Bi-criteria stability evaluation approach of gravity dam with pre-stressed cable reinforcement.

The stability with enough safety margin is one of basic requirements for design and operation of gravity dam engineering. The pre-stressed cable reinforcement is an effective way to enhance and ensure the sliding stability of gravity dam. In this paper, the sliding failure process of gravity dam before and after the pre-stressed cable-based reinforcement practice is simulated and analyzed based on the finite element method (FEM), and two criteria on strength and energy are investigated and integrated to evaluate the improvement effect of reinforcement measures on the stability of gravity dams. Considering the relationship between the strength loss and the overall failure of gravity dam system, a new strength reduction method is investigated to formulate the reduction coefficient for the stability of gravity dams. According to the energy evolution process of the dam system, an energy catastrophe model is built to determine the strength loss coefficient and the strain energy for of gravity dams. Based on the catastrophe theory, the strength loss coefficient as the control criterion and the strain energy as the state criterion are combined to evaluate the stability improvement of gravity dams undergoing pre-stressed cable reinforcement. A gravity dam taken as an example, the proposed bi-criteria approach for stability evaluation of gravity dams with pre-stressed cable reinforcement is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]