Abstract
In this paper, a thermal analysis is carried out using two and three dimensional finite element method (FEM). The analysis is carried out for a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam, called Al-Mujib Dam in Jordan, using two different numerical approaches. The first approach is a conventional approach in which the dam is assumed to be constructed by placing continuous RCC layers at 3m intervals in every 10 days. Whereas, the second approach, called the actual approach, considers the actual placement schedule of RCC layers that are 30 cm thick. The actual thermal properties and actual climatic conditions were considered in the analysis, and the computer FE program ANSYS was used to simulate the construction process of the Al-Mujib RCC Dam. The numerically computed temperature obtained from ANSYS is compared with the actual temperature measured in the field using Distributed Fiber Optic Temperature Measurement (DFOT) and thermocouples installed within the dam body. The study demonstrated that the two dimensional FE analysis of actual approach is adequate to predict the temperature distribution in the dam body.