Behaviour of the reinforced concrete face slabs of concrete faced rockfill dams during impounding

The primary goal of this study was to examine the relative effects of various factors that affect the cracking of the face slab of a concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRD). Rigorous simulation of the construction and impoundment stages were conducted in sequential phases during which the rockfill and the rockfill-face slab interface were modelled with elasto-plastic models that were calibrated to existing test data. The face slab was modelled using embedded reinforcements with a total strain crack model. The results of the analyses showed that the stiffness of the rockfill significantly changed the crackwidth on the face slab, but not the extent of cracking. Increasing the reinforcement ratio was the most effective remedy for decreasing the average crack width on the slab. The properties of the rockfill-slab interface and the location of the reinforcement within the slab did not significantly affect the cracking on the slab.