Deformation analysis of rock-fill dams for reservoir impounding

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Hydro Quebec is interested in learning the state of the art of numerical modeling in the field of embankment dams for addressing the behavior of zoned earth dams with rock-fill shoulders and compacted earth-fill or asphalt cores. The main interest at this stage is the response of the dams after first infilling and also in the long term. These are challenging problems that have attracted the interest of many dam engineers. Many of the existing models fail to capture the behavior of compacted and initially unsaturated earth-fill, and the collapse behavior of rock-fill shoulders, especially the relevant effect of the first infill, the weather conditions such as rainfall, and the long-term creep response. Recent developments in the constitutive modeling allow a substantial improvement of the coupled flow-deformation analysis of rock-fill embankments, which offer definite advantages over previously reported modeling approaches. This proposal is to support the engagement of the UBC Theoretical and Applied Geomechanics (TAG) group who has been invited by Hydro Quebec to work on numerical modeling of two of its dams: the Denis-Perron or SM-3 Dam that is part of the Sainte-Marguerite-3 Hydroelectric complex, and the Romaine-2 Main Dam that is part of the Romaine-2 Hydroelectric project which is the most important of the total 4 projects of the La Romaine Hydroelectric Complex, both cases being in province of Quebec. The numerical simulations of one of the Hydro Quebec Dams will be carried by critical evaluation of a compressibility constitutive model available within the platform CODE_BRIGHT developed at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. The parameter identification will be conducted using the in-situ and lab test data provided by Hydro Quebec and those available in the literature, as well as using correlation to the existing measurements. The results of this research are to be presented in a workshop organized by Hydro Quebec parallel to the annual Canadian Geotechnical Conference in Quebec in September 2015.