Allowable Grouting Pressure by Fracture Mechanics

in Concrete Dams

Li Tan Dahai Huang

School of Transportation Science and Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
tanli610@gmail.com

Abstract—As a main damage control method, chemical grouting
is widely used in various concrete dams for dealing with harmful
cracks. The kernel of good quality grouting is the allowable
grouting pressure, which is calculated in view of fracture
mechanics by weight function method in this paper. Different
fracture calculating models are established and the stress
intensity factors of them are obtained. The results show that the
concrete fracture toughness, the crack length and the stress
distribution along crack face are the three important influence
factors of the allowable grouting pressure. Finally the suggestion
of crack grouting pressure value is made by author, which may
be useful for engineering application.
Keywords-concrete dam; fracture mechanics;chemical grouting;
allowable pressure;
I. INTRODUCTION
There are always cracks appeared in mass concrete dams
during construction or operating period due to large tensile
force caused by temperature, concrete’s low tensile strength,
and something else like foundation treatment[1]. As a main
damage control method, crack chemical grouting is widely
used in various concrete dams’ construction for harmful cracks.
The kernel of good quality grouting is the allowable grouting
pressure, which can neither be too high in case of making
cracks propagation nor too small so that serous fluid cannot
flow and cracks couldn’t be repaired at all. At present, the
grouting pressure used for dam damage control is mainly
determined by experience or water-pressure tests on fields,
which is usually no more than 0.4MPa [2]. However, there is
nearly no theory analysis on this project. Zhang Guoxin
attempted to use a center crack model to analyze the grouting.
[3]
As a quasi-brittle material, which shows nonlinear behavior
when crack extends, concrete crack extending characteristics is
analyzed by fracture mechanics in recent years [4]. In this
paper, by changing the grouting pressure distribution along the
crack face, different two dimensional fracture calculating
models for crack chemical grouting are established. Then the
stress intensity factors as well as the crack displacements are
obtained in view of fracture mechanics by weight function
method. It turns out the concrete fracture toughness; the stress
distribution along crack face, and the crack length are the three
important influence factors of the allowable grouting pressure
in concrete dam construction, which may be useful for
engineering application.
II. CONCRETE FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
There are three types of cracks, termed mode ĉ (opening
model), Ċ (sliding model) and ċ (shear model) in literature.
Mode ĉ , a normal-opening mode, is the one seen most
dangerous in cracks of mass concrete dams. According to
classical fracture mechanics [5], the crack extension depends
on the stress intensity nearby the crack tip as well as concrete
cracking resistance in expression of fracture toughness instead
the overall stress condition of the whole geometry. Crack
extends when the stress intensity factor of crack tip reaches to
the critical value, which leads to the concrete dam crack
extension rule,
KI d KIC (1)
Where K I is the stress intensity factor for model ĉ, which is
influenced by specimen figure, size, the external force and how
the crack distributes; and K IC is concrete fracture toughness,
which is the material characteristic. As a quasi-brittle material,
the tensile strength of concrete is low and the fracture process
shows obvious nonlinear behavior, which leads to size effect
(the tested fracture toughness changes as geometry size). But
when specimen size is big enough, the tested results of
concrete fracture toughness are relatively fixed, and only
affected by concrete mix proportion, concrete strength and
vintage. The fracture toughness of mass concrete is mainly
between 0.8MPa ˜ m1/ 2  1.2MPa ˜ m1/ 2 through large number of
lab work of Professor Xu Shilang [6].
III. WEIGHT FUNCTION METHOD
Weight function method is a two-dimensional elastic crack
solution as a function of crack length A for any loading
V ( X ) enables one to determine the stress intensity factor for
the same body under any other loading, which is widely used in
fracture mechanics. It is an approximate method with high
accuracy. The expression for stress intensity factor of any
geometry is given by [7]

978-1-4577-0290-7/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

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 A
E' wU ( A, X )
K ³
K r ( A) 0
V (X ) r
wA
dX (2)

