Polyhedral scaled boundary finite elements for fracture modelling of cracked arch dams

Abstract A procedure is presented to model the effect of an upstream crack on the displacement and stress distribution of an arch dam using linear elastic fracture mechanics and the polyhedral scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM). The polyhedral SBFEM is a semi‐analytical technique that directly models cracks by scaling the crack front toward the scaling center, allowing for the extraction of stress intensity factors without requirement for local mesh refinement. Numerical simulations demonstrate that an arch dam with an upstream crack can effectively reduce tensile stress at the dam heel while exerting minimal impact on deformation and stress in regions far from the crack region. The stress intensity factors of the crack under static loads are calculated for various upstream water levels. The results reveal that increased static water levels lead to the opening and closing of the crack. These findings align well with existing literature, significantly reducing the mesh burden of modeling the region around the crack. This further validates the robustness and efficiency of the presented approach.