Seismic damage performance of the steel fiber reinforced face slab in the concrete-faced rockfill dam

Damage and cracks in concrete face slabs threaten the safety of concrete-faced rockfill dams (CFRDs). The use of fiber-reinforced concrete is an effective engineering measure that prevents the formation of cracks in face slabs. However, there is little research regarding steel fiber reinforced CFRDs. In this study, dynamic elasto-plastic finite analyses were performed to investigate the performance of reinforced concrete (RC) and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) face slabs for a two-dimensional 250 m high CFRD. A widely used plastic damage model was modified to capture the influence of the fiber content on the behavior of concrete. Additionally, the rockfill material was described using a generalized plasticity model. The interfaces between the face slabs and the rockfill were modeled using a three-dimensional state-dependent elasto-plastic model. The damage development and equivalent crack width in RC and SFRC face slabs were investigated under varying intensities of ground motions. The results indicate that the damage to the SFRC face slab is much less than that of the RC face slab. The extent of the damage decreases by 23%, the range of damage decreases by 79%, and the maximum equivalent crack width decreases by 32%. The SFRC can greatly reduce the earthquake-induced damage to the face slab. Thus, SFRC face slabs can be used to improve the anti-seismic capabilities of CFRDs in meizoseismal areas.