Abstract: Abutment stability is the most important factor in the overall stability of high arch dams, and reinforcement measures against adverse structural planes are crucial to guarantee the overall stability. Under complicated dam foundation conditions, unfavorable structural planes usually have a potential influence on the overall stability, such as wedge stability at abutment and uncoordinated deformation and force transmission due to faults and weak belts. This paper presents an analysis on the overall stability for typical high arch dam projects under the conditions of natural and reinforced structural planes based on the results of geomechanical model tests and nonlinear FEM calculations, and summarizes four typical types of structural planes at dam abutments and the corresponding reinforcement measures.

Key words: hydraulic engineering, high arch dam, structural plane, overall stability, reinforcement