Engineering geological and geotechnical responses of schistose rocks from dam project areas in India

For a rational and safer design of civil and mining engineering structures in or on rocks, a proper understanding of the quality of rock mass is required. To assess the rock mass quality, evaluation of physical and mechanical characteristics of the intact rocks is essential. Especially if the rock is anisotropic in nature, the genetic complexity associated with its petrofabric makes it more difficult to predict its behaviour. In this paper, a comprehensive study of the compositional, physical and geotechnical responses of four varieties of schists, i.e., quartzitic, chlorite, quartz mica and biotite schists obtained from two hydroelectrical project sites in the foot hills of Himalayas, India, has been presented.

Anisotropic strength behaviour of the schists has been brought out through the testing of specimens with varying orientation of schistosity with respect to the major principal stress under uniaxial and triaxial conditions. The significance of anisotropic response for consideration in the design is emphasized.     

近断层水库大坝的震后变形问题分析

本文以拟建水库大坝为例计算了位于断层附近的坝址区在发生6~7级地震时的位移、应变和应力。结果表明这种位移、应变和应力都达到很大的值,对于近断层的重大工程设施必须考虑断层发震产生的震后变形引起的“抗断问题”。     

Estimating cement take and grout efficiency on foundation improvement for Li-Yu-Tan dam

The cement take needed for dam foundation improvement with grout-curtain is difficult to estimate due to the complexity of the rock foundation and the great number of Lugeon tests involved in the analysis. Therefore, this study adopted the mean method, the linear regression method, and the back-propagation neural network (BPN) method to analyze the grout-curtain construction data of the Li-Yu-Tan dam, Taiwan, in order to estimate the cement take needed. The samples analyzed included data from 3532 grout sections. The data from the first half of the grout-curtain construction were used to derive the parameters of the predictive schemes, and then the second half of the grout-curtain construction's data were used to test the accuracy of those schemes. The accuracy levels estimated by these three methods on gross cement take were 71.8%, 59.8%, and 75.3% for the mean method, the linear regression method and the BNP method, respectively. All accuracy levels estimated by these three methods were higher than the original design level of 43.4%. Furthermore, the efficiency of the grout improvement in the studied cases were confirmed by observing the changes of the distribution curve of the Lugeon value following each grout sequence. The method proposed is intelligible and can be applied in other situations.     

Harold Edwin Hurst: the Nile and Egypt,past and future

ABSTRACT

H.E. Hurst spent some 60 years studying the Nile for the Egyptian government, and laid the foundation for a monumental set of hydrological records and investigations. His studies of the size of over-year reservoirs needed to maintain a given yield from Nile flows showed that this was greater than that based on random series. This finding, known as the Hurst phenomenon, was confirmed by other natural series and led to important advances in practical and theoretical statistics. His work led to the design of the Aswan High Dam and to continued research in Egypt.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor E. Eris     

Reservoir-induced seismicity in Karun III dam (Southwestern Iran)

Statistical analyses of the Karun III reservoir seismicity reveal a remarkable correlation between seismicity rate and water-level harmonic changes. It seems that seismicity in this dam depends on rapid water-level changes. The three biggest earthquakes of Karun III, measuring 4, 4.1, and 4.3 on the Richter scale (ML), occurred after two stages of rapid filling of the dam on March 22, 2005 and May 12, 2006. These earthquakes happened when the water reached the maximum operational level. Since the beginning of filling the reservoir on November 8, 2004 until March, 2006, most reservoir-induced seismicity has been localized in three main clusters. The majority of the earthquakes occurred in the frontal anticline of Keyf Malek; the second and third clusters happened near Karun Blind Fault (KBF) and Mountain Front Fault (MFF), respectively. Filling Karun III reservoir immediately led to an increase in the occurrence of earthquakes. Further, following abrupt water-level changes, a considerable increase in the number of earthquakes is observed. Finally, in terms of seismicity rate, vertical and horizontal migration, magnitude, and distance, the earthquakes of Karun III behave differently.     

Lessons from and assessment of Boussinesq aquifer modeling of a large fluvial island in a dam-regulated river

The suitability of a numerical Boussinesq aquifer model for representing groundwater dynamics in a fluvial island surrounded by a regulated river is assessed and the model is used to compare exchange fluxes for varying configurations of island hydraulic conductivity (K) and diffusivity. The model results are qualitatively similar to field observations of the water table although there is obvious dissimilarity between modeled and observed heads suggesting that a Boussinesq aquifer model may not be the best option for representing the island. Nonetheless, the simulations show that pronounced ridges and valleys form in the water table and that their spatial configuration may change drastically with small variations in diffusivity. Stage fluctuations significantly increase exchange flux across the island relative to the case where stage is constant. The flux increases non-linearly when island K is low but then becomes quasi-linearly dependent on K with further increases in K. Regulated river stage fluctuations due to dams significantly affect surface water–groundwater interactions between a fluvial island and a river. This deserves further inquiry for both scientific and management reasons.     

