The influence of consolidation phenomenon upon stresses in embankment dams

The behaviour of earth and rockfill dams tightened up with clay cores could be strongly influenced by pore water pressure which come into existence within the tightening core. The reduced permeability of clayey materials (k=10 -5 ...10 -8 cm/s) is responsible for rather low rithms of withdrawing water from the pores of such dam constitutive materials. During the dam construction stages, the successive overloadings-represented by newly deposited Iayersimposes a state of saturation, to clayey core, the pore water volume not growing smaller together with the continuous increasing of that overloading process. Therefore,the pore water, which is practical incompressible with respect to the material solid phase, goes under pressure and thus undertakes its quota out of overloading magnitude. In practice, one is acquainted with the fact that high rockfill and earth dams with clay cores have - at their completion - certain core zones which take over up to 70...100% of corresponding loading ( Priscu 1974 ). In time, as the water leaves off the pores, a gradual reduction of pore water pressure will generally take place within the core (the consolidation phenomenon).