Failure Assessment of Embankment Dam Elements: Case Study of the Pirot Reservoir System

The paper presents a functionality investigation of the key dam elements based on finite element analysis. A detailed analysis of filtration processes, dam strength, and the surrounding rock mass was conducted. Dam elements whose potential damage could jeopardize the normal functioning of the embankment dam have been identified. A particular emphasis was placed on the analysis of dam elements that have been identified as weak points. A numerical analysis of the impact of individual grout curtain zone failure on leakage under the dam body, a strength analysis of the overflow section, as well as the analysis of the slope stability that can compromise the functioning of the spillway have been performed. To analyze the partial stability of individual structural elements, a new measure of local stability was introduced as the remaining load-bearing capacity. As a case study, the Zavoj dam, which is a part of the Pirot reservoir system in the Republic of Serbia, was used. Investigation revealed that local damage to the grout curtain will not significantly increase leakage under the dam body, the overflow section is one of the most robust elements of the dam, but the slope above the spillway can compromise the functioning of the overflow and thus the safety of the entire dam. Based on the analysis of the results of the remaining load-bearing capacity, the dependence of the spillway capacity on earthquake intensity has been defined. The established relationship represents a surrogate model for further assessment of dynamic resilience of the complex multipurpose reservoir system, within the scope of the advanced reservoir system management.

A MODIFIED METHOD OF SOLVING THE PRESSURE–RATE DECONVOLUTION PROBLEM FOR IDENTIFICATION OF WELLBORE–RESERVOIR SYSTEM

In the paper, the method suggested in [5] for solving the pressure–rate deconvo- lution problem was modified with implementation for the synthetic (quasi-real) oil and gas data. Modification of the method is based on using the additional a priori information on the function v(t) = tg(t) in the logarithmic scale. On the initial time interval, the function is concave and its final interval is monotone. Here, g(t) is the solution of the basis equation (1). To take into account these properties in the Tikhonov algorithm, the penalty function method is used. It allowed one to increase the precision of the numerical solution and to improve quality of identification of the wellbore–reservoir system. Numerical experiments are provided.