Where the coordinate X coincides with the crack line with its
origin at the crack mouth; E c for elastic modulus, K r ( A) the 
reference stress intensity factor and U r ( A, X ) represents the Fig.1 Cracks appeared in one concrete arch dam
reference crack face displacement. To get a non-dimensional
form, a normalizing stress V 0 and a characteristic dimension Lower grouting
hole
W is introduced. In addition, Grouting holes
Deep grouting
x X / W ˈa A / W ,V ( x) V ( X ), ur (a, x) U r ( A, X ) / W (3) hole

Thus,
a
y z
K ( A) / W k (a) ³ V ( x ) m( a, x ) d x
0
(4) x y

And also in dimensional form, (a) (b)

V ( x ) m( a, x )
a
K ( A) f (a )V 0 S aW , f (a) ³ dx (5)
0 V0 Sa Higher
grouting holes
In which m(a, x) is the weight function, Grouting holes
Ec wur Lower grouting
m( a, x ) ( a, x ) (6)
f r (a )V 0 S a wa holes

And in (6), f r (a) is defined by z z

x y
f r (a ) K r ( A) / [V S W ] (7)
In the equations above, V ( x) is the distributed stress along (c) (d)
crack faces. The key point of weight function method is to Fig.2 Chemical grouting sketches: horizontal cracks: (a) plane, (b) section;
choose the reference method and to get the value weight vertical cracks: (c) front elevation, (d) side elevation
function m(a, x) . Different weight functions can be calculated The analyze situations include uniform stress, linear stress with
by integration through the method showed in reference 7. zero at the crack tip, linear stress with nonzero at the crack tip,
nonlinear stress with zero at the tip and nonlinear stress with
IV. DIFFERENT FRACTURE CALCULATING MODELS
nonzero at the tip. Now, the geometry shape is determined as
Cracks appeared in concrete arch dam usually falls into rectangular, the crack style is determined as edge crack, the
horizontal cracks and vertical cracks based on their crack stress along the crack faces has separated into five kinds. Then
trends. When treat the horizontal cracks by chemical grouting, finally, the fracture calculating models simulating the chemical
the serous fluid is usually grouted from one side to another side grouting process are stated in figure 3, including five different
or first center then both sides, depends on the specific kinds of grouting stresses showed at the bottom of each figure
situations [8]. And also it is grouted from bottom to the top, individually, and the plate width W 20m according to regular
deep holes first then shallow ones. So it is important that when concrete dams.
grout, cracks propagation deep down is prevented. When treat
vertical cracks, it is also crucial that cracks cannot be extended
V. THE STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR
along the original cracks.
Through the weight function method, first each f value of
Here take some horizontal and vertical cracks shown in one
separate stress distribution is obtained. Then the stress intensity
concrete arch dam for examples. And the pictures of real cracks
are shown in figure 1. Based on the grouting method described factor K is calculated. From reference 8, f value for edge-
above, the sketches of how cracks are grouted by chemical cracked plate can be gained by the integration in (7),
fluid used on fields can be drawn in figure 2. From the sketches, a
V ( x ) m( a, x ) 1
a
V ( x) 5 x i  32
it can be seen that the dangerous part are all falls into crack f ³0 V 0 S a dx ¦
2S a ³0 V 0 i 1
Gi ( a ) ˜ (1 
a
) dx (8)
propagation deep down the crack from the edge. In summary,
either horizontal or vertical crack grouting can all be simulated Where the functions of Ei (a) , i 1..5 are expressed in (9)-(12),
as an edge crack in a limited rectangular or square plate.
Also, the resistance serous fluid encountered when flowing G1 (a ) 2.0 (9)
in cracks caused by friction from the crack walloff or fluid
6 105 E (a ) aF c(a ) (10)
itself should be taken into account, which will lead to stress G2 (a )  4  30
decrease along the way fluid flows. So different grouting stress (1  a ) 1 a F (a)
distributions along crack faces are considered in the paper. S3 ( a ) 26 455 E (a ) 52aF c(a ) (11)
G3 (a )     86
(1  a )3/2 (1  a ) 1 a 3F ( a )