绰尔河断裂对文得根水库坝址区稳定性的影响

通过地质调查、物化探测量、地震活动性分析，研究了绰尔河断裂的位置、地质特征和活动性，以及该断裂对文得根水库坝址区稳定性的影响。结果表明，绰尔河断裂总体沿绰尔河河谷呈NW向展布，形成于中生代，经历了多期活动，表现为先压扭后引张。断裂北段宽而深，南段窄而浅。晚更新世末期以来不活动。绰尔河断裂对坝址稳定性影响不大。     

标准贯入试验在苏丹水利大坝勘察中的应用

近两年,我单位在苏丹国先后完成Kajbar,Shrerik、Sabloka,Dal、Dagash,Mograt等水利水电大坝的勘察工作。本文通过6个大坝详细勘察中标准贯入试验的操作工艺应用,以Dagash大坝为例对标准贯入试验进行阐述,并就与国内该试验实际操作存在的差异性进行比较。     

Vertical Variation of Lead Content in Sediment Collected from Man‐made Tamagawa Dam Lake in Akita Prefecture,Japan

Alternation layered lake sediment that had accumulated over a period of 22 years, from 1990 to 2012, was collected from the Tamagawa Dam Lake, which is located in the northeastern part of Akita Prefecture. The lake water is acidified (pH = 4.1) by the inflow of high‐acidic thermal water (pH = 1.2) from the Obuki Hot Spring, the main hot spring in the Tamagawa Hot Spring area. The vertical variations in Si, Al, Fe, Ti, and Pb contents of the sediment were determined by XRF, EPMA, and LA‐ICP‐MS in order to clarify the sedimentation processes of the lake sediment. The layers consisting of the sediment could be mostly classified into three types: dark brown, yellowish brown, and reddish layers. The contents of Si, Al, Fe, and Ti corresponded to the variation in color of each layer in the sample. Based on the Si, Al, and Fe contents in the sediment of Tamagawa Dam Lake, the sources of these elements were classified as detrital origin in dark brown and yellowish brown layers (Si, Al, and Ti) and chemical precipitate origin in reddish layers (Fe). Detrital components were derived from volcanic rocks in the watershed of Tamagawa Dam Lake. The variation of Pb content did not accord with the color of layers. The content of Pb in the sediment of Tamagawa Dam Lake ranges from 45 to 522 ppm. The vertical variation of Pb content in sediment corresponded to the temporal variation of Pb content in thermal water from the Obuki Hot Spring from 1990 to 2012. A large influence of hydrothermal activity of the Tamagawa Hot Spring on the vertical distribution of Pb was found during the active period of the Obuki Hot Spring, resulting in high Pb content within layers at 5–8 cm from the bottom of the sample. T‐Fe₂O₃‐rich reddish layers were also found in this range. Therefore, it is assumed that T‐Fe₂O₃ and Pb originated from Obuki Hot Spring and precipitated in Tamagawa Dam Lake. However, no correlation was found between T‐Fe₂O₃ and Pb contents for any of the dark brown, yellowish brown, and reddish layers. Some layers with high Pb content were also found to have high SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ contents. These findings indicate that there are several possibilities for the sedimentation process of Pb. The sedimentation of Pb as well as that of T‐Fe₂O₃ in Tamagawa Dam Lake provides a good example of the accumulation of elements by chemical precipitation away from the source of elements.     

考虑渗流作用的溃坝溃口发展模型

Osman基于边坡稳定性分析,建立了一套河岸崩塌发展的模型,该模型考虑了边坡崩塌的过程,从一定程度上反映了岸坡在水流作用下发展的过程,在描述溃坝溃口发展的模型中得到了很好的应用。在溃坝过程中,库水位会因泄流量的增加逐渐降低,此时在溃口边坡中会形成不稳定渗流,由此产生的渗透力会使岸坡的稳定性降低。本文在Osman模型的基础上,在边坡稳定性分析中考虑了溃坝过程中渗透力的作用,计算了岸坡破坏的倾角和判断岸坡稳定性的临界比值H/H'。另外,通过美国爱达荷州Teton坝历史溃坝案例提供的坝体的基本数据,模拟了考虑渗流作用下的溃坝过程,并且与不考虑渗流作用情况下的结果进行了对比。结果表明,考虑渗流作用的情况下溃坝水库水位下降的速度相对不考虑渗流的情况下更快,水库水流干的时间相对更短。这表明渗流加快了岸坡崩塌的速度,这使溃坝的时间缩短。