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Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering

Sheng-Hong Chen

Computational
Geomechanics
and Hydraulic
Structures
Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering
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Construction and Structural Mechanics


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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15088


Sheng-Hong Chen

Computational
Geomechanics and Hydraulic
Structures

123
Sheng-Hong Chen
School of Water Resources
and Hydropower Engineering
Wuhan University
Wuhan, Hubei
P.R. China

ISSN 2366-259X ISSN 2366-2603 (electronic)


Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering
ISBN 978-981-10-8134-7 ISBN 978-981-10-8135-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8135-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938778

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Singapore
Foreword I

With the increasing demand of people for improved life quality, a large number of
mega projects spring up in our modern society. The successful construction and
sustainable operation of these mega projects mark not only the progress in modern
science and technology but also the significant development of human society and
civilization.
It is well known that the safety, reliability, and sustainability of a project depend
on an elaborate, skillful, and accurate design. Structural computation is, in turn, a
fundamental tool for its design, which provides the theories, methodologies, and
procedures for profoundly understanding the structural performances of the project.
Over the past three decades, China, a populated country, has witnessed rapid
economic and social development and risen to be a middle-income country. In the
process, the mega projects, such as high dams, motorways, high-speed trains,
ultra-long and deeply buried large-scale tunnels, and UHV grids, played crucial
roles.
To exploit and utilize the hydro and water resources of the rivers, China has
designed and built a great number of mega water resources and hydropower pro-
jects including the Three Gorges, Ertan, Xiaolangdi, Longtan, Xiaowan, Shuibuya,
Pubugou, Guangzhao, Xiluodu, Jinping-I, Jinping-II, and South-to-North Water
Diversion. These projects challenge the computational methods to tackle with high
dams, high and steep cut slopes, large and long hydraulic tunnels with high velocity
flow, deep overburden underground cavern clusters under complicated engineering
and hydrogeological conditions.
Computational methods have experienced remarkable advancement over the past
thirty years. They have evolved from the traditional empirical and semiempirical
material mechanics methods as well as rigid body limit equilibrium methods to the
nonlinear finite element method, non-continuum discrete element method, and other
numerical calculation methods. This should be attributed to not only the develop-
ment of modern computer technology but also the design and construction of
various mega projects. On one hand, the computational methods offered credible
and reliable scientific demonstration to the design of mega projects. On the other

v
vi Foreword I

hand, these mega projects promoted the development of modern geomechanics and
computational methods.
Professor Chen Sheng-Hong has long been engaged in the research and devel-
opment of computational methods and computer software for geomaterials and
hydraulic structures. Paying special attention to laboratory experiments and in situ
testing validation, he links the theories with practice and has made considerable
innovative and practical research achievements. He harvested pragmatic results in
the fields like standard adaptive software of the finite element method and initiated
the block element analysis and composite element method which are influential
both in China and abroad. These methods cover reinforcement analysis, feedback
analysis, reliability analysis, seepage field and thermal field analysis, and multifield
coupling analysis. He also has realized the synergy of methods, models, parameters,
and hydraulic engineering structure safety. His theory and methodology have been
verified and widely applied in the dam construction works, underground works, and
artificial high slope works. They have offered solutions and scientific demonstra-
tions to the crucial technological challenges in the design of the key national
hydropower projects, such as Three Gorges, Longtan, Shuibuya, Guangzhao,
Xiluodu, Jinping-I, Pubugou, Xiaowan, and contributed greatly to the success of
project construction.
Professor Chen Sheng-Hong has won many science and technology awards
of the provincial, ministerial, and national levels as well as those of national
industry authorities and associations. He was honored as the Distinguished
Professor of the Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electric Engineering, and the
Excellent Professor of Wuhan University, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the
Ministry of Education. He is also granted the special government allowance of the
State Council.
Professor Chen Sheng-Hong was invited as guest professor of Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) and Parma University,
Italy. He also worked as the guest professor in the Université des Sciences et
Technologies de Lille (Université Lille1, France) on a long-term basis. He opens
lectures overseas every year to teach advanced modern numerical computation
methods and programs. Since 2000, he acted as the member of Computational
Aspects of Analysis and Design of Dams, International Committee of Large Dam.
As the undergraduate and postgraduate schoolmate living in a same residence, as
well as the partner in the construction of many mega hydraulic projects, I and Prof.
Chen Sheng-Hong are good friends and colleagues. I am proud of his achievements
in academic theory and engineering technology related to the geomechanics and
hydraulic structures. I shall thank him for his valuable research findings to our
breakthrough in the key technology projects of high dams, high and steep cut
slopes, and large underground works. I am lucky to have read most of the manu-
scripts of this great book before publishing and deeply impressed by its rigorous
Foreword I vii

theory, clear logic, as well as innovative and pragmatic contents. The book has both
historical texture and broad international vision. I am convinced that the book can
not only serve as the reference to technicians engaged in geomechanics and
hydraulic structures but also positively promote the health development of com-
putational methods.

Beijing, China Prof. Zhou Jianping


November 2017 Vice President, International
Commission on Large Dams;
Chief Engineer Power Construction
Corporation of China
Foreword II

During the visit of my friend Prof. Chen Sheng-Hong to Lille last year (June–July,
2017), he kindly presented me with an advanced draft of Computational
Geomechanics and Hydraulic Structures and asked me to write a foreword. I was
greatly impressed by the extensive area covered in this book, by the scientific and
engineering basis of his works, and by the quality of the presentation. I accepted his
invitation with great pleasure.
From our first encounter in 20 years ago at Lille when he worked in the
Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (Université Lille 1, France) as the
guest professor until today, we have met regularly either in China or in Europe,
including his regular 1- to 3-month stay in Lille as guest professor in our university.
We succeeded in building a strong cooperation through yearly academic visits,
Ph.D. co-supervision, joint paper publication in international journals and confer-
ences, and the organization of lectures for postgraduate students and young
researchers. He is an enthusiastic, hardworking, and interdisciplinary engineering
scientist and university educator. I highly appreciated the scientific and the engi-
neering quality of the work of Professor Chen as well as that of his students. I am
also proud of that for years our university has opportunity to provide resources for a
portion of his theoretical researches and academic writings, which contribute to a
part of the coverage in this book.
Through this book, Prof. Chen enhances our library by a synthesis of more than
30 years of academic and professional experience in the field of computational
geomechanics and their use in the assessment of both the safety and performances
of hydraulic structures throughout their lifecycle covering design, construction, and
exploitation stages. At each stage, engineers have to deal with multiple analysis and
decision-making challenges, which are related to the complexity of the hydraulic
structures geometry, nonlinear behaviors of geomaterials, multiphysics and tran-
sient phenomena as well hydro-thermo-mechanical coupling. To cope with these
challenges, engineers need to enhance the conventional analysis tools by advanced
computational methods in order to consider complex issues, which could highly
influence the safety and performances of hydraulic structures.

ix
x Foreword II

The works of this book resulted in significant advances in (i) the major issues
of the finite element method (FEM) in the analyses of hydraulic structures inclusive
error estimation and mesh refinement, thermomechanical and hydromechanical
coupling, reinforcement mechanism and modeling, parametric inverse and feedback
design, and safety calibration; (ii) the fundamentals of the block element analysis
(BEA) and its enhancement inclusive hybrid techniques, seepage analysis and
reinforcement analyses, as well as stochastic and dynamic analyses; (iii) the fun-
damentals of the composite element method (CEM) and its use in the reinforce-
ment, seepage, and thermal analyses.
It is remarkable that Prof. Chen has conducted a huge state-of-the-art study in the
field of computational geomechanics and hydraulic structures, and he crossed it
with his own academic and professional expertise in the computation methods,
laboratory tests and field observations, material properties and parametrical inverse,
safety calibration, and countermeasure design. He also presents his research phi-
losophy and skill with engineering cases such as the most famous hydraulic projects
of Three Gorges, Longtan, Shuibuya, Xiaowan, Guangzhao, etc. All these resulted
in this exceptional book, which I believe will be an important reference book in the
field of computational geomechanics and hydraulic structures. I would like to
outline that this book constitutes a kind of “encyclopedia” on the computational
geomechanics methods and their applications.
In conclusion, this book should be found in every public or private engineering
library, particularly in universities. Engineers and postgraduate students can find
comprehensive information about the fundamentals of the computational methods
in geomechanics as well as scientific and practical recommendations for the effi-
cient use of these methods in the analysis of hydraulic structures. Thanks to Prof.
Chen for this great contribution.

