Causations and Properties of Gate Pier Cracks of Concrete Dam in Northern Cold Region

摘要

The dam crack is a crucial factor in the safety running of a dam. It turns out that Shenwo Reservoir dam has plenty of gate piers with multiple penetrative cracks through our on-site inspection, which threatens the safety of the dam greatly. The causations of the gate pier cracks of concrete dam were investigated using three-dimensional finite element method (FEM). Possible causations to induce cracks were considered and a sensitive analysis was studied on temperature drop. The result shows that serious dam cracks are not possible to appear if the gate pier is under normal structural loadings, while the drop temperature and ice bulge from seepage water are the main reasons in northern cold region for concrete dam to have cracks.