Mixed-coefficient panel model for evaluating the overall deformation behavior of high arch dams using the spatial clustering

The mathematical monitoring models that are currently used for the displacement of arch dams are mostly established for a single monitoring point, without considering the spatial association of the displacements at multiple monitoring points. The main purpose of this paper is to develop and verify a mixed-coefficient panel model for dam displacements of multiple monitoring points. To maintain the largest similarities of the deformation mechanism of different monitoring points represented by one panel model, the displacement monitoring points on dam body are first divided into several groups according to the similarity index of the incremental distance between their measured displacement time series. The mixed-coefficient panel models are then established for each clustered zone in which the adjustment coefficient of the FEM-calculated hydraulic component is determined to be identical for all the monitoring points in the same zone, whereas the regression coefficients of the temperature and time effect component are considered to be variable, in order to reflect the similarities and differences of deformation mechanism in different dam regions. Based on the hydraulic, hysteretic, seasonal, and time (HHST) causal factors, the proposed panel model is verified by the measured radial displacement field of the Jinping-I arch dam. The modeling results demonstrate that the proposed mixed-coefficient panel model can effectively represent the overall deformation behavior and structural integrity of a high arch dam, and it has good performance in the interpretation and prediction of the dam displacement and the inversion analysis of viscoelastic parameters of the dam body concrete.