Lille, France Prof. Isam Shahrour


January 2018 Distinguished Professor
former Vice President Université Lille 1
Preface

Hydraulic structures, particularly large underground caverns and high dams with their
vicinal high cut slopes, play core roles in hydraulic projects. Following the rapid
progress in the construction of mega hydraulic projects, China has reached interna-
tional level in the theories and technologies related to the project investigation,
research, design, construction, and management. The largest work completed in the
world, the Three Gorges Project, is installed with electric power generator capacity of
22,400 MW; the world highest arch dam (Xiaowan, H = 294.5 m; Jinping-I, H = 305
m), the world highest concrete-faced rockfill dam (CFRD) (Shuibuya, H = 233 m), the
world highest roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam (Guangzhao, H = 200.5
m; Longtan, H = 192 m) are all erected in China.
Initiated in the 1960s and classified as a sub-discipline within computational
mechanics, computational geomechanics uses numerical methods to study the
phenomena governed by the principles of geomechanics. It is a successful paradigm
of interdisciplinary development supported by the applied mathematics and
mechanics as well as the computer science, and driven by engineering practices.
Since the 1980s, Chinese scientists and engineers have made significant contribu-
tions to the research and application of computational geomechanics attributable to
the impetus from the demands of civil engineering, environmental engineering,
mining and transportation engineering, and hydraulic engineering. Today, modern
computational geomechanics has profound influences on the design of giant and
complex engineering structures that would be previously very difficult or even
impossible to be appropriately analyzed using traditional calculation tools.
This book is mainly focused on the development and application of represen-
tative computational methods to estimate the performance and safety of hydraulic
structures from their planning and design phases to construction and service phases,
on which the author has been working since the mid-1980s. In addition, this book is
intended to show how to achieve a good correlation between the numerical com-
putation and the in situ behavior of the hydraulic structure, which is actually
attributable to a close collaboration of the author and his colleagues, friends, and
students with field engineers. In this book, the heuristic and visualized style is
attempted to disseminate the research philosophy and road map. The organization

xi
xii Preface

of various matters with typical methods (FEM, BEA, CEM) as warps and others
(physical fields and engineering practices) as woofs is meant to clearly and logically
elucidate the following aspects related to the subject of this book.
– Modeling of materials. The results of computational geomechanics for hydraulic
structures are significantly dependent on the models of rock-like materials
characterized by structure planes (rock discontinuities and concrete joints) and
mitigation countermeasure components (e.g., reinforcement, drainage, and
cooling). In the selection of constitutive models (relations) toward the definition
of rock-like materials, these characteristics should be simplified in a rational
way for the feasible and credible simulation of hydraulic structures (Chap. 2).
This philosophy is followed throughout the generation of computation meshes
(Chap. 3), the establishment of typical computational methods (Chaps. 4, 9 and
14), and the approaches of joints and reinforcement components (Chap. 6).
– Input of parameters. It is well known that the unsuccessful computation with
regard to hydraulic structures is often blamed on the inappropriate input
parameters defined in the material model. This is due to the difficulties arise
from laboratory and in situ tests in addition to environmental (stress/water
content/temperature) dependence. The laboratory test is suffered from stochastic
variation whereas the in situ test possesses poor representativeness entailed by
sample amount and high cost. Therefore, it is paramount to be involved in the
investigation and experiment works as deeply as possible toward a correct
interpretation of experimental data and a realistic evaluation of inputting
parameters. On the aspects of computation technique, parametric back or inverse
analysis is a supplementary approach to handle this issue subject to
well-installed instruments, good understanding of construction procedure, as
well as sufficient engineering experience (Chap. 7).
– Diversification of methods. Nowadays, there are a variety of modern computa-
tional methods available for geomechanics and hydraulic structures (Chap. 1),
although only three of them are representatively elaborated in this book (i.e., FEM,
BEA, and CEM). They may be roughly distinguished into entirely different two
classes according to their conceptualization of rock-like materials, i.e., the con-
tinuum or discontinuum, each of them reflects one extreme aspect of the hydraulic
structure encountered. The selection of the most representative ones is, however,
an open question. This is actually dependent on the problem type, the material, the
work situation, etc. Take a large rock block system for example, to understand its
post-failure movements, the DDA or DEM would be a good choice because they
permit decoupling of the block system. On the other hand, when the safety margins
with respect to collapse/serviceability limit states are demanded, and suggestions
concerning the seepage/stabilization countermeasures are expected, the BEA
would be more appropriate attributable to its competent strength parameters and
clearly allowable safety factors stipulated in the design codes/specifications.
Preface xiii

Where the structural issue is very important and complex, it is suggestible to


exercise diverse methods (at least two) in addition to traditional tools. This phi-
losophy is followed throughout the whole book, and our readers will find that
several typical projects are studied by the FEM or/and BEA (CEM) in addition to
traditional LEM or/and TLM, plus geomechanical physical test.
Theoretically, “all-encompassing” methods covering continuum and discontin-
uum as well as finite and infinitesimal deformation, may be charming. Entailed by
the professional experience of the author, however, I have to say that this is actually
not very attractive and practical because it, if exists, would be too “precise” and
“delicate” to be competent to the “roughly estimated parameters” and complex
hydraulic structures.
– Standardization of preprocess. The computation procedure should been devel-
oped as not only to easily and reliably collect input data, but also to allow for the
standardized discretization of the hydraulic structure. The mesh density (size)
dependent on the structural configuration, exerted action, as well as the con-
struction manner and sequence, will significantly affect the calibration of the
local safeties (e.g., strength, allowable seepage gradient, cracking potentiality)
of a hydraulic structure. This is why the automatic block identification and mesh
generation (Chap. 3) and the adaptive refinement technology (Chap. 5) are
looked at as important contents in this book. From the standpoint of a practi-
tioner in the field of hydraulic engineering, automatic grid generation and
adaptive refinement in grid-dependent computational methods (e.g., the FEM)
may help to overcome the cumbersome preprocessing burden as well as to keep
the balance between computation effort and precision, by appropriately stipu-
lated discretization error tolerances in design codes/specifications for different
structure types and grades, rather than to pursue computation precision solely.
– Coupling of fields. Very often, groundwater appears in and affects hydraulic
structures. In addition, concrete placed onto the foundation undergoes strong
temperature fluctuation before and after being loaded. As a result, hydraulic
structures exhibit complex performances involving hydro-thermo-chemo-
mechanical fields which demand appropriate handling. Although various and
sophisticated coupling models with regard to the movement of water and heat
through the material skeleton and fractures (discontinuities and joints) are
available in the environmental engineering and nuclear power engineering,
yet in the hydraulic engineering normally only partial coupling of temperature
or/and seepage toward the deformation/stress needs to be taken into account
attributable to the lower action level (Chap. 2). Full coupling, particularly of
hydromechanical, is only sometimes encountered where the stress level in the
rock mass is high (e.g., arch dam abutments). Under such circumstances, the
coupling model should be rationally elaborated as simple as possible and its
coupling parameters should be accessible by experiments (Chap. 2) or in situ
back analysis (Chap. 8) subject to the conditions permitted for the project.
xiv Preface

– Interpretation of results and calibration of safety. Once the analysis has been
accomplished, it is necessary to display the results in such a way that they can be
easily understood and interpreted, based on which the safety calibration with
respect to the strength/seepage/temperature according to the design codes/
specifications is undertaken. The calibration criteria may be both of local and/or
overall (Chap. 4).
– Validation by test/observation and feedback. It is also highly important to check
the validation of computational solutions by comparing them with in situ
observed data. This is particularly presented in the study of Xiaowan Project
(Chap. 8) where the comparison of the FEM computation with the instrumen-
tation data is comprehensively carried out for the arch dam, and in the study of
Longtan Project (Chap. 9) where an abutment slope failure accident is captured
by the BEA.
This book may be looked at as an advanced continuation of the Hydraulic
Structures by the author published in 2015 which mainly deals with the investi-
gation, planning, design, construction, and management of hydraulic structures.
I was planning to finish my professional activities by that book and to launch a new
writing life that I have been dreaming since my childhood. However, the publi-
cation of the Hydraulic Structures was so welcome by the readers, and I was deeply
touched and proud of. Encouraged by my friends, colleagues, and students that I am
liable to further present the research achievements and engineering experiences of
my team, I have to continue technical writing and now, I feel in relief by con-
tributing this continuation book.
The basis of this book is established on my studies and practices conducted in
China over the decades with the help of my students partially recited as Dr. Chen
Shangfa, Dr. Wang Weiming, Dr. Xu Minyi, Dr. Fu Shaojun, Dr. Xu Qing,
Dr. Wang Shufa, Dr. Qiang Sheng, Dr. Hu Jing, Dr. Cheng Zhao, Dr. Xia Huaixiao,
Dr. Li Yongming, Dr. Fei Wenping, Dr. Qin Weixin, Dr. Feng Xuemin, Dr. Zheng
Huifeng, Dr. He Zegan, Dr. Xu Guisheng, Dr. Peng Chengjia, Dr. Fu Chenghua,
Dr. Xue Luanluan, and Dr. He Ji et al. I am so proud to see that most of them are
now successful university professors, consultant engineers, and enterprise man-
agers. In my engineering consultant and education works, I am very fortunate to
have chance to collaborate with Prof. Zhou Jianping (Chief Engineer of Power
Construction Corporation of China), Prof. Zou Lichun (Deputy President of
Kunming Engineering Corporation Limited, PowerChina), Prof. Yang Jiaxiu
(Deputy President of Guiyang Engineering Corporation Limited, PowerChina),
Prof. Feng Shurong (President of Zhongnan Engineering Corporation Limited,
PowerChina), Prof. Wang Renkun (Chief Engineer of Chengdu Engineering
Corporation Limited, PowerChina), Prof. An Shengxun (Deputy President of
Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited, PowerChina), et al. In the interna-
tional education and academic activities, the collaboration with my lifetime friends,
Prof. Peter Egger (EPFL, Switzerland) and Prof. Isam Shahrour (Lille University 1,
France), is the most important. In addition, I am really grateful to Wuhan University
for providing tolerant ivory tower and allowing time for me, to complete this book.
Preface xv

Greater challenges await us in the next prospective decades. From 2011 to 2050,
under the state policy guidance for developing her vast western area, tens of mega
hydropower projects will be built in China. For example, the Motuo hydropower
project will be installed with generator capacity larger than 40,000 MW. These
milestone projects will further give strong impetus to push the technology of
hydraulic engineering in China up to an unprecedented level, and to provide ever
vast room for the progress in computational geomechanics. By the publishing of
this book, the author does wish to encourage our successors to take on historical
responsibilities by conducting more advanced and practical researches on the rel-
evant topics.