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 A A A A A

y y y y y
X X X X X
W W W W W

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

x 4x
Fig.3 Fracture calculating models for different stress distributions: (a) V ( x) V 0 ; (b) V ( x) V 0 (  1) ; (c) V ( x) V 0 (  1) ;
a 5a

x 4 x2 8 x
(d) V ( x) V 0 (  1) 2 ; (e) V ( x) V 0 (   1)
a 5 a2 5 a
S4 (a) 154 539 E (a ) 308aF c(a ) 434 (12) K (a) f V 0 S aW (14)
G4 (a )    
(1  a )3/2 5(1  a ) 1 a 15 F (a ) 5
Where V 0 is the crack grouting pressure, which is the only
S5 ( a ) 54 189 E (a ) 36aF c(a ) 144 (13) unknown factor. The results of f and the value of
G5 (a )    
(1  a )3/2 5(1  a ) 1 a 5F (a) 5
K (a ) / V 0 f S aW are listed in table 1.
Once the geometry width and the stress distributions are
determined, the f values of five situations can be calculated by VI. THE ALLOWABLE GROUTING PRESSURE
(8) and the stress intensity factor K (a) is obtained by (5) and is
Now values of K (a) / V 0 is known, and only one step is left.
expressed as,
Table 1 the results of f and K (a) / V 0 f S aW for five models

Linear stress(nonzero at Nonlinear stress(zero at Nonlinear stress(nonzero

 Uniform stress Linear stress(zero at tip)
tip) tip) at tip)
Crack
length f value K (a) / V 0 f value K (a) / V 0 f value K (a) / V 0 f value K (a) / V 0 f value K (a) / V 0
A/m
1 1.1402 2.0210 0.4508 0.7990 0.5887 1.0434 0.2902 0.5144 0.4602 0.8157
2 1.1890 2.9804 0.4801 1.2034 0.6219 1.5588 0.3110 0.7796 0.4866 1.2197
4 1.3672 4.8466 0.5882 2.0851 0.7440 2.6374 0.4020 1.4249 0.5950 2.1092
6 1.6602 7.2079 0.7685 3.3367 0.9469 4.1109 0.5194 2.2551 0.7476 3.2457
8 2.1113 10.5845 1.0491 5.2592 1.2615 6.3242 0.7237 3.6280 1.0012 5.0193
10 2.8241 15.8291 1.4981 8.3968 1.7633 9.8833 1.0525 5.8993 1.4068 7.8852
12 4.0333 24.7643 2.2700 13.9375 2.6226 16.1029 1.6216 9.9568 2.1040 12.9183
14 6.3558 42.1511 3.7701 25.0029 4.2872 28.4325 2.7325 18.1219 3.4572 22.9278
16 11.9548 84.7573 7.4323 52.6936 8.3368 59.1064 5.4582 38.6979 6.7576 47.9098

The allowable grouting pressure of five different situations
can be finally obtained by (1), the concrete dam crack
extension rule in fracture mechanics. Set the concrete fracture
toughness as, 0.8MPa ˜ m1/ 2 , 1.0MPa ˜ m and 1.2MPa ˜ m1/ 2 ,
1/ 2
and the allowable grouting pressure are obtained for three
conditions. The results are plotted in three figures separately in
figure 4 and listed in table 2.
From the plots it can be seen that concrete fracture
toughness affects the allowable pressure significantly. The
allowable pressure increases as the fracture toughness increase
in proportion. The allowable grouting pressure varies a lot as
the stress distribution along crack faces changes, especially by
the stress distributed around crack. As it can be seen that for
both linear stress and both nonlinear stress, the allowable
pressure is much smaller when the stress at crack tip is nonzero.

