Influence of Longitudinal Joint Setting and Synchronous Cooling Zone on High Altitude Region’s Dam Construction

Abstract

The crack problem in mass concrete is a difficult problem to thoroughly solve, especially for the crack of dam construction in high-altitude regions. High altitude regions have the fundamental features of a dry climate and strong solar radiation. When dam construction is performed under these special climate conditions, temperature control and crack prevention become more difficult problems. Based on the high altitude region’s dam construction conditions, the existing temperature control measures were optimized by combining the three-dimensional finite element method. The synchronous cooling zone’s temperature control technique is adopted to lower the temperature gradient in the dam’s height direction, coordinate the deformation of the upper and lower layers, and reduce mutual constraints between the upper and lower layers to further reduce the temperature stress. Calculation results show that the adoption of synchronous cooling zones and the set of longitudinal joints can effectively reduce mutual constraints, increase the safety factor, and prevent cracks. This method can be considered an important reference to dam projects in high-altitude regions.