Wuhan, Hubei, P.R. China Sheng-Hong Chen


Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Mathematical Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Computational Methods for Engineering Structures . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 History and State-of-the-Art of Computational Methods . . . . . . 7
1.4.1 3000 BC–300 BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.2 300 BC–1600 AD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4.3 1600s–1800s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4.4 1800s–1940s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4.5 1940s–1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.6 1970s–Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5 Concluding Remarks on the Computational Geomechanics for
Hydraulic Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.5.1 Understand of Engineering Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.5.2 Selection of Computational Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.5.3 Standardization of Computation Software . . . . . . . . . . 41
1.5.4 Evaluation of Material Models and Corresponding
Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1.5.5 Safety Calibration of Hydraulic Structures . . . . . . . . . . 42
1.5.6 Work Style of Scientists and Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2 Preparation Knowledge of Material Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.2 Rock-like Materials and Auxiliary Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.2.1 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.2.2 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.2.3 Steel Bars and Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.3 Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.3.1 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

xvii
xviii Contents

2.3.2 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.3.3 Steel Bars and Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.4 Permeability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.4.1 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
2.4.2 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2.5 Thermal Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.5.1 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.5.2 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
2.5.3 Cooling Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
2.6 Deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
2.6.1 Quasistatic and Cyclic Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
2.6.2 Sustained Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
2.7 Yield and Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
2.7.1 Basic Strength Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
2.7.2 Yield (Failure) Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
2.8 Constitutive Relations: Elasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
2.8.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
2.8.2 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
2.8.3 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
2.8.4 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
2.9 Constitutive Relations: Viscoelasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
2.9.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
2.9.2 Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
2.9.3 Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
2.10 Constitutive Relations: Plasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
2.10.1 Classical Elasto-Plasticity Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
2.10.2 Remarks on Other Plasticity Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2.11 Constitutive Relations: Viscoplasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
2.11.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
2.11.2 Potential Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
2.12 Coupling Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
2.12.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
2.12.2 Partial Coupling: Explicit Thermal
to Stress/Strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2.12.3 Partial Coupling: Iterative Permeability
to Stress/Strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3 Geometrical Description and Discretization of Hydraulic
Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
3.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
3.1.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
3.1.2 State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Contents xix

3.2 Fitting of Curved Lines and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198


3.2.1 Curve Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
3.2.2 Surface Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
3.2.3 Surface/Surface Intersection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
3.3 Geometrical Description of Hydraulic Structures
and Identification of Sub-domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
3.3.1 Concepts of Directed Geometrical Elements . . . . . . . . . 208
3.3.2 Database Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
3.3.3 Identification Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
3.3.4 Handling of Special Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
3.3.5 Key Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
3.4 Two-Dimensional Mesh Generation by the AFT . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
3.4.1 Database Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
3.4.2 Generation of Triangular Element Mesh on Planar
Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
3.4.3 Generation of Quadrilateral Element Mesh on
Planar Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
3.4.4 Optimization of FE Mesh on Planar Surface . . . . . . . . 224
3.4.5 Generation of Triangular Element Mesh on Curved
Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
3.5 Three-Dimensional Mesh Generation by the AFT . . . . . . . . . . . 227
3.5.1 General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
3.5.2 Treatment of Complex Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
3.5.3 Tetrahedral Mesh Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
3.5.4 Tetrahedral Mesh Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
3.5.5 Hexahedral Mesh Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
3.6 Verification Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
3.6.1 Example 1: Block System Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
3.6.2 Example 2: Quadrilateral Mesh Generation . . . . . . . . . 236
3.6.3 Example 3: Tetrahedral Mesh Generation . . . . . . . . . . 237
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
4 Fundamentals of the Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
4.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
4.2 Shape Functions and Interpolations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
4.2.1 One-Dimensional Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
4.2.2 Two-Dimensional Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
4.2.3 Three-Dimensional Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
4.2.4 Generalized Interpolation of State Variables . . . . . . . . . 259
4.3 Quasistatic Strain/Stress Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
4.3.1 Solid Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
4.3.2 Joint Elements with Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
xx Contents

4.3.3 Joint Elements Without Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265


4.3.4 Simulation of Excavation Disturbed (Damage)
Zone (EDZ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
4.4 Dynamic Strain/Stress Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
4.4.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
4.4.2 Solution Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
4.4.3 Modal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
4.4.4 Mode-Superposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
4.4.5 Response Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
4.4.6 Time-History Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
4.4.7 Dynamic Dam-Reservoir Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
4.4.8 Dynamic Dam-Foundation Interaction
and Seismic Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
4.4.9 Dynamic Material Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
4.5 Seepage Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
4.5.1 Governing Equations and Solution Techniques . . . . . . . 284
4.5.2 Unconfined Seepage Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
4.5.3 Seepage Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
4.6 Thermal and Thermal Stress Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
4.6.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
4.6.2 Governing Equations and Solution Techniques . . . . . . . 293
4.6.3 Temperature of Reservoir Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
4.6.4 Actions of Temperature: Elastic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 300
4.6.5 Actions of Temperature: Viscoelastic Analysis
(Creep) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
4.7 Safety Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
4.7.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
4.7.2 Definition of Safety Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
4.7.3 Searching for Overall Safety Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
5 Adaptive Techniques in the Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
5.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
5.1.1 H-Version of Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
5.1.2 P-Version of Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
5.1.3 Motivations of Adaptive Study for Hydraulic
Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
5.2 H-Version of Refinement in Space Domain: Strain/Stress
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
5.2.1 Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
5.2.2 Error and Element Size Estimators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
5.2.3 Practical Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
5.2.4 Data Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
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5.3 H-Version of Refinement in Space Domain:


Seepage Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
5.4 H-Version of Refinement in Time Domain:
Elasto-Viscoplasticity Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
5.4.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
5.4.2 Refinement Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
5.4.3 Error Estimators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
5.4.4 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
5.5 P-Version of Refinement in Space Domain: Strain/Stress
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
5.5.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
5.5.2 Error Analysis and Refinement Strategies
for Elastic Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
5.5.3 Error Analysis and Refinement Strategies
for Elasto-Viscoplastic Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
5.5.4 Key Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
5.6 P-Version Refinement in Space Domain: Permeability
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
5.6.1 Error Estimator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
5.6.2 Basic Solution Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
5.7 Verifications and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
5.7.1 Adaptive Time-Stepping (H-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . 358
5.7.2 Two-Dimensional Underground Cavern
(H-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
5.7.3 Three-Dimensional Underground Cavern
(H-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
5.7.4 Two-Dimensional Embankment (H-Refinement) . . . . . . 360
5.7.5 Three-Dimensional Sluice Foundation
(H-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
5.7.6 Jointed Sample Under Uni-Axial Pressure
(Complete P-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
5.7.7 Three-Dimensional Gravity Dam on a Homogenous
Foundation (Complete P-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.7.8 Two-Dimensional Gravity Dam on a Heterogeneous
Foundation (Element P-Refinement) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.7.9 Excavation of Slope: Ship Lock, Three Gorges
Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
5.7.10 Stabilization of Landslide: Shuibuya Project,
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
xxii Contents

6 Reinforcement Analysis Using the Finite Element Method . . . . . . . 387


6.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
6.1.1 Reinforcement Types and Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
6.1.2 History and State-of-the-Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
6.2 Equivalent Approach of Jointed Rock Masses Reinforced
by Fully Grouted Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
6.2.1 Reinforcement Mechanism and Rheological
Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
6.2.2 Basic Assumptions and Formularization . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
6.2.3 Constitutive Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
6.2.4 Verification and Parametric Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
6.3 Equivalent Approach of Jointed Rock Masses Reinforced
by Fully Grouted Bolts and Shotcrete Lining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
6.3.1 Reinforcement Mechanism and Rheological
Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
6.3.2 Basic Assumptions and Formularization . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
6.3.3 Constitutive Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
6.3.4 Verification and Parametric Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
6.4 Distinct Approach of Jointed Rock Masses Reinforced
by Fully Grouted Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
6.4.1 Basic Assumptions and Formularization . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
6.4.2 Constitutive Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
6.4.3 Governing Equations of the Bolt Element . . . . . . . . . . 415
6.5 Distinct Approach of Stranded Wire Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
6.5.1 Basic Assumptions and Formularization . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
6.5.2 Governing Equations of the Cable Element . . . . . . . . . 419
6.5.3 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
6.6 Engineering Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
6.6.1 Underground Cavern: Pubugou Project, China . . . . . . . 421
6.6.2 Cut Slope: Longtan Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
6.6.3 Dam Foundation: Xiaoxi Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
7 Inverse and Feedback Analyses Based on the Finite Element
Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
7.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
7.1.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
7.1.2 State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
7.2 Back Analysis Issues in Hydraulic Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
7.2.1 In Situ Geo-Stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
7.2.2 Material Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
7.2.3 Model Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
7.2.4 Mathematical Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Contents xxiii

