The Taechong Dam completed in 1980 is a composite dam at which a junction was formed partly by butting the core against the end face of the concrete gravity section and partly by the core overlapping the upstream face of the concrete. In order to evaluate the performance of the junction, the interfaces between the concrete dam and core of the embankment dam were well instrumented with total pressure cells and piezometers. A nonlinear incremental finite element analysis simulating its construction behaviour was carried out under plane strain conditions. Material parameters for the core are determined from triaxial tests on the specimens, sampled in the quarry site and compacted to the field dry density at the field moisture content. Material parameters for the filter, transition materials and the rockfill are estimated from literature. When compared with the earth pressures measured at the interfaces, the analytical results show good agreement in the core, however, there are some discrepancy in the shell. A nonlinear model for pore pressure response is used successfully to predict the pore pressures at the interface in the core.