Insights about Modelling Environmental Spatiotemporal Actions in Thermal Analysis of Concrete Dams: A Case Study

Abstract

In order to conduct thermal analysis of concrete dams, it is necessary to assess and validate the spatiotemporal representations used for modeling the solar radiation and the water temperature boundary conditions. To illustrate this procedure, the thermal analysis of a concrete multiple-arch dam is presented. The article starts by providing an overview of the problem before focusing explicitly on the estimation of solar radiation distribution. Within this section, a comparison between the solar irradiance computed on the downstream face of the dam with or without considering the beam radiation shading at different times of the year is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the seasonal behavior of the water temperature of the dam’s reservoir based on measured data. After calibrating an empirical/statistical law based on temperatures measured at different depths, it is compared with the values estimated by a hydrodynamic model and some temperature profiles measured upstream of the dam. Finally, the article compares the results obtained with the thermal analysis versus the temperature measured by thermometers installed in the concrete.