7.3 Feedback Analysis Issues in Hydraulic Structures . . . . . . . . . . . 468


7.4 Regression Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
7.4.1 Multiple Linear Regression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
7.4.2 Stepwise Regression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
7.4.3 Model Tests and Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
7.4.4 Verification Example: In Situ Geo-Stresses . . . . . . . . . 472
7.5 Computation Intelligence Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
7.5.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
7.5.2 Artificial Neural Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
7.5.3 Verification Example: In Situ Geo-Stresses . . . . . . . . . 480
7.6 Back Analysis of Permeability Tensor: Xiaowan Project,
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
7.6.1 Presentation of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
7.6.2 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
7.6.3 Procedures of the Back Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
7.6.4 Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
7.7 Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope:
Three Gorges Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
7.7.1 Presentation of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
7.7.2 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
7.7.3 Strategies of Feedback Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
7.7.4 Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
8 Comprehensive Application of the Finite Element Method:
Xiaowan Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
8.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
8.2 Presentation of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
8.2.1 Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
8.2.2 Engineering Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
8.2.3 Concrete Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
8.2.4 Construction Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
8.2.5 Instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
8.3 Back Analysis of the In Situ Geo-Stresses in the Dam Site . . . . 516
8.3.1 In Situ Geo-Stress Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
8.3.2 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
8.3.3 Results and Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
8.4 Excavation and Reinforcement of the Dam Abutments . . . . . . . 521
8.4.1 Dominant Factors Influencing the Deformation
and Stability of the Dam Abutments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
8.4.2 Characteristics of the Reinforcement Analysis . . . . . . . 522
8.4.3 Results and Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
8.5 Excavation Induced EDZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
8.5.1 General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
8.5.2 Preparations for Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
xxiv Contents

8.5.3 Results and Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533


8.6 Dam Concrete Placement and Reservoir Impoundment . . . . . . . 537
8.6.1 Generation of the Computation Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
8.6.2 Back Analysis Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
8.6.3 Iterative Actions of Dam Foundation
and Dam Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
8.6.4 Spatial-Time Characteristics of the Dam Body . . . . . . . 541
8.6.5 Key Issues Solved with the Help of the DSXAD . . . . . 548
8.7 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
9 Fundamentals of the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
9.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
9.2 Stability Problems of the Rock Wedge in Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
9.2.1 Limit Equilibrium Method for the Wedge
Stability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
9.2.2 Inspiration from the Finite Element Analysis . . . . . . . . 565
9.2.3 Improvement of the Limit Equilibrium Method . . . . . . 565
9.3 Establishment of the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
9.3.1 Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
9.3.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
9.3.3 Numerical Integration on Discontinuity Network . . . . . 572
9.3.4 Searching for Safety Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
9.4 Seepage Field for the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
9.4.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
9.4.2 Discretization of Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
9.4.3 Key Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
9.4.4 Verification Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
9.5 Engineering Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
9.5.1 Natural Slope: Baozhusi Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
9.5.2 Cut Slope: Longtan Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
10 Adaptive Techniques in the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
10.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
10.2 Inspiration from Physical Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
10.2.1 Experimental Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
10.2.2 Test and Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
10.3 Deformable Block Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
10.3.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
10.3.2 Overlay Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
10.3.3 Deformation Compatibility Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
10.3.4 Constitutive Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
10.3.5 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Contents xxv

10.4 Procedure for Adaptive P-Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607


10.5 Verification Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
10.5.1 Cantilever Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
10.5.2 Simplified Gravity Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
10.6 Engineering Application: Baozhusi Project, China . . . . . . . . . . 612
10.6.1 Presentation of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
10.6.2 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
10.6.3 Test Configuration and Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
10.6.4 Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
11 Hybrid Methods Related to the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . 621
11.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
11.2 Formulation of the Trial Load Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
11.2.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
11.2.2 Governing Equations of Arch-Cantilever
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
11.3 Hybrid of Block Element System with Arch-Cantilever
Element System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
11.4 Hybrid of Block Element System with Finite
Element System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
11.5 Verifications and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
11.5.1 Cantilever Beam Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
11.5.2 Engineering Application: Dahuashui Project,
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
12 Expanding Study on the Block Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
12.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
12.2 Reinforcement Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
12.2.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
12.2.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
12.2.3 Equilibrium Equation of Reinforced
Block System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
12.3 Stochastic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
12.3.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
12.3.2 First-Order Second Moment Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
12.3.3 Monte-Carlo Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
12.3.4 Verifications and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
12.3.5 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
12.4 Seismic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
12.4.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
12.4.2 Visco-Elastic Artificial Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
12.4.3 Verification Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
xxvi Contents

13 Comprehensive Application of the Block Element Analysis:


Xiaowan Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
13.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
13.2 Presentation of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
13.3 Construction Period: Excavation and Reinforcement
of the Headrace Intake Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
13.3.1 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
13.3.2 Stability of the Cut Slope Without
Reinforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
13.3.3 Particularities in the Seismic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
13.3.4 Reinforcement Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
13.4 Construction Period: Excavation and Reinforcement
of the Dam Abutments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
13.4.1 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
13.4.2 Comparison and Screen of Alternative Reinforcement
Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
13.4.3 Optimal Analysis for the Finial Reinforcement
Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
13.5 Service Period: Abutment Slope Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
13.5.1 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
13.5.2 Computation Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
13.5.3 Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
13.6 Service Period: Abutment Stability and Dam Strength . . . . . . . . 695
13.6.1 Characteristics of the Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
13.6.2 Computation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
14 Fundamentals of the Composite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
14.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
14.2 Strain-Stress Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
14.2.1 Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
14.2.2 Structural Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
14.3 Seepage Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712
14.3.1 Drainage Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712
14.3.2 Structural Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
14.4 Thermal Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
14.4.1 Cooling Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
14.4.2 Lift Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
15 Reinforcement Analysis Using the Composite Element Method . . . 721
15.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Contents xxvii

15.2 Fully-Grouted Rock Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722


15.2.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
15.2.2 Coordinate Systems and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . 722
15.2.3 Constitutive Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
15.2.4 Equilibrium Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
15.3 Bonded Anchorage Head of Stranded Wire Cable
in Tension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
15.3.1 Sub-Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
15.3.2 Composite Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
15.4 Hollow Friction (Swellex) Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
15.5 Discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
15.5.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
15.5.2 Constitutive Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
15.5.3 Equilibrium Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
15.6 Jointed Rocks Reinforced by Fully-Grouted Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . 740
15.6.1 Sub-Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
15.6.2 Composite Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
15.7 Key Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
15.7.1 Numerical Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
15.7.2 Assemble of Global Stiffness Matrix
and Load Vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
15.7.3 Hierarchical Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
15.8 Verification Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
15.8.1 Fully-Grouted Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
15.8.2 Hollow Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
15.8.3 Stranded Wire Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
15.8.4 Hierarchical Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
15.8.5 Joint Reinforced by Fully-Grouted Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
15.9 Engineering Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
15.9.1 Gravity Dam: Baozhusi Project, China . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
15.9.2 Underground Cavern: Saizhu Project, China . . . . . . . . 774
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
16 Seepage Analysis Using the Composite Element Method . . . . . . . . . 791
16.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
16.2 Air Element for Drainage Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
16.2.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
16.2.2 Parametric Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
16.3 Composite Element for Drainage Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
16.3.1 Coordinate Systems and Nomenclatures . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
16.3.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
16.3.3 Numerical Integrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
xxviii Contents

16.4 Composite Element for Discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803


16.4.1 Coordinate Systems and Nomenclatures . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
16.4.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
16.5 Composite Element for Jointed Rocks Drained by Holes . . . . . . 807
16.5.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
16.5.2 Sub-element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
16.5.3 Composite Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
16.6 Hierarchical Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
16.7 Validation Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
16.7.1 Drainage Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
16.7.2 Jointed Rock Drained by Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
16.8 Engineering Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
16.8.1 Foundation Drainage: Luohansi Sluice Project,
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
16.8.2 Foundation Seepage Control: Baozhusi Project,
China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
17 Thermal Analysis Using the Composite Element Method . . . . . . . . 831
17.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
17.2 Cooling Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
17.2.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
17.2.2 Simplification of the Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . 836
17.3 Lift Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
17.3.1 Segmental Form of Variational Function . . . . . . . . . . . 838
17.3.2 Governing Equations of the Composite Element
Containing Lift Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
17.4 Verifications and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
17.4.1 Concrete Block Containing a Single Cooling Pipe . . . . 841
17.4.2 Concrete Block Containing a Single Lift Joint . . . . . . . 844
17.4.3 CVC Arch Dam: Xiaowan Project, China . . . . . . . . . . 847
17.4.4 RCC Gravity Dam: Guangzhao Project, China . . . . . . . 853
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
18 Comprehensive Application of the Composite Element Method:
Numerical Test of Jointed Rock Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
18.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
18.2 Mathematical and Mechanical Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
18.2.1 Generation of Discrete Fracture Networks . . . . . . . . . . 863
18.2.2 Seepage Flow in Rock Fracture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
18.2.3 Characteristics of the Permeability Tensor . . . . . . . . . . 864
18.2.4 Characteristics of the Elastic Compliance Matrix . . . . . 866
18.3 Numerical Test for Permeability Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
Contents xxix

