Experimental Tests of Rolled Compacted Concrete and Nonlinear Fracture Analysis of Rolled Compacted Concrete Dams

Abstract

Strain controlled uniaxial tensile and compressive tests of rolled compacted concrete (RCC) are conducted to establish the constitutive relationship of RCC. Complete stress-strain constitutive curves including strain-softening behavior of the material have been obtained. To satisfy the test requirements for obtaining the strain-softening behavior of the material, the stability conditions on specimen parameters and machine rigidity are described based on the concept of strain localization. By using test results of RCC, a 200-m high RCC gravity dam, Longtan Dam, is analyzed for earthquake resistance using the procedure of nonlinear fracture mechanics and the compression-shear failure mechanism for concrete. A safety evaluation of the dam’s ability to resist the design earthquake under different reservoir elevations is performed.