Modelling the response of Lechago earth and rockfill dam

Abstract

Lechago dam (Teruel, Spain) is a 40 m high zoned earth and rockfill dam sitting on soft continental deltaic deposits. A relatively narrow central clay core is stabilised by wide rockfill shoulders. The dam was well instrumented and continuous records of stress development, pore-water pressures and vertical displacements are available for the construction period. Compaction conditions were followed by means of laboratory and in situ control tests. Core clay material was investigated by means of tests performed on compacted specimens of tertiary clays. Rockfill samples were excavated in outcrops of highly fractured Cambrian quartzitic shale. A testing programme on compacted rockfill gravels was conducted under relative humidity control in a large-diameter oedometer and triaxial cells. A coupled finite-element model has been developed to analyse the tests performed and dam behaviour during construction. Model predictions, essentially based on laboratory tests, are compared with measurements during construction. The predicted response of the dam under an assumed programme of impounding is also given. In the future, once impounding occurs, it will be possible to compare these predictions with actual dam performance. The paper provides an integrated description of the dam design, construction and early behaviour. It presents a procedure to interpret available data (laboratory as well as in situ data) on compacted materials from the perspective of modern constitutive models. It also provides an evaluation of the capabilities of advanced numerical tools to reproduce the measured dam behaviour.