Rehabilitation of Urft Dam - Rock Mechanics Based on an Anisotropic Jointed Rock Model - page 798

The extreme load case “storage level above dam crest”, belonging to extraordinary de-
sign situations, allows the occurrence of vertical tensile stresses at the upstream side
up to the drainages. Figure 24.33 shows the principal normal stresses in the middle
of the valley that were calculated for this case. Accordingly, vertical tensile stresses at
the upstream side were analyzed, which do not reach the drainage. When simulating a
horizontal open crack crossing the zone of calculated vertical tensile stresses, the zone
in which vertical tensile stresses occur does not significantly increase (Fig. 24.34). Also,
the equipotentials are only marginally influenced by the assumed crack (Figs. 24.25 and
24.35).
Figure 24.33 Principal normal stresses, load case “storage level above dam crest” (Wittke et al. 2012)