مشخصات پژوهش

This paper investigates the effect of clogging incidents of drilling fluid within a borehole drilled through an earthfill dam by the 3D numerical analysis. Various locations and heights are considered for the position of the clogging zone of the borehole and the stress state and potential of both shear and tension failures are examined in the dam core. According to the results, the clogging incident decreases the minimum effective stress and increases the deviatoric stress in the dam body around the borehole which can impose tensile and shear failures. If the clogging incident occurs after the dam construction, tension cracking occurs in all locations of the clogging zone. However, the likelihood of tension cracking is reduced after the stages of steady seepage and consolidation completion. Moreover, if the borehole clogging occurs at the upper heights of the dam, a large damaged area with tension cracking and a high-risk of shear failure are imposed in the core and the stress decreases in a great zone. Besides, the damage potential of the clogging incident becomes significant at the edge of the dam core near the filter zone even during the steady seepage stage.