Overview of dams, types and dam
selection
Zeleke Agide (PhD)
1. Overview of dams, types and selection
•Two principal types of valley structures are:
– Diversion structures
– Storage structures
•Dam is a solid barrier (hydraulic structure) constructed at a suitable location
across a river valley to store flowing water on its upstream.
•Dams can be for
– Single purpose
– Multi-purpose: More than one purpose
Purpose of dams
– Hydropower
– Irrigation
– Water for domestic consumption
– Flood control
– For navigational facilities
– Fisheries
Dams---
• Dams generally release regulated flow of water to the
downstream
• This enables excess flow to be used more effectively during
shortage
• High temporal variation of flow in Ethiopian rivers: low
storage capacity: Storage needs to be increased
Per capita water storage
Ethiopia’s per capita storage capacity very low. Water leaves the country. Need more
storage
Classification of dams
• Dams can be classified based on several criteria:
Based on:
– material used for construction
– Purpose
– Height/Size
– Hydraulic Design
Classification of dams…
Based on Material used for Based on its purpose
construction – Hydropower dams
– Rigid dams: (Concrete, masonry, – Irrigation/water supply dams
steel dams) – Flood control dams
– Non-rigid dams: Embankment – Multi-purpose dams
dams
Based on Height/size • Based on hydraulic design
– Low/small dams (less than 50m)
– Overflow dam
– Medium dams
– High/large dams (more than – Non-overflow dam
100m)
Components of a dam
Crest Down stream
Upstream
Spillway
MWL
Max. level (inside dam)
NWL
Normal
water level
Free board
Sluice way
Gallery
Heel
Toe
• Heel: contact with the ground on the upstream side
• Toe: contact on the downstream side
• Abutment: Sides of the valley on which the structure of the dam rest
• Galleries: small rooms like structure left within the dam for checking operations.
• Diversion tunnel: Tunnels are constructed for diverting water before the construction
of dam. This helps in keeping the river bed dry.
• Spillways: It is the arrangement near the top or side to release the excess water of the
reservoir to downstream side
• Sluice way: An opening in the dam near the ground level, which is used to clear the
silt accumulation.
• Dam outlet: an arrangement for taking out water from the dam
Types and selection of dams
• Based on the design and material used, the
following types of dams can be identified:
– Gravity dams
– Arch Dams
– Butress Dams
– Embankment Dams
– Composite dams
Types and selection of dams….
• Gravity Dams
Reservoir • These dams are heavy and
Force massive wall-like structures of
concrete in which the whole
weight acts vertically
downwards
•A gravity dam is made from concrete or masonry, or sometimes both.
•It is called a gravity dam because gravity holds it down to the ground for
stability
•Gravity dams are suited to sites with either wide or narrow valleys, but
they do need to be built on hard rock due to large load on small area
• Grande Dixence Dam, Switzerland: Highest gravity dam in the
world
• Height: 285 m (935 ft).
• Type: Concrete gravity dam
• Purpose: Power
Height: 226 meters
Length: 520 meters
Type: Concrete gravity
Reservoir Capacity: 7,501,775
acre·ft
River: Sutlej River
Location: Punjab and Himachal
Pradesh
Installed capacity: 1325 MW
• Bhakra Dam is the 2nd highest Concrete
Gravity dam in the world.
Buttress Dam:
• Buttress Dam – Is a dam
with its wall supported by
structural supports or
buttress
• Buttress - a support that
transmits a force from a
roof or wall to another
supporting structure
• The dam wall may be
straight or curved.
This type of structure can be considered even if the foundation rocks are
little weaker
A buttress dam is a good choice dams in wide valleys where solid rock is
rare
Arch Dam:
• These type of dams are
concrete or masonry dams
which are curved or convex
upstream in plan
• This shape helps to transmit
the major part of the water
load to the abutments
effectively
• Arch dams are built across
narrow, deep river gorges,
but now in recent years they
have been considered even
for little wider valleys.
Embankment Dams:
• Embankment dams are made mainly from natural materials (soil and rock)
– Earth fill dams
– Rock fill dams
• Trapezoidal in shape
• Suitable where the foundation rocks are weak to support the concrete dams
• Generally smaller in height and broad at the base
• They are mainly built with clay, sand and gravel, hence they are also known as
Earth fill dam or Rock fill dam
Nurek Dam: Tajikistan
• The tallest dam in the world
• Height: 300 m
• Type: Earth fill embankment dam
Composite dams:
• Composite dams are combinations of one or more dam types.
• Most often a large section of a dam will be either an
embankment or gravity dam, with the section responsible for
power generation being a
– buttress or
– arch
Concrete Vs Embankment dams
• Concrete dams are relatively demanding with respect to foundation
conditions, requiring sound and stable rock.
• Concrete dams require processed natural materials of suitable quality
and quantity for aggregate, and the importation to site and storage of
bulk cement and other materials.
• Traditional mass concrete construction is relatively slow, being labour
intensive and discontinuous, and requires certain skills, e.g. for
formwork, concreting, etc.
• Completed unit costs for mass concrete, i.e. cost per cubic metre, are
very much higher than for embankment fills, typically by an order of
magnitude or more. This is seldom counterbalanced by the much
lower volumes of concrete required in a dam of given height.
Selection of Dams
• Dam type selection depends on several factors
– Cost
– Foundation type (rock)
– Shape of valley
– Availability of construction materials
– Environmental factors, etc
More technical aspects for dam type selection:
– Hydraulic gradient: under or through the dam
– Foundation stress: due to loading
– Foundation deformability: settlement
– Foundation excavation: should be kept minimum
Dam type selection in relation to valley profile
Dam type selection
Site selection and investigation for dams and
reservoirs
• Satisfactory site for dam must fulfill certain functional and technical
requirements.
Functional suitability:
• balance between natural physical characteristics and the purpose of
the reservoir.
– Water resources, available head and storage volume etc.
Technical suitability:
• availability of materials
• hydrological and geological or geotechnical characteristics of site
(catchment)
Site selection....
• Foundation competence is determined by:
– Stability
– Load-carrying capacity
– Deformability
– Effective impermeability.
Geological and geotechnical investigations
• Geological structure, stratigraphy, faulting, foliation and jointing, and
groundwater conditions
– to determine engineering for stability of the dam foundation and, on compressible
foundations, i.e. soils, to estimate probable settlement and deformation,
– to determine seepage patterns and parameters enabling assessment of the probable
seepage regime, including quantities and pressures, and
– to confirm the containment integrity of the reservoir.
Foundation investigations
• stability
• load-carrying capacity
• compressibility (soils) or
• deformability (rocks)
• mass permeability
• Dams on competent stiff clays
– Serious under seepage is unlikely
• Dams on soft cohesive foundations
– No problem of seepage
– Settlement problem (consolidation)
• Dams on pervious foundations
– Seepage associated problems dominant
Foundation Grouting
• Grouting is a process by which geologic defects are filled by injecting grouts to
reduce permeability or improve foundation strength.
• Curtain grouting done by drilling rows of holes and injecting grouts into the holes to
reduce the permeability and hence the seepage below the cutoff depths.
• Consolidation grouting is to increase the strength of the foundation or
reduce permeability near the surface (shallow depths)
– To fill voids, fracture zones and cracks