But in impoundment
Internal
Failure
Material
friction Cohesion,
ratio, K n G F D
period, the load also includes the water pressure acting
angle, c (kPa)
()
Rf on the core and the buoyancy acting on the dam body.
Rockfill 45.4 0.046 0.81 644 0.37 0.41 0.08 1.44 In this paper, based on the construction schedule, the
Asphalt- deadweight in construction period is divided into 10
26.9 0.24 0.72 273 0.28 0.48 0 0
concrete levels, and the water pressure in water storage period is
Backfill 47.44 0.045 0.90 950 0.39 0.47 0.09 1.48 divided into 8 levels. In the whole process, the water
level is considered to rise up to normal pool level and
The tangent modulus Et of the Duncan model is then drop to deadwater level and finally rise up again
given by [9, 10].
3.2 Analysis of computational results
Et (1 Rf S ) 2 Ei (1)
For simplicity, the computational results of
where Rf is the failure ratio, S is the stress level, and
deformation and stress patterns of the dam after
Ei is the initial tangent modulus.
construction and under the condition of normal pool
The Mohr-Coulomb criterion can be written as
level are listed Figs.26.
2c cos 2 3 sin The horizontal and vertical displacements of the
( 1 3 )f (2)
1 sin asphalt-concrete core and the stresses under different
The tangent Poissons ratio t is given by calculation conditions are shown in Fig.7.
Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192 189

550.5 m

525.0 m
240
220200
160
:2 .0 501.5 m 180 140 499.0 m
495.5 m 1 100 1:2
.0
489.7 m 120

40 60
20
(a) Vertical displacement.

550.5 m

10 525.0 m
30
Dam axis
.0 10 100
1:2 501.5 m 110 20 20 499.0 m 1:2
495.5 m 100 .0
90
80 70 90
50 60 70
40 50
30
20

(b) Horizontal displacement.

Fig.2 Displacement isolines of dam body after construction (unit: mm).

550.5 m

0.7 0.7 525.0 m

0.6
0.6
0
:2. 501.5 m 499.0 m
495.5 m 1 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.3 1:2
.0
489.7 m 0.3 0.2
0.1 0.4 0.2
0.3
0.4
0.2 0.5

Fig.3 Stress level isolines of dam body after construction.

550.5 m
544.44 m (normal pool level)
3010
525.0 m
70
50 210
.0 501.5 m
495.5 m 1:2 499.0 m 1:2
170 130 .0
489.7 m 10
90 50

(a) Vertical displacement.

550.5 m
544.45 m (normal pool level)
260
100120 240 525.0 m
6080
40 Dam axis 220
200
.0 501.5 m 180160
495.5 m 1:2 140
499.0 m 1:2
.0
120 100
80 60 40
0 0

(b) Horizontal displacement.

Fig.4 Displacement contour lines of dam body under the condition of normal pool level (unit: mm).
 190 Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192

550.5 m
544.45 m (normal pool level)

525.0 m
Dam axis
.0 501.5 m 0.6
:2 499.0 m 1:2
495.5 m 1 .0
0.8
0.2
1.0
0.4
0.6 1.2

Fig.5 The maximum principal stress isolines of dam body under the condition of normal pool level (unit: MPa).

550.5 m
544.45 m (normal pool level)

0.5
525.0 m

0.7
.0 501.5 m 0.3 0.7
495.5 m 1:2 499.0 m 1:2
0.1 .0
489.7 m 0.3 0.5

0.5 0.7
0.1

Fig.6 Stress level isolines of dam body under the condition of normal pool level.

Completion
Water level of 520 m
558 560 Normal pool level
548 550 Design flood level
Check flood level
540
538
Elevation (m)

530
528 520
Elevation (m)

510
518
Completion 500
508 Deadwater level
490
Water level of 520 m
498 Normal pool level 480
Design water level 470
488 Check water level 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Stress level
478 (c)
50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Fig.7 Comparisons of horizontal and vertical displacements and
Horizontal displacement (mm)
stress level of core wall under different operative conditions.
(a)

558 The displacement during the special impounding

process, in which the water level rises to the normal
548
pool level and then drops to 520 m and finally rises
538
again, is shown in Fig.8.
528 The computational results indicate that:
Elevation (m)

Completion
518 Deadwater level
(1) At all loads, the shear stress ratio (stress level)
Water level of 520 m between dam body and core is less than 1, which
508 Normal pool level shows that the stress rupture does not happen. The
Design flood level
498
Check flood level
maximum stress level is about 0.8 after dam
488 construction and it appears near the upstream face of
the dam. Because the deadwater level is comparatively
478
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 50 100 low, it has a little influence on the stress level of the
Vertical displacement (mm)
dam body. At water level of 520 m, the stress level of
(b) the upstream face of the dam increases, whereas the
 Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192 191

displacement of the core gradually changes its

558
direction to downstream and the maximum value
548
occurs at the top of the dam. At the normal pool level,
538 the maximum downward displacement at the dam top
Water level of 520 m
528 is 302.8 mm and the relative displacement at the
Elevation (m)

