Investigation on conditions of hydraulic fracturing for asphalt concrete used as impervious core in dams

Asphalt concrete is used as impervious core in embankment dams. This paper investigates the conditions under which hydraulic fracturing could be possible to occur for an asphalt core in dams. Asphalt concrete test model was developed and tests were carried out on the models under tension, restraint and compression conditions corresponding to nearly-impossibly extreme conditions of an asphalt core in dams and finite element analysis was performed on the model test results. Test and analyzed results show that asphalt concrete models at fracturing are caused by large tensile strains in asphalt concrete under the imposed conditions rather than the so-call “hydraulic fracturing”. The imposed conditions are extremely impossible for an asphalt core in dams in reality and therefore the so-call “hydraulic fracturing” may be excluded.