In-situ shear strength testing of conglomerate formation for a large RCC dam (Koysha, Ethiopia)

Koysha Dam, located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region of Ethiopia, is the fourth plant of the Gibe-Omo cascade comprising Gilgel Gibe (IP=200 MW), Gibe II (IP=420 MW) and Gibe III (1’870 MW) all in operation. The plant includes a 200 m high RCC gravity dam, a gated spillway on the left bank and an open-air powerhouse housing 6 Francis turbines fed by 2 steel penstocks crossing the dam body. The right abutment of the dam is partly founded on conglomerate, composed by a variable proportion of cobble and gravel sized basalt and rhyolite-trachyte sub-rounded elements surrounded by a weak matrix of fine sand and silt particles. The geotechnical characterization of such a complex material resulted in a very challenging task due to the substantial impracticality of collecting high quality, undisturbed and representative samples. Therefore, the mechanical behaviour of the conglomerate has been assessed by means of in-situ large scale shear tests carried out into a 70 m long inspection tunnel. The test results show that in the range of selected confinement pressures (0.3 to 1.0 MPa) the conglomerate exhibits a softening behaviour. Peak friction angle and cohesion are coherent with data and empirical models presented in the literature which indicate a strong correlation between volumetric block proportion and mechanical properties of the Block-In-Matrix (BIM) rock.

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