The drag force of water flow through single fracture and the coupling characteristics of seepage and stress in single fracture surface are analyzed,and a three dimensional model of coupled unsteady seepage and stress fields is proposed.This model is used to the analysis of foundation rock mass of a high dam.If the coupling effects are considered,the changes of boundary heads have less influence on the inner head of rock mass,and the strong permeability of main fractures appears.If the coupling effects are not considered,the fractures distribution affects the inner head more greatly.When the upstream water head declines,the inner head of dam foundation slightly declines and the hydraulic gradient distribution becomes smoother.A bigger upstream water level declining velocity has a stronger lag effect,meanwhile the values of stress components change more greatly.Therefore the upstream water level declining velocity directly affects the stability of rock mass in dam foundation and we should take into account the above factors to make sure the safety of the dam during reservoir level fluctuation period.
CHAI JunRui 1,2 & XU WeiSheng 2 1 College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering,China Three Gorges University,Yichang 443002,China
