Effects of Environmental Action on Thermal Stress Analysis of Karaj Concrete Arch Dam

A three-dimensional finite element analysis is carried out to determine the thermal stresses of a concrete arch dam. Appropriate heat transfer boundary conditions in the dam body are used for air and reservoir temperature as well as solar radiation variations. A finite element model is used to determine annual variation of temperature and thermal stress in the body of Karaj arch dam in Iran as a case study. The rate of convergence of the numerical solution is examined. The temperatures predicted by the model are satisfactorily compared with the instrumentation records at Karaj Dam. Results of the finite element analysis show that probable cracks occur in a very narrow region of the downstream face. Thermal loads have the most significant effects for causing downstream cracks in comparison with self-weight and hydrostatic loads. The cracked areas of the downstream face conform to the regions that have the highest temperature in the downstream face. This can be associated with the solar radiation, which shows that two-dimensional analysis of an arch dam cannot yield accurate results and three-dimensional analysis is necessary.