18.3.1 Configuration of the Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868


18.3.2 Computation of Permeability Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . 869
18.3.3 Identification of Permeability Tensor and REV . . . . . . 871
18.4 Numerical Test for Deformation Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
18.4.1 Configuration of the Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
18.4.2 Computation of Deformation Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . 874
18.4.3 Identification of Elastic Compliance Matrix
and REV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
18.5 Verification Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
18.5.1 Permeability Tensor and REV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
18.5.2 Elastic Compliance Tensor and REV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
18.5.3 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
Chapter 1
Introduction

Abstract This chapter describes the connotation and denotation of computational


geomechanics (CG), a sun-branch of computational methods or mechanics
(CM) which is, in turn, the branch of modern mathematical modeling. The history
of the CM is logically unfolded following the evolution of human civilization, and
the state-of-the-art is examined with special reference to those who are most widely
or potentially exercised in hydraulic engineering. This introductory chapter is
concluded with comments and suggestions on the healthy development and suc-
cessful application of the CG for hydraulic structures.

1.1 General

Under environmental actions (or exerted loads), effects such as deformations


(deflections) and stresses will manifest within hydraulic structures. The failure will
further be triggered if the action effects exceed the bearing capacity of the structure.
Since the beginning of human civilization, the design of hydraulic structures has
evolved from primitive trial-and-error ventures to skillfully analytical approaches.
Early hydraulic structure construction was an uncertain art resting on cumulative
experiences. As the centuries unfolded, it was gradually merged with sciences and
technologies. Particularly, the theories of mathematics and mechanics played
increasingly important role in seeking safer design schemes. Nowadays, the anal-
ysis of action effects by means of laboratory physical modeling, field monitor
modeling, and mathematical modeling, is indispensable in the design for important
hydraulic structures (Chen 2015).
Physical modeling is a fundamental tool in the effect analysis of actions because
it may give straight forward and intuitionistic answers concerning the deformation
and failure of hydraulic structures. Even with the great progress in mathematical
modeling of recent decades, the physical modeling is still effective in the study of
structural problems with regard to cracking, sliding, and dynamic shaking for
important hydraulic structures. Physical modeling may be generally distinguished

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 1


S.-H. Chen, Computational Geomechanics and Hydraulic Structures,
Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8135-4_1
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A NORTH COUNTRY NIMROD.

As a lad of 18, John Crozier was already well known as a keen


sportsman, as good with his rod in the becks and rivers here about, as he was
with his father's hounds, and fond of wrestling as he was of hunting. At that
day the pack numbered only six couples. They were kept at the farms all
through the year, and were trained to meet at the sound of the Master's horn.
The old Squire would often tell how he would stand on Kiln Hill, blow a
blast, and watch the beauties racing across the meadows to his call. John
Peel, in those days, was still hunting on the other side of Skiddaw, and John
Crozier remembered the last time he saw him was under Wanthwaite Crags,
where, after a long day's run, he invited the old veteran, who was on his
white pony, to come home to supper. 'Nay, nay, John,' said Peel, 'I'se
freetened o' gettin' neeted (benighted),' and so went back on his way to
Ruthwaite supperless. 'But I'll see thee again,' he added—who knows they
may again have met.

The first thing the young Master did was to improve the breed of his
hounds, and this he accomplished by getting a strain from John Peel's
kennels. How much of Ruby, 'Ranter, Royal, and Bellman, so true,' spoken
of in the song, still runs in the blood of the Blencathra pack, I know not.
Other strains since then have been introduced, but a hardier pack never
breasted a mountain side, and there is not one of them who would not carry
on the line himself, if his fellows failed, to the death.

John Crozier once received the following note: 'To J. Crozier, Esq.,
M.F.H., from Isaac and Edward Brownrigg, of Brownrigg. This hound
(Darling) brought a splendid dog-fox, and after a very exciting hunt
ultimately caught it in our house field. About an hour afterwards other five
dogs came. After being fed they left, but this one would not leave. We intend
having the fox preserved.' After carrying on the hounds at his own cost for
30 years, 'the Squire,' as he was always called, at the request of his
neighbours, allowed them to become a subscription pack, in the year 1870.
There was a general feeling in the dales that it was not fair to allow all the
burden to be upon one man, and on the conditions that he would remain
Master, and in case of the hunt ceasing, the hounds should be returned to
him. A treasurer and secretary were appointed, and the Blencathra Hunt
went on merrily as before.

The Master was fortunate in his huntsmen. Joseph Fearon, of honoured


memory, was succeeded by Isaac Todhunter, who carried the horn for 25
years. Isaac Todhunter handed it on to John Porter, who for a like time kept
up the best traditions of the pack, which Jem Dalton carries on to-day. The
names of these past huntsmen, with other members of the hunt, are inscribed
on the stone of memorial raised in the Threlkeld Churchyard at the charges
of the Squire and a few friends; and that pillar in the King's dale—for of this
dale John Crozier was truly king—if it does nothing else, goes to prove that
the following of the foxes in the Lake District adds years, even as it adds
cheer, to the lives of the dalesmen. Thus, for example, one sees that many of
the hunters were fourscore years before they were run to earth; one was 89,
another 91, another 95, and a fourth 98.

Up till the past two years the old Master of the hunt presided at the
annual hunt dinner, but it was known that his health was failing, and though
each week up to the end he kept in touch with all the doings of his pack, he
did not leave his house. Still week by week members of the hunt would go
up and have a 'crack' with him—always to be received with the same
courteous inquiry, 'Well, how about your wives and families, are they well?
That's right. Is any news stirring? What about the House last night?' He took
the keenest interest in politics up to the end, and that came, not
unexpectedly, at two o'clock on a quiet starlit morning, Thursday, 5th March,
1903.

I could not wonder that my old friend the yeoman had said it was a dark
day for Threlkeld, for he had lived among his own people, and loved them to
the end. How they loved him may be gathered from the fact that two days
before he died, a casket containing a book in which every householder in the
parish had entered his name, with an illuminated address, full of affection
and gratitude, for the friendship towards them of a long life, was brought to
the house. 'Ya kna,' said my friend, 'they knew t' aid Squire was house-fast,
and they likely thowt 't wad cheer 'im up a laal bit.' He never saw it, for it
was thought he was too ill to be 'fashed' with it, and he is beyond all earthly
cheering now; 'the Hunter is home from the Hill.'

On the following Monday there was such a gathering together of the


dalesmen from far and near as had never been seen in Threlkeld Church, or
Threlkeld Churchyard. They sang one of the old Squire's favourite hymns.
They bore the coffin to the grave with the veteran's hunting cap and crop and
the brush of the last fox killed by his pack upon it, and before and after the
service they talked of him kindly, as Cumberland folk ever do of the dead;
they spoke of him, not only as the oldest Master of Foxhounds in the land,
but as a man who entered into all the social enjoyments of the country-side,
and whilst on terms of close intimacy, almost familiarity, with the
companions, retained their regard, and in some things set them a good
example.
For in an age when the gambling spirit was abroad, it will be
remembered that John Crozier never bet a penny in his life. 'I did yance
think o' betting a hawpeth o' snaps,' he once said in the vernacular; 'but I
kind of considered it ower, and I didn't.' It will be remembered of him, too,
that he was against the use of bad language in the field, and that he never
would allow, if he could help it, a bit of scandal or 'ill gien gossip.' If he
heard one man running down another or passing an unkind judgment, or
setting an unkind tale 'agate,' he would jerk out, 'There, noo, thoo mun let
that hare sit'—and it sat. 'Ay, ay,' said an old friend as he turned away from
the graveyard, 'tho' he said nowt about it, he was a kind o' a religious man,
was varra partial to certain hymns, and had his favourite psalms, that he wad
gang off quietly to his bit summerhoose most mornings, and tek his prayer
book with him. They say t' housekeeper, after her master's death, found t' aid
beuk laid open on summerhoose taable, I suppose.'

But as they left the churchyard they all in memory saw the old Master in
his sealskin cap, with the lappets about his ears—squarely built and strong,
with his alpenstock in hand, as the prefatory verse tells:

But I think I see him stand,


Rough mountain staff in hand,
Fur cap and coat of grey,
With a smile for all the band
Of the sportsmen in the land,
And a word for all the merry men who loved his 'Hark away!'

