Everything about Earthen Dam totally explained
A
dam is a barrier that divides
waters. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as
floodgates,
levees, and
dikes are used to prevent water flow into specific land regions. The tallest dam in the world is the 300 meter high
Nurek Dam in
Tajikistan.
History
The word
dam can be traced back to
Middle English, and before that, from
Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities.
Some of the grandest and largest dams were constructed in
Ceylon (
Sri Lanka). Dams in Yodha Wewa and
Parakrama Samudra of Sri Lanka were the largest until the 20th Century . As per Needham, Abhaya Wewa is the oldest reservoir that was made by the use of a dam, which has been dated to 300 BC. (
Most of the first Dams were built in
Mesopotamia up to 7,000 years ago. These were used to control the water level, for Mesopotamia's weather affected the
Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, and could be quite unpredictable. The earliest recorded dam is believed to have been on the Sadd Al-Kafara at Wadi Al-Garawi, which is located about 25 kilometers south of Cairo, and built around 2600 B.C. It was destroyed by heavy rain shortly afterwards.
The
Kallanai is a massive dam of unhewn stone, over 300 meters long, 4.5 meters high and 20 meters (60 ft) wide,
In the
Netherlands, a low-lying country,
dams were often applied to block rivers in order to regulate the water level and to prevent the sea from entering the marsh lands. Such dams often marked the beginning of a town or city because it was easy to cross the river at such a place, and often gave rise to the respective place's names in
Dutch. For instance the Dutch
capital Amsterdam (old name Amstelredam) started with a
dam through the river
Amstel in the late 12th Century, and
Rotterdam started with a
dam through the river Rotte, a minor tributary of the
Nieuwe Maas. The central square of Amsterdam, believed to be the original place of the 800 year old dam, still carries the name
Dam Square or simply
the Dam.
Types of dams
Dams can be formed by human agency, natural causes, or even by the intervention of wildlife such as
beavers. Man-made dams are typically classified according to their size (height), intended purpose or structure.
By size
International standards define
large dams as higher than 15 meters and
major dams as over 150 meters in height.
By purpose
Intended purposes include providing water for
irrigation or town or city
water supply, improving navigation, creating a reservoir of water to supply industrial uses, generating
hydroelectric power, creating recreation areas or
habitat for fish and wildlife,
flood control and containing
effluent from industrial sites such as
mines or factories. Few dams serve all of these purposes but some multi-purpose dams serve more than one.
A
saddle dam is an auxiliary dam constructed to confine the reservoir created by a primary dam either to permit a higher water elevation and storage or to limit the extent of a reservoir for increased efficiency. An auxiliary dam is constructed in a low spot or
saddle through which the reservoir would otherwise escape. On occasion, a reservoir is contained by a similar structure called a
dike to prevent inundation of nearby land. Dikes are commonly used for
reclamation of arable land from a shallow lake. This is similar to a
levee, which is a wall or embankment built along a river or stream to protect adjacent land from
flooding.
An
overflow dam is designed to be over topped. A
weir is a type of small overflow dam that can be used for flow measurement.
A
check dam is a small dam designed to reduce flow velocity and control
soil erosion. Conversely, a
wing dam is a structure that only partly restricts a waterway, creating a faster channel that resists the accumulation of sediment.
A
dry dam is a dam designed to control flooding. It normally holds back no water and allows the channel to flow freely, except during periods of intense flow that would otherwise cause flooding downstream.
A
diversionary dam is a structure designed to divert all or a portion of the flow of a
river from its natural course.
By structure
Based on structure and material used, dams are classified as
timber dams,
arch-gravity dams,
embankment dams or
masonry dams, with several subtypes.
