Stability analysis of the hydropower arch dam Jinping I

Abstract

To meet the increasing demand of electric power in China, several hydropower plants are planned to be constructed the coming years. One of these is Jinping I, which will include the worlds tallest arch dam. It will be constructed at the Yalong river in Sichuan province and will be in operation by the year 2015. The purpose of this master's thesis is to evaluate the stability of the Jinping I dam under static and dynamic conditions. Stresses in the dam were calculated using linear finite element method. The stability of the dam was evaluated through comparison of the calculated stresses with both the strength of concrete and to stresses acquired through similar FEM-analyses of another Chinese arch dam, the Ertan dam. Under static conditions, problematic stresses were tensile stresses that exceeded the strength of concrete, these occurred under specific conditions and in limited areas which were situated so that they are easily accessed in case of restoration. Overall, the calculated stresses showed that the dam is able to withstand both normal and extreme static load cases without severe damage. In the dynamic case it was more relevant to compare with the Ertan dam since stresses exceeding the strength of concrete and damages of the dam are allowed. The stresses of the Jinping I dam were similar to stresses of the Ertan dam and were thus concluded to be acceptable for an earthquake of this probability.