Direct assessment of structural resistance against pressurized fracture

The determination of the load bearing capacity of hydraulic structures such as dams, reservoirs and retaining walls requires the consideration of mixed‐mode fracture, possibly driven by the fluid pressure, in correspondence to artificial and natural joints (or cracks, in the latter case). A friction‐cohesive softening interface model with coupled degradation of normal and tangential strength is introduced here to account for the essential features of the joint behaviour; its predictive capability is assessed through extensive calculations. Alternative numerical techniques resting on the discrete‐crack approach are considered, focusing on simplified approaches for the direct appraisal of the structural resistance. Comparison is made with the results of evolutionary analyses, based on a priori piecewise linearization of the interface model and on ‘exact integration’. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.