Abstract
A laboratory test method was investigated which will be used to evaluate the deterioration of rockfill materials, and thus, enable rockfill dams to be maintained over the long term. The degree of deterioration was represented by a comparison between the values of compressive yield stress for the original material and for the damaged material, measured in one-dimensional compression tests. The durability against crush was represented as the function of rockfill materials to be maintained. In this investigation, artificially-damaged materials were made from some gathered original materials and used as a substitute for naturally-damaged materials. To verify the validity of the method, tests were carried out for sa dstone and mudstone, whose levels of durability at the dam sites showed obvious differences. From the test esults, it was concluded that the compressive yield stress is an appropreate value for representing the degree of deterioration of rockfill materials, and that two practical usages can be proposed for this value, i.e., to judge the present degree of deterioration and to estimate the durability of the materials in the future.
