Coordination Characteristics Analysis of Deformation between Polymer Anti-Seepage Wall and Earth Dam under Traffic Load

Abstract

Polymer anti-seepage walls have been widely used in the anti-seepage reinforcement projects of earth dams. Dam crest is always supposed to meet the requirements of traffic load which has significant influence on the dam body and anti-seepage wall. In order to analyze the coordination characteristics of the deformation between polymer anti-seepage wall and dam under traffic loads, a 3D finite element model of an earth dam that considers the coupling effect of seepage field and stress field was established. Besides, the influence of load amplitude, vehicle speed and driving position on the stress and deformation characteristics of polymer anti-seepage wall and dam was analyzed, with the displacement difference between dam and wall, wall Mises stress and wall subsidence as indicators. The results show that, compared with vehicle speed, the load amplitude and vehicle speed of traffic load exerted a greater impact on the coordination characteristics of the deformation of the dam. The variation range of the displacement difference caused by axial load change reached 87.1%, while that resulted from driving position change reached 90.3%. That is, when the passing vehicle has a light axle load and passes quickly over the anti-seepage wall, it has less impact on the dam.