Foundations for hydropower dams

Many factors are important when constructing the foundations of a hydropower dam. The structural safety is naturally the key issue. For example, the water leakage through the bedrock and the associated uplift pressure under the dam need to be kept sufficiently low. Potentially, there could also occur sliding of the dam either along existing fractures in rock mass or along the contact surface between rock and concrete, so the inherent resistance of these potential sliding planes needs to be assessed in the design work. Addressing such issues, we conduct research on the use of reliability-based design methods to assess structural safety of dams founded on rock. Considerable effort is put into the issue of assessing the current status of existing dams and how their service life can be extended, including how to retain the water tightness of the foundations. How to find the most effective measures from a life-cycle perspective is an emerging research topic.

Representatives: Fredrik Johansson , Marie Westberg Wilde , Johan Spross