And as they thought of what he has been to them for the last 65 years in the
Threlkeld vale, they admitted the truth of the following words:

Last hunter of your race!


As we bear you to your place,
We forget the hounds and horn,
But the tears are on our face,
For we mind your deeds of grace,
Loving-kindness, late and early, unto all the village-born.
A WINTER-DAY ON DERWENTWATER.

If November is the month for cloud effect, December certainly is the


month for marvellous dawns and eventides. Then it would appear as if by
some generous intent to give the minds of men unwonted tranquillity and to
impress all the dwellers in the vales with the thought of perfect restfulness,
the sun seems to prepare for his rising a heaven of cloudless silver washed
with faintest gold. All the heavy ragged companies of the night-wrack seem
withdrawn, and very slowly, while Helvellyn stands lilac-grey against the
silver dawn, the sun rolls into sight, kindles the cones of Grisedale and
Grasmoor, and bids the heavy dew upon the valley meadows rise up in finest
lines of delicate gossamer lawn.

Yesterday, though we had little wind in the valley, one could hear the
humming and the roaring of what seemed a tempest in middle heaven, but at
night-time heaven and earth were still, and the seven stars in Orion and the
Pleiads, 'like fireflies tangled in a silver braid,' shone clear, and we felt that
the Frost King had come in earnest. There was no snow on the hills this
morning; the leaves at one's feet tinkled as though they were made of iron; I
met schoolboys with rosy faces and skates upon their shoulders going off to
Tewfit Tarn—the little tarn upon the ridge dividing Naddle from St. John's in
the Vale, that always gives our skaters in the Keswick neighbourhood their
first winter happiness. Down to the lake I went, and standing at Friar's Crag,
saw that part of it was burnished steel and part black ebon water. It was
incredible that one night's frost should thus have partly sealed the lake from
sight.
A WINTER'S DAY ON DERWENTWATER.

I was bound for Brandelhow to meet the woodman to discuss the felling
of certain timber, and through the ice pack, if it were possible, I must needs
go. Coasting along round the island, I soon found myself in a narrow inlet of
water that stretched half across the lake; tiny spikules of ice that seemed like
floating straws were right and left of me in the still water; here and there
little delicate fans of ice were passed. These miniature ice-islands were the
nuclei round which the freezing mixture would crystallise. Forward across
towards Lingholme I steered, and suddenly should have been brought up
sharp had not the boat, with good way upon it, crashed right into the ice-floe
and shown me how unsubstantial a thing this first ice-covering of the lake
was. With every stroke of the oar the boat forged its way with marvellous
sound of crash and gride, and one remembered how the Ancient Mariner had
heard those 'noises in a swound,' and was able to summon up something of
the roar with which the great ice-breakers or steam rams on the Neva crash
their way up and down the river to keep the waterway clear for the Baltic
shipping. But in a short time the difficulty of rowing became doubled, and if
it had not been that one saw clear water ahead one would hardly have
ventured forward. Meanwhile in the wake of one's boat one saw how swiftly
the little ice-elves repaired the damage one had done by bringing back to its
own place and rest each fragment one had displaced, and piecing over with
exquisite exactness the breach that one had made.

Now the way was clear, for by some mysterious reason, known only to
the water-gods, the shallower the water became as one went shoreward the
freer it was of ice. It may have been mere fantasy, but it seemed as if the
water so near to freezing was semi-fluid, viscous; always right and left of
one swam by the little ice spikules, and the ice fans, with irridescent beauty,
floated and shone hard by. Presently another crash was heard, and an ice-
belt, only a yard wide, but stretching fifty or sixty yards along, was crashed
through, another and another, and so, with alternate noise and silence, one
made one's way to Victoria Point, and ran the boat ashore at Brandelhow.

Beautiful as that woodland is in early spring, it seemed that to-day there


were more beauties still. The bracken was silver-dusted with frost and shone
gold in the sunshine, and the green velvet of the mosses upon tree-trunk and
ground only heightened by contrast the rich russet of the fern. I climbed to
the russet seat on the rocky knoll above; there, sitting, I watched the
gambolling of five squirrels and listened to the crackling as their sharp teeth
made short work of the cones and fir-tufts. All these little merry feasters had
put on their winter coats, and were much less red of hue than when I
watched them last in August. They had put on their winter tails also. I saw
none of that curious white flaxen colour which the squirrel in September
seems so proud of, as, with a wave of his brush, he dashes out of sight.
There, as I watched these miracles of motion and alertness, I thought of
Ruskin—how lovingly he had described them. Here was one leaping on to a
twig that bent with just enough of swing in it to allow the little fellow to fly
through the air to the next bough. Here was another, now running along the
sturdier bough that bent not, now dropping five or six feet into a dark-green
tuft, now sitting cosily in a forked branch to munch his midday meal, now
racing for pure joy and mischief after his brother up a long tree-trunk, the
tail sometimes bent in an arch above the tufted ears, again thrown out
straight, and now bent and undulating—truly a balancing-pole, if ever one
was needed by such expert gymnasts. Children of perfect knowledge of the
woodland boughs, fearless as birds and swift as monkeys, the happy family
rejoiced in the winter sunshine, as free of care as the cloudless sky above
their heads. I moved, and the jay clanged and screamed from among the
alders below me, and in a moment the happy family had vanished out of
sight, and one saw what an intercommunion of alarm against strange comers
birds and beasts must surely have. Dropping down from this happy mount—
and truly it has been called Mons Beata—I made my way through crackling
fern across the chattering little brooklet to the second rocky height further to
the southward. Blencathra lilac-grey and Walla Wood purple-brown and
High Seat tawny yellow were reflected with such fidelity in the flood below
one that the beauty of two worlds seemed to be given me. The tranquillity of
the far-away fells was brought right across the flood to one's feet, a couple of
wild duck dashed into the water, and with the ripplings of their sudden
descent they set the whole fellside trembling. Looking now towards Cat
Bels, one marvelled at the extraordinary beauty of the colour. Never was
such bronze and gold seen to make the sky so blue, as one gazed up to the
hummock of Cat Bels; whilst, between our rustic seat and the high road, the
woodland hollow was filled with colour of gradation from silver-grey to
purple-brown, and here and there a beech tree full of leaf or a Scotch fir
green and blue gave emphasis to the general tone of softest harmony.
Passing on through the larches upon the little height, I gained a third seat,
and here the chief charm was the outlook up Borrodale. Immediately in the
foreground were young Scotch fir; beyond them the lake glinted in silver
through leafless birches. Away up Borrodale, with every variety of lilac
melting into purple-grey, ridge beyond ridge, one saw the bossy outliers of
the Borrodale ranges stand up in sunny calm; one felt the deep tranquillity of
Glaramara and of nearer Honister, the only sound a distant cockcrow from
the far-off Ashness farm and the quiet inland murmur of Lodore. The glory
of the vale was the wonderful Castle Hill, with its echo of old Rome upon its
head, that stood black-purple against the further lilac haze. But as one sat
there in silent content a school of long-tailed tits came quavering by. They
found abundant food, it would seem, in the Scotch firs close beside me, and
what the squirrels had done before to open one's eyes to their miracle of
movement these long-tailed titmice did again, for one here, as I sat and
watched their happy quest for food. Such balancing, such joyousness, such
fiery energy, such swiftness of sight, such whispering of heart's content
would have made the saddest man glad and the dullest marvel. As I rose
from that seat, with a long look up Borrodale, I could not wonder that our
Viking forefathers had called it the Vale of the Borg or Castle, for that Castle
Hill in Borrodale must surely have seemed to them a giant's hold, the fittest
place for some high fortress-camp, as it had seemed to the Romans of an
older day.

If the first height one had ascended was rightly called 'Mons Beata,' and
the seat one had last left was placed on a hill that might be called Mons
Blencathrae, which gave such fair prospect of Blencathra, surely this fair
mount might be called 'Mons Borgadalis,' or the Mount of Borrodale.

I heard a whistle, and to my answering hulloa came a shout. The forester


was waiting for me away up there on the highest point of the woodland, not
far from the main road and above the Brandelhow mines. Descending swiftly
and making my way through the frosty undergrowth, with rabbits scuttling
here and there and a soft-winged owl lazily fluttering from a bough above
my head, I was suddenly aware by the scent that hung upon the fern that a
fox had passed that way. But it must have been in the early morning or 'Brer
Rabbit' would not have been about and the jay would have been screaming,
and, making the best of my way up to the forester, we soon forgot all about
bird and beast in our honest efforts to let in light and give fair outlook to the
wanderers who should hither come for rest and thought in succeeding
summers.