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 (a) (b) (c)
Fig.4 Allowable grouting pressure of five models in three conditions: (a) K IC 0.8MPa ˜ m1/ 2 ; (b) K IC 1.0MPa ˜ m1/ 2 ;
(c) K IC 1.2MPa ˜ m1/ 2
Table 2 Allowable grouting pressure (MPa) with three values of K IC
Linear stress(zero at Linear stress(nonzero Nonlinear stress(zero at Nonlinear stress(nonzero
 Uniform stress
tip) at tip) tip) at tip)
K IC / MPa ˜ m1/ 2 / K IC / MPa ˜ m1/ 2 K IC / MPa ˜ m1/ 2 K IC / MPa ˜ m1/ 2 K IC / MPa ˜ m1/ 2
crack
length/m
0.8 1.0 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.2

1 0.40 0.49 0.59 1.00 1.25 1.50 0.77 0.96 1.15 1.56 1.94 2.33 0.98 1.23 1.47

2 0.27 0.34 0.40 0.66 0.83 1.00 0.51 0.64 0.77 1.03 1.28 1.54 0.66 0.82 0.98

4 0.17 0.21 0.25 0.38 0.48 0.58 0.30 0.38 0.45 0.56 0.70 0.84 0.38 0.47 0.57

6 0.11 0.14 0.17 0.24 0.30 0.36 0.19 0.24 0.29 0.35 0.44 0.53 0.25 0.31 0.37

8 0.08 0.09 0.11 0.15 0.19 0.23 0.13 0.16 0.19 0.22 0.28 0.33 0.16 0.20 0.24

10 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.17 0.20 0.10 0.13 0.15

12 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.09 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.06 0.08 0.09

14 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.06 0.07 0.03 0.04 0.05

16 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.03

VII. THE ALLOWABLE GROUTING PRESSURE REFERENCES

Fracture mechanics are used to analyze the allowable
grouting stress in concrete dam theoretically, which is helpful
for engineering application. Five different stress distributions
in grouting process are assumed according to grouting
technique and the stress intensity factors are obtained
correspondently. Here are the conclusions from the whole
analysis:
(1) The stress intensity factors of concrete dam cracks varies
a lot when the stress distribution changes. And when the
stress at the crack tip falls down to zero, it helps a lot to
increase the allowable grouting pressure.
(2) The allowable grouting pressure decreases significantly as
crack length increase, which leads to the subsection
grouting of about 2-4m.
(3) The concrete fracture toughness affects the allowable
grouting pressure obviously. Based on the analysis on
three conditions of fracture toughness, the allowable
grouting pressure used on fields when grouted in section
of 2-4m should be no more than 0.8MPa .
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[M]. Beijing: China electric power press, 2003.(in Chinese)
[2] Chunhua Wang, Shaojun Zou. Treatment of three major penetrating
cracks and 3# parapet crack of Qingtongxia hydropower dam [J] Dam
and Safty,1998.(4),pp.61-65.(in Chinese)
[3] Guoxin Zhang, Haifeng Li. Research on allowable grouting pressure of
concrete crack by means of fracture mechanics [J].Water resources and
hydropower engineering, 2009,(40), pp. 52-55.(in Chinese)
[4] Shlang Xu, Hans W. Reinhardt. Determination of double-K criterion for
crack progagation in quasi-brittle fracture. International Journal of
Fracture 98 [J].1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 111-149 ,1999
[5] Irwin, G.R..Analysis of stress and strains near the end of a crack
traversing a plate [J]. Journal of Applied Mechanics.1957,(24),pp 361-
364.
[6] Xu Shilang, Zhou Hougui, Gao Hongbo, etc. An experimental study on
double-K fracture parameters of concrete for dam construction with
various grading aggregates [J].China Civil Engineering
Journal,2006,(11),pp 50-62.
[7] Xue-Ren Wu and A.Janne Carlsson. Weight functions and stress
intensity factor solutions [M]. 1991.
[8] SL230-98 Specifications for maintenance and repair for concrete
dam[S].Beijing: the ministry of water resources of the People’s Republic
of China, 1999.(in Chinese)

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