A constitutive model to analyse internal erosion in embankment dams

加拿大是世界上最大的水力发电国。 不列颠哥伦比亚省和魁北克、马尼托巴、纽芬兰和拉布拉多以及育空地区一样，几乎90%的能源来自可再生水电。 位于不列颠哥伦比亚省的班尼特大坝于1967年建成，是世界上最大的堤坝。 三座大坝（班尼特、云母和雷弗尔斯托克大坝）发电量占全省一半以上。 它们代表着整个社会的巨大投资，而且，像我们的许多公共基础设施一样，这些堤坝正在老化，可能会使水库的水渗出，侵蚀堤坝及其地基内的土壤。 内部侵蚀是一个大坝安全风险，在施工时没有被理解-现在被认为是对大坝安全构成最大风险之一。我们提出了一个联合研究项目与BC水电（BCH），以解决的问题，在哪里，什么时候，内部侵蚀可能发生在一个土石坝。 我们将对堤坝的土壤进行实验室测试，并将结果与现已退役的Coursier大坝的法医观察结果进行比较，并与班尼特大坝天坑事件周围的现场监测数据进行比较。 我们将制定和校准本构模型，以分析侵蚀可以预期开始，并在什么速度，它的进展，在一个堤坝的身体。 考虑到加拿大各地地质过程和土壤形成的相似性，无论规模或目的如何，这些发现都将与北方气候堤坝具有普遍相关性。 我们拟议的工作将有利于加拿大水坝部门，使其对水坝安全的承诺达到世界一流的水平，并与世界上最大的水电生产国相适应。

Canada is the world's biggest producer of hydroelectric power. British Columbia, like Quebec, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Yukon, generates almost 90 % of its energy from renewable hydropower sources. The Bennett Dam in British Columbia was, upon completion of construction in 1967, the largest embankment dam in the world. Three dams (the Bennett, Mica, and Revelstoke dams) generate over half of the province's electricity. They represent an enormous investment by society-at-large and, like much of our public infrastructure, these embankment dams are aging, yielding a potential for water seeping from the reservoir to erode soil within the dam and its foundation. Internal erosion is a dam safety risk that was not understood at the time of construction - it is now recognised to pose one of the greatest risks to dam safety.We propose a joint research project with BC Hydro (BCH) to address the questions of where, and when, internal erosion may occur in an embankment dam. We will perform laboratory tests on soil from embankment dams, and compare the findings with forensic observations at the now-decommissioned Coursier Dam, and with field monitoring data available around the sinkhole incidents at the Bennett Dam. We will formulate and calibrate a constitutive model to analyse where erosion can be expected to initiate, and at what rate it progresses, within the body of an embankment dam. Given the similarity of geologic processes and soil formation across Canada, the findings will be of general relevance to northern-climate embankment dams, regardless of size or purpose. Our proposed work will benefit the Canadian dam sector by placing its commitment to dam safety at a level that is undeniably world-class, and befitting of a country that is the biggest producer of hydroelectric power in the world.