Granular Materials in Civil Engineering: Recent Advances in the Physics of Their Mechanical Behavior and Applications to Engineering Works - Multiscale Geomechanics: From Soil to Engineering Projects - page 74

Figure 3.20. Scale effects in rockfill Rigidity Modulus at end of construction -
correlation with layer thickness (from Johannesson, 2007)
3.3.3.3. Scale effect on micromechanims inducing settlements - application to
rockfill dams
3.3.3.3.1. Micromecanisms inducing settlement
Several rockfill dams of the CFRD (concrete faced rockfill dams) type have
presented disorders at impounding, such as excessive opening or shear
displacements at the perimetric joint, especially on steep sloped abutments. The
roots of these problems are settlements within the granular fill, which can be
schematically explained as follows. In a typical section, the chains of major forces
resulting from both impounding and self-weight follow the CC line in Figure 3.21.
Under the forces exerted by impounding, settlements resulting from small local
shear movements are distributed within the granular assembly, triggered by local
stone or block breakage. In a right-to-left bank section, transverse to the valley axis