Stability investigation and stabilization of a heavily fractured and loosened rock slope during construction of a strategic hydropower station in China

Abstract

This paper presents a case history of the 205 m high intake slope at the Huangjinping (HJP) hydropower station on the Dadu River. Deformation and cracks developed on the cut slope during excavation, and the deformation extended onto the natural slope above the cut, giving rise to serious safety concerns. Research was conducted to study the engineering geological conditions and the deformation characteristics of the slope during excavation. In situ monitoring data and possible causes of cracking were analyzed. The results show that the zone of loosened rock mass extended much deeper into the rock mass than it did at other sites in the region because of the tectonic history of the site and cutting. The empirically designed cable anchors with lengths of 40 m or 45 m were insufficient to stabilize the slope, while the remedial cable anchors as long as 100 m successfully stabilized the slope. The analytic method and procedure used in this paper could be useful to similar projects.

Artificial intelligence application for predicting slope stability on soft ground: a comparative study

“…The selected panorama selected equipped at the indicated location with horizontal and vertical pressure cells, inclined feet, vertical and pneumatic pipe piezometers and surface submersible markers as shown in Figure 1. The incline metres in the boreholes are used to recognise the ability of the movement of the slope plane [17,18]. Monitoring on the field for 185 days after the construction has been conducted and the data collected by these instruments an inclined measurement device consisting of detectors, control cables, pulleys and readings are used to measure horizontal deflection over the whole slope.…”

Deformation Process and Mechanism Analyses of a Rock Slope Based on Long-Term Monitoring at the Pubugou Hydropower Station, China

“…The purpose of the numerical analysis is to evaluate the PBGRS stability after the installation of reinforcement measures. Since no major discontinuities were recognized as well as the deformation characteristics were similar to the particles, the slope rock mass was modeled as a continuous material [1]. Many studies pointed out that rock slopes with faults and joints; the strength reduction FEM can provide more accurate stability evaluation results [53][54][55].…”

“…The Western Sichuan Province is located on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and is rich in hydropower resources. Over the past few decades, there are more than 20 largescale hydropower projects (Table 1), which mainly settled on the three major rivers [1,2]. Usually, these areas are deep down cutting river valleys, with high stresses, active tectonic environment, and loosened rock mass.…”

Observation of the rock slope thermal regime, coupled with crackmeter stability monitoring: initial results from three different sites in Czechia (central Europe)

“…Rock slope monitoring is a common task in engineering geology and is often used at construction sites (Ma et al, 2020;Li et al, 2018;Scaoni et al, 2018), along roads or railways, or to protect settlements. Various approaches are used, with a background in geodesy (Gunzburger et al, 2005;Reiterer et al, 2010;Yavasoglu et al, 2020), geotechnics (Greif et al, 2017;Lazar et al, 2018), geophysics (Burjanek et al, 2010;Weber et al, 2017Weber et al, , 2018Coccia et al, 2016;Yan et al, 2019;Weigand et al, 2020;Warren et al, 2013), or remote sensing methods (Sarro et al, 2018;Matano et al, 2015). Most commonly, sensors such as thermometers, accelerometers, inclinometers, visible light or IR cameras, total stations, TLS (terrestrial laser scanner), GbSAR (ground-based synthetic-aperture radar), and seismographs are used to detect potential rockfall events (Burjanek et al, 2010(Burjanek et al, , 2018Tripolitsiotis et al, 2015;Matsuoka, 2019).…”