Definition of the general initial water penetration fracture criterion for concrete and its engineering application

Abstract

A general initial water penetration (seepage) fracture criterion for concrete is proposed to predict whether or not harmful water penetration (hydraulic fracturing), other than microcracking, will occur in concrete structures in a severe high water pressure environment. The final regression, of the different macroscopic failure types in concrete to microscopic Mode I cracking, allows the use of only one universal criterion to indicate the damage. Thus, a general initial water penetration fracture criterion is approximately defined as a strain magnitude of 1000×10⁻⁶, based on the concept of tensile strain derived from experimental results in the relevant literature. Then, the locations of harmful water penetration fracture (hydraulic fracture) in the high arch dam mass of the Jinping first class hydropower project are analyzed using the nonlinear finite element method (FEM) according to the proposed criterion. The proposed criterion also holds promise for other concrete structures in high water pressure environments.