Three-dimensional reliability stability analysis of earth-rock dam slopes reinforced with permeable polymer

Polymer is a new repair and reinforcement material for earth-rock dams developed in recent years. Models are developed where spatial variability is incorporated into the analytical framework to evaluate the stability and reliability of reinforced three-dimensional dam slopes. The Karhunen-Loeve (K-L) expansion method is employed to generate three-dimensional random fields. The simplified Bishop method and Monte Carlo method are used to calculate the safety factors and failure probabilities of the dam slopes. With the implementation of polymer grouting reinforcement, the safety factors are improved and the failure probabilities are reduced. The reinforcement effect will be affected by the amount of polymer dosing, dam slope characteristics, and polymer grouting parameters. The impact of various longitudinal autocorrelation distances on reliability is influenced by the length of the dam slope itself. An increase of the safety factor by approximately 37% can be achieved through a polymer dosing of around 3%. Nevertheless, with the elevation of dam slope height and slope ratio, the effectiveness of polymer reinforcement is diminished.