Crack status analysis for concrete dams based on measured entropy

The integrity and safety of concrete dams are seriously affected by the existing cracks in dam bodies, and some serious cracks may cause dam failure or disaster. The propagation of cracks in concrete dams is accompanied by changes in energy distribution, which can be represented by changes in the structure’s system entropy. Therefore, the entropy theory can be used in analyzing the behavior of dam cracks. Due to the randomness and locality of crack propagation, it is difficult to predict the location of cracks by traditional monitoring methods. To solve this problem, the influence of spatial positions of monitoring points on inspection zones is represented by a weight index, and the weight index is determined by the distance measure method proposed in this paper. Through the weighted linear fusion method, the entropy of multiple monitoring points is obtained for analyzing the behavior of dam cracks in the selected zones. Meanwhile, the catastrophe theory is used as the variation criterion of an entropy sequence in order to predict the instability time of dam cracks. Case studies are put forward on a high arch dam, and the fusion entropy is calculated according to the monitoring data from strain gauges. Results show that the proposed method can effectively predict the occurrence time and location of dam cracks regardless of the layout of monitoring instruments, and it is a new way to analyze the occurrence and propagation of dam cracks.     

Detection of subcritical crack propagation for concrete dams

Subcritical propagation of cracks is a warning sign of fracture. If such propagation is detected at an early stage, timely maintenance measures can be taken to prevent the failure of structures. To detect the subcritical propagation of a crack, the crack needs to be monitored continuously in a long term, which is not realistic under certain conditions. However, cracks in concrete dams can be monitored continuously by dam monitoring to offer possible detection for subcritical propagation. In this paper, with measured crack openings from dam monitoring, a state equation for characterizing crack development is established based on the grey system theory. The relation between the stability of the equation and the subcritical crack propagation is investigated, then a criterion is proposed for detecting subcritical propagation. An example demonstrates the validity of the criterion and its potential for practical application.     

Observed displacement data-based identification method of deformation time-varying effect of high concrete dams

The long-term safety of high concrete dams has become the focus and central issues of public attention. Deformation is an actual comprehensive reflection of concrete dams. Especially the deformation time-varying effect, is a key index for evaluating the structural behavior, health status, and their evolution of a concrete dam in long-term service. In this paper, causing factors of the deformation time-varying effect of concrete dams were analyzed, and the time-varying effect was divided into two parts, which are the inherent time-varying effect and the time-varying effect caused by the change of dam structural performance. Then, based on the observed dam displacement and the wavelet multi-resolution analysis, causal models for identifying the later deformation time-varying effect and the identification process were proposed. Finally, the efficiency and rationality of the proposed method were verified by two actual concrete dams with runoff reservoir and regulatory reservoir.     

Multivariate analysis in dam monitoring data with PCA

Given the limitation of traditional univariate analysis method in processing the multicollinearity of dam monitoring data,this paper reconstructs the multivariate response variables by introducing principal component analysis(PCA) method,explores the ways of determining principal components(PCs),and extracts a few PCs that have major influence on data variance.For steady observation series,a control field for the whole observation values has been established based upon PCA;for unsteady observation series th...     

Parameter sensitivity and inversion analysis of a concrete faced rock-fill dam based on HS-BPNN algorithm

Considering the complex nonlinear relationship between the material parameters of a concrete faced rock-fill dam(CFRD) and its displacements, the harmony search(HS) algorithm is used to optimize the back propagation neural network(BPNN), and the HS-BPNN algorithm is formed and applied for the inversion analysis of the parameters of rock-fill materials. The sensitivity of the parameters in the Duncan and Chang's E-B model is analyzed using the orthogonal test design. The case study shows that the parameters φ0, K, Rf, and Kb are sensitive to the deformation of the rock-fill dam and the inversion analysis for these parameters is performed by the HS-BPNN algorithm. Compared with the traditional BPNN, the HS-BPNN algorithm exhibits the advantages of high convergence precision, fast convergence rate, and strong stability.     

Abnormality monitoring model of cracks in concrete dams

The abnormality monitoring model (AMM) of cracks in concrete dams is established through integrating safety monitoring theories with abnormality diagnosis methods of cracks. In addition, emphasis is placed on the influence of crack depth on crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). A linear hypothesis is proposed for the propagation process of cracks in concrete based on the fictitious crack model (FCM). Abnormality points are detected through testing methods of dynamical structure mutation and statistical m...     

Influence of fractality of fracture surfaces on stress and displacement fields at crack tips

In the classic theory of fracture mechanics, expressions for calculating the stresses and displacements in the vicinity of the crack tip are deduced on the basis of the assumption that a fracture surface is a smooth surface or that a crack is a smooth crack. In fact, the surface of a crack formed during the fracture is usually very irregular. So the real asymptotic form of the stress and displacement fields at the crack tip is different from the classic one. Considering the irregularity of a real fracture surface or a real crack profile, the crack is taken as a fractal one, and then the real asymptotic form at the crack tip is developed by applying Griffith’s energy balance principle and fractal geometry. Through the developed asymptotic form, it is discovered that the fractality of the crack reduces the stress singularity at the crack tip.

     

Hybrid method of limit equilibrium and finite element internal force for analysis of arch dam stability against sliding

A hybrid method of limit equilibrium and finite element internal force for analysis of arch dam stability against sliding is presented.The finite element internal force method(FEIFM) is used to provide more accurate thrust forces acting on the faces of a slip body,and the limit equilibrium method(LEM) is employed to evaluate the factor of safety of the slip body.The method presented can deal with a slip body with large amount of geometrically complex slip faces.In addition,compared with the traditional LEM,...     

Influence of fractality of fracture surfaces on stress and displacement fields at crack tips

In the classic theory of fracture mechanics,expressions for calculating the stresses and displacements in the vicinity of the crack tip are deduced on the basis of the assumption that a fracture surface is a smooth surface or that a crack is a smooth crack.In fact,the surface of a crack formed during the fracture is usually very irregular.So the real asymptotic form of the stress and displacement fields at the crack tip is different from the classic one.Considering the irregularity of a real fracture surfac...     

An efficient spherical mapping algorithm and its application on spherical harmonics

The sphere is a natural and seamless parametric domain for closed genus-0 surfaces. We introduce an efficient hierarchical optimization approach for the computation of spherical parametrization for closed genus-0 surfaces by minimizing a nonlinear energy balancing angle and area distortions. The mapping results are bijective and lowly distorted. Our algorithm converges efficiently and is suitable to manipulate large-scale geometric models. We demonstrate and analyze the effectiveness of our mapping in spherical harmonics decomposition.