Experimental Study on Hydraulic Fracturing of High Asphalt Concrete Core Rock-Fill Dam

Abstract

In this paper, we experiment on the hydraulic fracturing of asphalt concrete with a voids content higher than 3%, which has arisen from the possible local shear dilatancy of Quxue asphalt’s core wall of concrete core dam, the highest one of the sort constructed in the world. The model test has shown that under the sole water pressure 0.13 MPa—relevant to the pressure where the dilatancy could appear at core wall of Quxue dam—the asphalt concrete with a voids content of 3.5% underwent hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, the asphalt concrete with a voids content of 3.0% was tested for nearly 500 h and no sign of hydraulic fracturing was found, which again confirmed the threshold requirement for a 3% voids content to the impervious asphalt concrete to the hydraulic fracture concern. According to the analysis of the test result, the theory of fracture mechanics could be applied to the hydraulic fracture of asphalt concrete with a voids content between 3.4~4.0%, which behaved during hydraulic fracturing like a quasi-brittle material, similar to concrete. Because the hydraulic fracturing could occur in the shear dilatant asphalt concrete, a proper mix proportion of asphalt concrete to a project with adverse stress state should be carefully designed to rule out the possibility of shear dilatancy.