It is not an easy matter to open up a woodland view—the branch of every


tree must be questioned, the joy of 'part seen, imagined part' must be had in
mind,—but the work was done at last. We sat down for rest on the woodland
seat on the fourth rocky eminence on Brandelhow. It is a seat within only a
few yards of the high road, yet so screened from it that it is hardly seen; but
it is a hill with so fair a prospect that indeed I think angels might pass the
little wicket in the wall and visit those who rest here unawares. There is no
better name imaginable for this high resting-place than 'Mons Angelorum.'
As I thought thus the great sun rolled beyond the hills and all the vale lay
darkened. Cat Bels and Brandelhow went black and grey, while still across
the lake Walla and Blencathra lay in full sunshine; but at that moment,
unthought of before, there rose a band of angels all along the riverside, and
tiny cloudlets swam up into shadow, and again from shadow into sun. The
Mount of the Angels was this height rightly called.
'It is likely getting late,' said the forester, 'and if you do not start soon
you'll happen hardly get through the ice to-night.'

Down to the boat landing in Victoria Bay I went, and as I went the
woodland filled with a mysterious light. I thought of St. Francis and the
visions he had seen at Al Verna; the sun was beyond the hills, it had faded
now even from Walla Crag, but the light from Brandelhow seemed to leap
up from the ground, the larches so dim and dead before gleamed into gold;
the red bracken at my feet burned like fire; it was an enchanted woodland;
the magic after-glow was the enchanter.
MONS BEATA, BRANDELHOW.

I pushed off from the shore, gained the ice-pack, crashed through it but
not without difficulty, and won the dark, clear water beyond. The sun had
sunk between Robinson and Grisedale, a dark cloud-bar had filled the
heavenly interspace, but there in the gap it seemed as if beneath its heavy
eyebrow the eye of God was keeping watch and ward above the quiet land.
One had often seen at the seaside the sun sink and the slender pillar of
golden light reach downward to the shore, but never had I seen such a
magnificent golden roadway laid upon shining water for happy dreams of
tired men to follow the flying day, as I saw that eventide upon the silver ice
and the darkling flood of tranquil Derwentwater.

WORDSWORTH AT COCKERMOUTH.

It was a difference that arose on the American question, between Sir


James Lowther and his law agent and steward, a certain John Robinson, in
the year 1766, that was the prime cause of the fact that Wordsworth, the
poet, was born here. For John Robinson resigned his stewardship, and young
John Wordsworth, then only 24 years of age, 'a man of great force of
character and real human capacity,' was appointed in his place to be 'law
agent and steward of the manor of Ennerdale.' To that post, which he
occupied for the next 18 years, the young man came from the Penrith
neighbourhood, bringing with him as his girl wife a certain Ann Cookson, a
mercer's daughter, who could boast, through her descent on her mother's side
from the Crackanthorpes, of Newbiggin Hall, an ancestry that flowed from
as far back as the time of Edward III. She was thus well suited to marry the
son of the land agent of Sockbridge, near Penistone, who traced his descent
through a long unbroken line of sturdy Yorkshire yeomen away in the
Penistone neighbourhood, as far as to the time of the Norman Conqueror.
They took up their abode in the substantial house now occupied by Mr.
Robinson Mitchell, then lately builded by one Sheriff Luckock. It bears date
1745-46, and is to-day unmarred and unmodernised, remaining much as it
was when John Wordsworth became its tenant. We know little of this young
John Wordsworth, but he must have been a man 'tender and deep in his
excess of love,' for when, after twelve years of happy married life here in the
old manor house beside the Derwent, his wife died from consumption,
caught, as we are told, by being put into a damp bed in the 'best room' when
on a visit to friends in London, he never seemed to recover his spirits, and he
himself died six years after her, in the year 1783, on the 30th December, and
lies buried at the east end of the All Saints' Church. He lost his way on the
fells when returning from some business engagement at Broughton-in-
Furness, and was obliged to stay out all night; the chill from exposure
brought on inflammation of the lungs, and his strength, sapped by deep
domestic sorrow, could not bear up against it. The orphans whom he left,
Richard, William, Dorothy, John, and Christopher, four of whom were
remarkable in after life, were then removed to the care of their uncle
Cookson at Penrith, and Cockermouth knew them no more. We have been
allowed, from William Wordsworth's autobiographical notes and his poems,
to glean something of those early days. The poet tells us:

Early died
My honoured mother, she who was the heart
And hinge of all our learnings and our loves,
Nor would I praise her, but in perfect love!

We can in fancy see her in earnest converse with Mr. Ellbanks, the teacher of
the school by the churchyard, talking about William's 'moody and stiff
temper'; we can hear her say 'that the only one of the children about whom
she has fears is William; and he will be remarkable for good or evil.' We may
note her pinning on the child's breast the Easter nosegay, for the young lad is
to go up to the church, to say his catechism. Daffodils I expect the flowers
were: years after, in the ecclesiastical sonnets Words worth, speaking of this
act of his mother's, writes:

Sweet flowers at whose inaudible command


Her countenance phantom-like doth reappear.

Or we can see the father, book in hand, hearing the lad recite the long
passages of Shakespeare, and Milton, and Spenser which were insensibly to
mould his ear to music, fire his imagination, and make a poet of him.

But when I think of Wordsworth in those childish days I do not go off to


the ancient school by the church to hear him stumble through Latin verbs.
He was not as happy there as he was at Mrs. Birkett's, the dame's school at
Penrith; there was no Mary Hutchinson to keep him company; and he
learned, he tells us, when he went to Hawkshead at the age of ten, more
Latin in a fortnight than he had learned the two previous years at
Cockermouth. No, rather when I want to see the little William Wordsworth
at his happiest, I go with him into the old Manor House Terrace garden by
the Derwent's side, and see him with his sister, that sister 'Emmeline,' as he
called her, chasing the butterfly, or hand in hand peering through the rose
and privet hedge at the sparrow's nest, 'wishing yet fearing to be near it.'

Or, follow him with his nurse, he a child of only five years of age,
bathing and basking alternate, all the hot August day in the shallows of the
mill pool, and leaping naked as an Indian through the tall garden ragwort on
the sands, and clapping his hands to see the rainbow spring from middle air.
Or I go with him by the river, 'winding among its grassy holmes,' whose
voice flowed along his earliest dreams—that Derwent he could never forget
—away to the Castle-hold of the barons of old time, Waldeof, Umfraville,
Multon, Lucies, and Nevilles, and watch him peering with look of awe into
the dark cellar and dungeons, watch him chase the butterfly through the grim
courts or climb after the tufts of golden wallflower upon its broken
battlements.

But happiest of all was he when with his story book he lay full stretched,
as he describes in the Prelude, upon the sun-warmed stones and sandy banks
'beside the bright blue river,' and there feasted his little heart on fairy tale
and filled his soul with scenes from wonderland.

Wordsworth was never unmindful of the home of his birth. He left


Cockermouth for schooldays at Hawkshead when he was a boy of nine, and
though in the holidays, for the next five years, he paid an occasional visit to
the place, his chief vacation associations were with Penrith. The Poet's
connection with this town ceased at his father's death in 1784, when he was a
lad of fourteen; but he never forgot it. From nature and her overflowing soul
here in his childhood days he had received so much that all his thoughts
were steeped in a feeling of grateful remembrance of it. He visited the home
of his childhood occasionally to refresh his heart with a cup of
remembrance, and we find a note of a certain visit in Dorothy's letter to Mrs.
Marshall. Writing in September, 1807, she says:—'W. and M. have just
returned. They were at Cockermouth, our native place you know, and the
Terrace Walk—that you have heard me speak of many a time—with the
privet hedge, is still full of roses as it was thirty years ago. Yes, I remember
it for more than thirty years.'

In 1836 he interests himself in a scheme for building a new church. He


writes to his friend Poole, of Nether Stowey, for assistance to this object. He
tells him that Cockermouth is in a state of much spiritual destitution, nearly
6000 souls and only 300 sittings for the poor. Wordsworth cared for the poor.
'I have been the means,' he says, 'of setting on foot the project of erecting a
new church there, and the inhabitants look to me for much more assistance
than I can possibly afford them, through any influence that I possess.'

As a Keswick parson, I gather with pride further on in that letter, that it


was the fact of the new church of St. John's having been built there that
spurred him on; and that he hopes Cockermouth will do as Keswick has
done, and thus excite other towns to follow so good an example.

It is interesting to note that the Cockermouthians of that day were not of


one mind in the matter, or the Poet had been misled as to native church
feeling; for the inhabitants having a windfall of £2000 given them by the
Lord of Egremont that year, to spend as they pleased, preferred a new market
place to a new church, and the old Poet writes:—'This was wanted, so we
cannot complain.'

But Wordsworth was disappointed and grieved too at the spirit of


unkindness shown by some of the people of his native town to his good Lord
Lonsdale. I have had access to a MS. letter of Wordsworth's, which shows
that the Church-building project fell through, as far as he was concerned, by
reason of what he considered the unfair treatment of an offer of help, made
by the then Lord Lonsdale to the town, in connection with the church
accommodation needed.

