Large arch dam safety management: Grančarevo Dam case study

Abstract

Dams are structures whose safety must be given extreme attention, because any damage and demolition of dams could have unfathomable and catastrophic consequences on society and the economy. This paper presents the modern concept of safety management of arch dams with application to the Grančarevo Dam, which is based on the following significant postulates: data management, development of mathematical models for the analysis of thermal, filtration and stress deformation processes and interaction of mathematical models with results of dam monitoring in order to be able to estimate the condition of the dam and evaluate its safety. The Grančarevo Dam is an arch dam that forms the largest reservoir in the Balkans, with a water volume of about 1.3 billion m3. By applying the safety management system of the Grančarevo Dam, a three-dimensional FEM model of the dam and the surrounding rock mass was formed, and the state of thermal, filtration and stress-deformation processes was determined by applying the FEM model. As part of the stress-deformation processes, attention should be drawn to the fact that the damage to the right side of the dam has been determined and that the safety of the right side of the dam has been compromised.