Normal pool level

518
Check flood level
bottom of the core is 269.0 mm. At the safety check
508 Falling from normal pool flood level, the maximum downward displacement at
level to water level of 520 m
498
the dam top is 379.4 mm and the relative displacement
Rising to normal pool level again
Rising to check flood level again
at the bottom of the core is 340 mm. The maximum
488
settlement after completion of dam construction is 281
478
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 mm. At the normal pool level and the safety check
Horizontal displacement (mm) flood level, those values are 206 and 198 mm,
(a) respectively. All of these happen at the height of
1/21/3 of the core. After impoundment, the top of the
558
core wall is lifted in different states, reaching 100 mm
548
in height at the safety check flood level. This indicates
538
that the change of displacement in the core is very
Elevation (m)

528 520 m water level

Normal pool level
518 Check flood level
Falling from normal pool
508
level to water level of 520 m
498 Rising to normal pool level again
Rising to check flood level again
488
478
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 50 100 150
Vertical displacement (mm)
(b)
Fig.8 Comparisons of horizontal and vertical displacements of
the core under conditions that the water level drops from the
normal water level to 520 m and then rises again.
safety level at the upstream dam decreases, and it is
disadvantageous to the dam safety. But at the normal
pool level, the high stress areas at the upstream dam
are deviated from the dam axis. The stress level at the
dam face decreases, and the safety level of the
upstream slope increases. At the same time, there are a
small number of elements with a stress level greater
than 0.9, which occurs at the berm of the downstream
slope. At the check flood level, there is little change in
the stress level of the upstream slope, but the number
of elements with greater stress levels increases below
the berm of the downstream slope. From the stress
level contours and their comparisons, we can see that
the downstream slope protection benefits both the
stability and the stress state of the downstream slope,
especially those near the downstream dam face.
(2) The asphalt-concrete core has a relatively larger
horizontal displacement. After dam construction, at the
bottom of the core and 2/3 of the dam height, an
upward displacement with a maximum value of 27.78
mm occurs. As the water level rises, the horizontal
complex. The stress level is less than 0.65 under
different conditions, so the core is safe. The change
pattern of the shear strength is basically consistent with
that of the core displacement. In order to cope with the
complicated changes of stress and displacement, which
may induce pore increasing in the asphalt-concrete and
the material deformation limitation to be exceeded,
high construction quality of the asphalt-concrete core
must be ensured. At the same time, the tests on
asphalt-concrete, cushion material and transition
material are needed to control all materials moduli
within a reasonable range, and to make sure that the
deformation of the asphalt-concrete is acceptable.
(3) The stress level and displacement near the
bottom of the core and the interface of the grouting
gallery are both small, and their changes are
comparatively mild and slow. This shows that the
structural shape and geometrical size adopted in the
design can guarantee the safety of the core.
(4) It can be observed from the isolines of the
maximum principal stress ( 1 ) that, at the same
elevation, the maximum principal stress of the
asphalt-concrete core is smaller than that of the
transition-cushion material on both sides, and the
settlement of the core is larger than that in the fillings
on both sides of the core, which indicates the
occurrence of arch effect. On the other hand, the
differences of maximum principal stress and settlement
between the core and the transition-cushion material on
both sides are small, which indicates that arch effect
is not very obvious, and the transition and cushion
layers play an important role. It can also be seen from
 192
the physico-mechanical parameters of the rockfill that
the deformation moduli of the cushion and transition
materials should be compatible with that of the
asphalt-concrete.
(5) At the normal pool level, the normal stress of the
core in the vertical direction and the hydraulic pressure
at corresponding elevations are shown in Fig.9. It can
be seen that the hydraulic pressure at any point of the
core is less than the normal stress. Therefore, no
hydraulic fracturing occurs.
550
540 Normal stress
Hydraulic pressure
530
Elevation (m)
520
510
500
490
480
470
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Stress (MPa)
Fig.9 Normal stress and hydraulic pressure of the core at various
elevations.
(6) The isolines of the stress level at different
heights and under different conditions show that after
impounding, the stress level in the middle and upper
core decreases. In other words, the impounding is
advantage for the upper part of the core. But in the
lower part of the core, the stress level is always
relatively higher.
(7) Unloading and reloading cycles will reduce the
horizontal displacement and increase the settlement
slightly. It implies that the water level fluctuation has a
little impact on the displacement of dam body, which
may be partly due to the little wetting deformation of
the rockfill materials.
(8) Unloading and reloading cycles have an impact
on the stress level, especially on the stress level of the
upstream dam face at the elevation of 535 m (about 2/3
of the dam height), where the stress level of a few
individual elements approaches 1. However, considering
the actual adoption of precast concrete block revetment,
as long as the precast blocks are mutually closely
dogged, the cushion layer and the project quality are
ensured, no failure of these units happens.
4 Conclusions
By applying the schemes proposed in this paper to
the karst base in Aikou dam project, the stress,
displacement and stability of the dam foundation can
Chaoyang Fang et al. / J Rock Mech Geotech Eng. 2011, 3 (2): 186192
meet the engineering requirements. Especially after the
foundation treatment, the displacement of the dam
foundation is clearly reduced, which is well beneficial
to the functioning of the asphalt-concrete core.
After the foundation treatment, no shear damage
occurs in the dam body or the asphalt-concrete core
under various loads, which shows that the design of the
dam structure is feasible. Due to the complex
deformation characteristics in the asphalt-concrete core,
further tests are needed.
The scheme of structural design and karst-
foundation treatment of Aikou rockfill dam with
asphalt-concrete core can provide a reference for other
similar projects.
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