An XFEM-Based Analysis of Concrete Face Cracking in Rockfill Dams

The concrete face of a rockfill dam is a long and thin slab structure, which is highly susceptible to fracture when subjected to the settlement of the dam. The study of the generation and propagation of cracks in the concrete face of rockfill dams is of great significance to dam construction and face crack prevention. In this study, the initiation and propagation of cracks in the concrete face of a rockfill dam are investigated using an extended finite element method (XFEM) and ABAQUS software for the Gongboxia concrete-face rockfill dam. A numerical model for this dam is established using a finite element method, and the face stress and deformation distributions are obtained. Based on the results, a numerical model is built to find the location where cracks are initiated in the face. The displacement of the entire model is treated as the equivalent displacement for the numerical model. XFEM is utilized throughout the modeling process to obtain the stress concentration, crack initiation, and crack propagation in the concrete face, and an analysis of crack initiation and propagation is conducted. Finally, the effects of the thickness of concrete covers and reinforcement layers on the stress intensity of crack tips are also discussed using the established numerical model, and techniques for controlling the fracturing of the concrete face have been proposed in this paper.