Hydromechanics behavior of dam with core by taking into account the effect of contact

Forces acting on the thin cores of earth dams could be reduced by the effect of contact with the refills. Thus the effective stress could be reduced and in turn will induce cracks at the base of the dams. This phenomenon is called hydraulic fracturing.The modeling of this phenomenon, using ANSYS program, by taking into account the effect of contact will make possible the prediction of global behavior of the dam and in the meantime will allow the assessment of the thickness of the core under which the effect of contact will have an influence.A parametric study has been performed to understand the relationship between the effect of contact and the variation of the effective stress.