Abstract：The excavation disturbance and anchoring effects of high-geostress dam foundation slope of Laxiwa Hydropower Engineering on the Yellow River are systematically studied based on a detailed numerical simulation of excavation and anchoring processes. Both the excavation disturbance characteristics and anchoring effects of stresses，displacements and plastic yield zones of the dam foundation slope are derived；and also the influential effects of faults are analyzed. The study reveals that there exist obvious excavation disturbance zone and anchoring influential zone in the high-geostress dam foundation slope；the unloading magnitude in rock mass under high-geostress region due to excavation is much larger than that under low or general geostress condition，and this strong unloading effect can induce a great damage. On the other hand，the timely anchoring scheme sequentially following the excavation steps is an effective reinforcing measure for the high-geostress dam foundation slope；the anchoring measure can not only effectively constrain the slope deformation but also lower the unloading strength so as to decrease the damage and fracture extent of the rock mass. Furthermore，the excavation disturbance and anchoring problems of the high-geostress dam foundation slope are discussed；and the optimization suggestions related to the slope reinforcement are provided. The presented results can provide references for the other slope engineering with similar high-geostress condition.
