Avaliação da estabilidade da barragem Armando Ribeiro Gonçalves - Açu/RN, na condição de final de construção

Abstract

Dams are structures used for a long time by humanity, in Brazil and especially in the Northeast, it was important as one of the main measures to combat water scarcity. Due to its importance, in recent years large constructions of this type have been carried out, demanding a more precise study to be carried out more efficiently. These structures have a great potential risk, given that the rupture can cause loss of several resources, including human lives, in this sense, the study of dam safety becomes a fundamental item for the construction of dam works. This work aims to evaluate the failure of an earth dam at the end of construction using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and conventional Limit Equilibrium Methods (Morgenstern-Price), taking the Açu Dam as object of study, this dam, which is considered the largest dam work in Rio Grande do Norte and which suffered a break still in the construction phase. The analyzes were divided into six cases, with variation in the method (MEF or conventional Limit Equilibrium Methods), clay conditions, incorporation of the RU parameter and surface optimization, in addition to a case that evaluates the proposal of a stable section for the dam. From the analyzes it was possible to obtain the rupture surface and the safety factor of each of the studied cases, in the cases where clay was considered as not drained a more efficient representation of the dam core material was obtained obtaining safety factors units, as expected due to the disruption, while the RU parameter did not cause considerable interference in the results. The compared methods obtained similar safety factor results, 1,03 for the Morgenstern-Price method and 1,01 for the MEF, however, it was noted that the MEF provided the best representation of the geometry of the rupture that occurred, in addition the new section proposal that promotes the disconnection between the core and the cut off was considered safe, providing a safety factor greater than the minimum