Indian Geotechnical Conference 2010, GEOtrendz December 1618, 2010 IGS Mumbai Chapter & IIT Bombay

Shear Strength of Dam-Foundations Rock Interface - A Case Study

Ghosh, A.K.
Chief Research Officer e-mail: emarald249@yahoo.co.in

Central Water & Power Research Station, Pune

ABSTRACT
Shear strength parameters such as cohesion and angle of internal friction for dam-foundation interface play an important role in determining the stability aspects of gravity dams. Field studies have been conducted to determine the shear strength parameters for the concrete rock interface for 26.2m high and 700m long composite type Upper Tunga dam, across river Tunga at Shimoga,, Karnataka. The foundation rockmass, exposed as outcrop, has been found to be fresh and hard rock of Schistose variety. A total of six locations at the spillway zone have been tested and the estimated values of cohesion (c) and friction angle () have been found to be 10 kg/cm2 and 59 respectively. A brief review of site including predominant geological features, testing procedures as well as findings have been presented. 1. INTRODUCTION For gravity dams on rock foundations, beside normal load from the self weight of the structure, many of the loads on the dam are horizontal or have horizontal components. These are resisted by frictional or shearing forces along horizontal or nearly horizontal planes in the body of the dam, on the foundation or on horizontal or nearly horizontal weak planes in the foundation. Thus for a realistic assessment of the stability of the structure against sliding, estimation of the shear resistance of rock mass along any desired plane of shear or along the weakest discontinuity is essential. Since laboratory tests on small specimens do not reflect the influence of seams, fissures and local alterations on behaviour of in-situ rock, large scale in-situ shear tests are conducted under anticipated stress range. One of the primary design requirements in case of concrete or masonry gravity dam built on rock foundation is to ensure adequate factor of safety for shear and sliding failure at the dam-foundation interface. The resistance to sliding is a function of the cohesion (c) inherent in the materials and at their contact and angle of internal friction () of the material at the surface of sliding.(Fig.1). In its simplest form, the friction factor criterion used for evaluating the factor of safety against sliding (FS) is as follows:
(1) (1)

where N=downward vertical force, U=uplift force, H=horizontal forces, =friction angle for plane XX2 , c=cohesion on plane XX2 , L=base width of the dam. Insitu direct shear tests are carried out to determine values of c and f from the peak and residual direct shear strength. The factor of safety is then determined and compared with the values specified in IS 6512-1984 for different loading conditions and results are incorporated for ensuring the stability of dam against sliding. One of such in-situ direct shear test is presented based on CWPRS Technical Report No.4125(2004). 2. TEST LOCATION A 16.7 m high Anicut has been constructed across river Tunga and under operation since 1956.In the recent past,

Fig. 1: Forces Acting on a Solid Gravity Dam

1040 the Anicut has developed problems arising out of operation of gates for the scour sluices. In order to tackle the problem as well as to increase the storage capacity of the Tunga reservoir, a 26.2m high and 770m long composite dam has been under construction at the time of studies across river Tunga at about 100m downstream of the existing Anicut at Gajanur village of Shimoga district, Karnataka. The dam has non-overflow sections of length 18.50m on the left flank and 126m on the right flank and 321.50m long weir type concrete Spillway at the center portion comprising of 22 numbers of radial crest gates of size 11.75m4.74m to discharge design flood of 2,60,000 cusecs. In order to determine the design value of factor of safety against shear and sliding, field studies have been conducted at the downstream of spillway blocks to determine the shear strength parameters at dam-foundation rock interface. 3. GEOLOGY The rock mass met with at the Upper Tunga Dam site is in general good quality Granites with occasional schistose zones. The core recoveries has been found to be good and mostly above 80% after 2-3 m depth whereas the recovery in the initial reach of 2 to 3 m depth is around 43 to 60%. The RQD is fair to good ranging from 51 to 91% and mostly above 70%. In the spillway portion, fresh and hard Hornblend Schist rock occurs much above the proposed foundation level i.e. right from river bed level. The schistose rock mass as outcrop with its roughness profile is shown in Fig.2.

A.K. Ghosh

leveling of the surface by chiseling and keeping a gap of about 600mm from the body of the spillway. The blocks have been tested after allowing for a curing period of about 3 weeks. The spillway body wall itself has been used in most cases as reaction wall for application of shear load. However, in some cases where the gap between casted test block and spillway body wall is more, R.C.C. reaction pad of size 1m 1m has been constructed to facilitate the application of shear load. One of such RCC reaction pad along with concrete test blocks is shown in Fig.3.

Fig. 3: RCC Reaction Pad with Shear Test Blocks

For each test location, anchorage and girder arrangements have been specially built to facilitate the application of normal load. A view of the complete test set up at one of the locations is shown in Fig.4

Fig. 4: Complete Test Setup at One of the Locations Fig. 2: Hornblend Schist Rock Mass as Outcrop on Which Concrete Test Blocks Have Been Prepared

4. IN SITU SHEAR TEST The test is carried out to measure Peak and Residual direct shear strength as a function of the stress normal to the plane to be sheared- which in the present case is the interface between concrete and foundation rock. Peak direct shear strength corresponds to the maximum shear stress in the shear stress vs. displacement curve whereas the Residual shear strength is the shear stress at which no further rise or fall in the shear strength is observed with increasing shear displacement. A total of 6 concrete blocks of sizes 700mm 600mm 600mm at the downstream of Spillway blocks has been casted on the foundation rock mass after

The testing procedure has been consisted of applying a predetermined normal load on the concrete test block and while maintaining this load constant, the shear load has been applied in small increments till the block failed. Two 200T capacity hydraulic jacks and one 100T capacity hydraulic jack have been used for application of shear and normal load respectively after applying correction using calibration charts of the pressure gauges used. Roller has been introduced below the normal load to facilitate smooth movement of the test block during application of shear load.Based on the dimension of the casted concrete block ,wooden wedges are specially prepared and with the help of prepared wedges and 10mm thick MS plate with ball seating at the centre, shear load has been applied at an angle of about 15 so that the resultant of the normal and

Shear Strength of Dam-Foundation Rock Interface...

