Monitoring and repair of cracks in concrete of Karuma Dam - A case study

This paper deals with the occurrence of cracks which were observed during the construction of dam at Karuma hydropower project. The cracks with width varying from 0.2 mm to 1.48 mm were noticed in the spillway glacis concrete. The root-cause analysis was done and 3D-FEM analysis was carried out to simulate the temperature and thermal stress distribution in the concrete over-flow section during the construction. The monitoring and analysis of crack revealed that the cracks were thermal in nature due to heat of hydration. This case study illustrates the lessons learnt from design and actual construction stage. Crack repair methods and an insight in to concrete construction process which has been undertaken at the project including crack preventive measures are also presented in this paper.