Análisis del comportamiento estructural del hormigón: de la micro a la macro estructura. Aplicación al caso de presas

Analysis of structural behaviour: from micro - to macrostructure. Application to dams

The identification of different kinds of expansive phenomena in concrete dams from Spain and other countries has evidenced the necessity of carrying out more detailed studies on their ageing behaviour. Each engineer in charge has addressed this issue from different perspectives, and no unified approach exists to date. This paper presents the methodology prepared in our workgroup focussing on the study of the problem at three different levels: investigations at the micro-, meso- and macrostructure are combined in such way that results from each level of study are used as an input to the following one. This approach allows an in-depth study of this kind of problems and reflects, once again, that macrostructural behaviour is the consequence of processes occurring at the microstructural level. The methodology developed has been successfully applied to the study, monitoring and predictions of the behaviour of several Spanish dams during the past few years.