Three Dimensional Stability Analysis Of Arch Dam Abutment Rock Mass

Arch dam is a very important and famous for its proper structure and graceful build. Arch dam is the safest of all water retaining structures. Its application is wider and wider due to its excellent mechanics capability and economical cost. Currently, with the development of hydroelectricity and broadening in extension, many good geological sites have been exploited and utilized; the barrages (arch dam included) have to be built on sites with relatively not good or very bad geology, which adds necessity of analysis of arch dam abutment in some degree.The methods of arch dam abutment rock mass include numerical method analysis and model experiment analysis. It is summarized and dissertated in this article about the numerical method analysis, which is divided into deterministic analysis and nondeterministic analysis. And the former includes rigid body limiting equilibrium, FEM and Discrete Medium Method(block element method, Interface Stress Element, Discrete Element Method, DDA, Lagrange Element Method, Manifold Element Method etc.); The latter includes Random Analysis Method and Fuzzy Analysis Method. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed.Supplement is made to rigid body limiting equilibrium which is used most widely, making angle of faulted plane as variable, using complex method and quasi-Newton iterative method, according to the rule that rock mass slides along the plane with the least anti-sliding force, then get the minimum of safety coefficient most probably; furthermore, when analyzing with nonlinear finite element, shear strain contour line is brought forward to ascertain or confirm the sliding plane.Finally, some problems needed to be studied further are discussed.