So far as I know this was the last public work he attempted to do for the
place that gave him birth. But at least we cannot regret that his last effort
was in a cause near to his heart, the cause of the religious interests and life of
his fellow Cumbrians, the cause of reverence, worship, and godly fear, of
'pure religion breathing household laws,' the cause of the worship and praise
of Almighty God, here in his native place.
The seed he sowed, though it lay dormant, did not fall on barren ground;
and in a real sense the present All Saints' Parish Church may stand as a
monument to the immortal Poet, who then, as ever, championed 'in perilous
times the cause of the poor and simple,' and did what he might in his day for
church life and piety in the place of his nativity, Cockermouth.

MOUNTAIN SILENCE AND VALLEY SONG.

Once more the Heavenly power makes all things new.

This was the line from Tennyson's poem that kept ringing in my ears, as on
the mid-most day of April I wandered out and away across the vale to the
skirts of Skiddaw.

Opens a door in Heaven;


From skies of glass
A Jacob's ladder falls
On greening grass,
And o'er the mountain walls
Young angels pass.

Before them fleets the shower


And burst the buds,
And shine the level lands,
And flash the floods,
The stars are from their hands
Flung thro' the woods.

No, no! this last couplet was untrue; the anemones had not yet opened their
delicate shells, and the blackthorn buds were only dimmest seed-pearls of
yellowish lustre. But as I gazed from the fence halfway up Latrigg and
watched the Greta flashing, and the great plain fresh-enamelled with the first
faint green of spring, a Jacob's ladder was let down from above Scafell and
Glaramara, and all the angels that ever came on earth to fill men's hearts
with April jollity came trooping downwards. They took on various forms.
Some of them became tortoise-shell butterflies that lay in sunny content
upon the moist woodland path. Others sailed out of blue air and became
glorious peacock butterflies upon whose underwings in blue and black one
clearly saw the head and face of human kind sketched in with lustrous
powdery pencillings. Other angels ministered to the pink coral glumes of the
sycamore; others, again, daintily untwisted the leafage of the wild rose in the
hedge; others delighted to unfold the tufts upon the elder. But the angels that
seemed to be busiest were those that made the vivid emerald of the 'dog's
mercury' contrast with the faded red of the bracken in the woods, and where
the purple birches showed against the flowering larches added moment by
moment a deeper, ruddier purple to the trees' beauty and a finer flash of
green to the surrounding wood to set the purple off.

But all the gifts of the angels of that April morning seemed as nothing
when compared with the joy of the sight of one single angel of the spring—
he a lustrous-backed swallow who flashed from steel-purple into black and
from black to steel-purple, and disappeared from sight behind the larches. I
had known of his coming, for a swift-eyed shepherd had seen one of his kind
in the valley as early as April 1, but April 13 to the 15th was marked in my
calendar as swallowtide, and I had not expected sight of him till this week.
Here he was, glossy with African sun, and full of silent message that
summer was sure. The chiffchaff would be a-trill and the cuckoo would be
calling for a mate within the week. Ah, swallow! swallow! flying north!
How much of hope and happiness you bring. Then as I moved through the
larchen grove, I heard the titmice whispering that they too were glad, they
too felt reassured by sight of the swallow, and one walked on in a kind of
consciousness that man and swallow and budding larches were more akin
than one had believed, until the joyousness of spring found the selfsame
echo in such divers hearts, and that indeed the over-soul was one, the music
and the melody one voice. Yes, Wordsworth sang truly when he wrote:

One impulse from a vernal wood


May teach us more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
I met a child halfway up Latrigg braiding her hat with larch flower. Truly
no rubies ever seemed so rich and rare as these which the simple village
child had twisted in her hat; her sister had a handful of primroses she was
taking to her father in the neighbouring cottage, for he was but slowly
recovering from pneumonia, and the child knew by instinct that a breath
from a primrose posy would do more for him than all the 'doctors' bottles' in
the world.

'You have been up Skiddaw betimes,' I said.

'Ay, ay, sir; you see they've gone to "laate" Herdwicks to-day for
lambing-time, and I went up to the Gale with the dogs.'

Herdwicks! Lambing! What did it all mean? Only that those great brown
slopes of Skiddaw which till this day have been vocal with flocks and alive
with sheep, will by this eventide be as silent as the grave. For between April
10 and April 20 the shepherds know that the Herdwicks will become
mothers of their springtide young, and so they will go forth to the fells and
upland pastures, to bring their woolly charges down from the mountain
heights to the safety and the food and care of the dale-farm enclosures. I
overtook the shepherds at the 'Gale,' and went with them. Soon the dogs
were seen scouring the fell-side, now disappearing from sight, now coming
back to get a signal from their master. A wave of the hand to left or right was
all that was needed, and away they went, and slowly and surely they seemed
to be able to search out and bring into a close company the Herdwicks from
all the heathery waste and grey-bleached mountain hollows.

Then began the home-bringing. Very tenderly and gently did the dogs
urge the sheep, heavy with young, down the fell-side slopes. Now and again
the shepherd cried, 'Hey, Jack!' and away the collies flew back towards him.
'Ga away by!' and away again the collies flew in a great circle out beyond
and behind the sheep. The sheep were a little hustled and came on too fast.
Then the shepherd whistled and held up his hand, and the dogs sat like
stones till he whistled and waved his hand again. So down from Lonscale
and across the gulfy Whitbeck the sheep came. The dogs dashed off to
where, through a great carpet of ever-lucent moss, the main fountains break
from the hill. They slaked their thirst, then came back slowly to urge the
flocks homeward and downward toward the Shepherd's Cross, and so over
the Gale to the Lonscale Farm. We stopped at the Cross, and a tall, 'leish,'
handsome man, with fair hair and the grey Viking eye, said in solemn
undertone, 'Fadder and brudder cud hev been weal content to be wid us on
sic a day as this, I'se thinking.' And the mist gathered in his eyes, and he said
no more, but just went homeward with the sheep. Ah, yes, that Shepherd's
Cross tells of men—father and son—who spent their whole lives in
following the Herdwicks on the sides of Skiddaw and Lonscale Fell;
wrought for their sheep, thought of them by day and dreamed of them by
night, and were as proud, as ever David was, of what they looked upon as
the finest life a man need care to live, the mountain shepherd's round of love
and toil.

I waved adieu, and up beyond the huts to 'Jenkin' I went. The red fern
had been washed into faintest ochre, the heather had grown grey with winter
storm, but everywhere beneath the blanched grass one felt new life and
tenderest first flush of April green was astir; and as one looked down from
'Jenkin' into the circle of the deep blue hills and the Derwent's perfect mirror,
one saw that though the larches were still brown there was an undertone of
something, neither brown nor green, that flooded not only the larch woods
but the great Latrigg pastures also, and betokened that the spring was even at
their doors, and that the fells would soon rejoice with the emerald valley
below. Gazing at the vale of Crosthwaite, where still all the trees seem
winter white, one was astonished at the darkness of the hedgerows that
divided the meadows, and one saw the new fallows shine and swim like
purple enamel upon the green flood of the springtide grass. 'Jenkin' was
reached, but not until many swathes of lingering snow, black with the smoke
of the blast furnaces of the coast and of Lancashire and Yorkshire mills, had
been passed. Here at 'Jenkin top' we found two men hard at work 'graaving'
peats for the Coronation bonfires on June 26.

'Well, how goes the peat-graving?' said I, and a ruddy-faced Norseman


from a Threlkeld farm said, 'Aw, gaily weel, sir; but I'm thinking we mud
hev nae mair kings upo' the throane, for this job will finish t' peat moss, and
peats are hard to finnd within reach o' Skiddaw top. You see,' said he, 'it's
lost its wire, and peat widout wire in it is nae use for makking a "low" wid.'

I saw that what he called 'wire' were the rootlets of the ancient
undergrowth of years gone by, the matted texture of primeval springtides,
and, stooping down, he broke a peat across and showed me the wire. 'You
kna,' he continued, 'we shall just leave peats ligging here, and thoo mun send
up scheul-lads to spreead them in a forthnet's time. Then they mud coom oop
a week laater and shift 'em and turn them, and then a week laater they mud
coom and foot 'em. That is if thoo want 'em in fettle by Coronation-daay, for
they are ter'ble watter-sick noo.'

'Foot them?' I said. 'What do you mean?' And the shepherd took a couple
and leaned them one against another, and showed me how thus a draught of
air passed between the peats and ensured their drying. 'Well, good-daay,
good-daay. But we mud hev nae mair kings to be crooned,' said he; 'for peat
moss ull nobbut howd oot for this un, I'm thinking.'

I bade farewell, and down to the valley I went, noting how doubly near
and blue the hills and vales all seemed to grow, as one passed down beneath
the veils of haze which had lent both greyness and distance to the view.
Again I saw the swallow skim; again I watched the gorgeous butterflies, and,
with a wand of palm-flower that had just lost its gold, and the rosy plumelets
of the larch in my hand, I made the best of my way homeward, through air
that throbbed and thrilled with the voice of thrush and blackbird, and felt the
deep contrast between these silent flockless slopes of Skiddaw, and the
ringing singing valley at his feet.

INDEX

Adelaide, Queen, 46.


Ambleside, 18, 22, 44, 53.
Angler, Complete, 120.
April song, 81.
Arnold, Dr., 19, 50.

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