1041 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS A sketch showing the application of normal and shear forces on the test block including the prepared wooden wedge is shown in Fig.7.

shear forces passes within the middle third of the base of the test block. Detail view of loading arrangement for application of normal and shear load is separately shown vide Fig.5.

For Normal load

For Shear load

Fig. 7: Sketch Showing Application of Forces As per IS 7746:1991,both normal and shear stresses can be computed as follows. (2) (3) = total shear force, Pn = total normal force, s =applied shear force ,Pna=applied normal force, Psa cos = tangential component of applied shear force, Psasin =normal component of applied shear force, = inclination of applied shear force to the shear plane, A= area of shear surface.Based on equations (2) and (3), both normal and shear stress values for peak shear (at failure) and residual shear(after failure)have been computed. Values of shear stress and corresponding shear displacements are obtained after averaging the displacement readings of two dial gauges and a combined plot for all blocks is shown vide Fig.8.
W h e r e P P

Fig. 5: Detail View of Loading Arrangement During Test

Horizontal displacement corresponding to each increment of shear load has been recorded using two dial gauges of sensitivity 0.01 mm. After reaching peak failure stresses, each of the test blocks has been tested under several normal stresses to obtain corresponding residual shear stresses. After completion of each test, the test block is upturned and the failure surface has been examined to assess the mode of failure. Upturned views of blocks are shown vide Fig.6(a) and 6(b) respectively.

sa

Test block-1

Test block-2

Test block-3

Fig. 6: (a) Upturned Views of the Test Blocks

Test block-4

Test block-5

Test block-6 Fig. 8: Shear StressVs Displacement Plots

Fig. 6: (b) Upturned Views of the Test Blocks

1042 From the shear stress vs displacement plot it can be observed that most of the curves exhibit a distinct peak shear strength and a sudden fall in shear strength at failure as expected for tight joints like interface between concrete and good quality rock (IS 7746:1991). For most of the blocks, initiation of yielding has started without drop in value of shear load little earlier followed by gradual increase of the displacement over a comparatively small increase of the shear load. This can be explained by the shear resistance offered by the unevenness of the rock surface at the contact plane after initiation of yielding till final failure when the shear load has suddenly dropped. Examination of failure surfaces of test blocks reveals that for block nos 1,2and 5 some rock intrusion has been sheared during failure. However for block nos 3,4and 6, failure has been at the concrete-rock interface and accordingly for computing residual strength, normal and shear stress values corresponding to these blocks have been utilized. Graphs of peak and residual shear strength vs normal stress is shown in Fig.9 A and B respectively from which the estimated values of cohesion(c) and angle of internal friction( ) has been computed as 10kg/cm 2 and 59 respectively.

A.K. Ghosh

the laboratory test of the rock cores of schist rock mass, average values of Density, Static modulus of Elasticity, Unconfined Compressive strength and Hardness have been found to be 2.79gm/cc,7.53105 kg/cm2,467 kg/cm2 and 26 respectively. Though compressive strength is at lower side due to failure of samples through foliation, from the RQD values and laboratory test results, rock mass can be designated as good quality schist. 6. CONCLUSIONS The study carried out lead to following conclusions: 1. The shear strength parameters c and are influenced by the roughness of the rock surface and its strength. 2. .From observation of failure surfaces at test locations, it can be concluded that, chances of distinct rock intrusion compared to the natural roughness profile of the rock surface ,in the test block, at the time of casting , needs to be avoided to ensure proper failure at concrete-rock interface. 3. The foliation in the schist rock mass at the test location is not very conspicuous. As lower values of c, are expected for such planes, more number of tests is advisable in such cases as the result from shear test along such plane can significantly influence the selection of shear strength parameters for design. 4. Even in case of stratified foundation where shear strength of soft layers and bedding planes control the stability of the dam, it is necessary to ensure that dam is safe against shear and sliding failure at its contact with the foundation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is grateful to Dr. I.D.Gupta, Director, CWPRS and Shri R.S.Ramteke, Joint Director, CWPRS for their encouragement and guidance. The assistance and support of project engineers of Upper Tunga Project and of Shri.H.R.Bhujbal and Shri.J.M.Deodhar, Laboratory Assistants of CWPRS, during field investigations are acknowledged sincerely with thanks. REFERENCES CWPRS Technical report no.4125(2004). Rock Mechanics Studies to Determine Shear Strength Parameters of Foundation Rock Mass for Upper Tung Project, Karnataka , pp 1-12. Gole C.V. et.al.(1972).Some Studies on evaluating Shea rand Sliding Friction Factors for Rock Foundations, Proc. 42nd CBIP Annual Research Session, Vol. III, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India, pp 114. IS 7746:1991 Indian Standard Code on In Situ Shear Test on Rock( First revision ), pp 5-7. IS 6512:1984 Indian Standard Code on Criteria for Design of Solid Gravity Dams, pp 14-15.

Fig. 9: Normal Stress Vs Shear Stress for Peak(A) and Residual (B) Conditions

High value of c and can be attributed to the increase of surface roughness caused by the saw tooth type of unevenness of the rock surface (Fig.2) on which the test blocks have been prepared (Gole C.V.et.al.1972). From