Masonry dams
Arch dams
In the arch dam, stability is obtained by a combination of arch and gravity action. If the upstream face is vertical the entire weight of the dam must be carried to the foundation by gravity, while the distribution of the normal
hydrostatic pressure between vertical
cantilever and arch action will depend upon the
stiffness of the dam in a vertical and horizontal direction. When the upstream face is sloped the distribution is more complicated. The
normal component of the weight of the arch ring may be taken by the arch action, while the normal hydrostatic pressure will be distributed as described above. For this type of dam, firm reliable supports at the abutments (either
buttress or
canyon side wall) are more important. The most desirable place for an arch dam is a narrow canyon with steep side walls composed of sound rock.
The safety of an arch dam is dependent on the strength of the side wall abutments, hence not only should the arch be well seated on the side walls but also the character of the rock should be carefully inspected.
Two types of single-arch dams are in use, namely the constant-angle and the constant-radius dam. The constant-radius type employs the same face radius at all elevations of the dam, which means that as the channel grows narrower towards the bottom of the dam the central angle subtended by the face of the dam becomes smaller.
Jones Falls Dam, in Canada, is a constant radius dam. In a constant-angle dam, also known as a variable radius dam, this subtended angle is kept a constant and the variation in distance between the abutments at various levels are taken care of by varying the radii. Constant-radius dams are much less common than constant-angle dams.
Parker Dam is a constant-angle arch dam.
A similar type is the double-curvature or thin-shell dam. Wildhorse Dam near Mountain City, Nevada in the United States is an example of the type. This method of construction minimizes the amount of concrete necessary for construction but transmits large loads to the foundation and abutments. The appearance is similar to a single-arch dam but with a distinct vertical curvature to it as well lending it the vague appearance of a concave lens as viewed from downstream.
The multiple-arch dam consists of a number of single-arch dams with concrete buttresses as the supporting abutments. The multiple-arch dam doesn't require as many buttresses as the hollow gravity type, but requires good rock foundation because the buttress loads are heavy.
Gravity dams
In a gravity dam, stability is secured by making it of such a size and shape that it'll resist overturning, sliding and crushing at the toe. The dam won't overturn provided that the
moment around the turning point, caused by the
water pressure is smaller than the moment caused by the weight of the dam. This is the case if the
resultant force of water pressure and weight falls within the base of the dam. However, in order to prevent
tensile stress at the upstream face and excessive
compressive stress at the downstream face, the dam cross section is usually designed so that the resultant falls within the middle at all elevations of the cross section (the
core). For this type of dam, impervious foundations with high
bearing strength are essential.
When situated on a suitable site, a gravity dam inspires more confidence in the layman than any other type; it has mass that lends an atmosphere of permanence, stability, and safety. When built on a carefully studied foundation with stresses calculated from completely evaluated loads, the gravity dam probably represents the best developed example of the art of dam building. This is significant because the fear of
flood is a strong motivator in many regions, and has resulted in gravity dams being built in some instances where an arch dam would have been more economical.
Gravity dams are classified as "solid" or "hollow." The solid form is the more widely used of the two, though the hollow dam is frequently more economical to construct. Gravity dams can also be classified as "overflow" (spillway) and "non-overflow."
Grand Coulee Dam is a solid gravity dam and
Itaipu Dam is a hollow gravity dam. A gravity dam can be combined with an arch dam, an
arch-gravity dam, for areas with massive amounts of water flow but less material available for a purely gravity dam.
Arch-gravity dams
Embankment dams
Embankment dams are made from
compacted earth, and have two main types, rock-fill and earth-fill dams. Embankment dams rely on their weight to hold back the force of water, like the gravity dams made from concrete.
Rock-fill dams
Rock-fill dams are embankments of compacted free-draining granular earth with an impervious zone. The earth utilized often contains a large percentage of large particles hence the term
rock-fill. The impervious zone may be on the upstream face and made of masonry,
concrete, plastic membrane, steel sheet piles, timber or other material. The impervious zone may also be within the embankment in which case it's referred to as a
core. In the instances where clay is utilized as the impervious material the dam is referred to as a
composite dam. To prevent internal erosion of clay into the rock fill due to seepage forces, the core is separated using a filter. Filters are specifically graded soil designed to prevent the migration of fine grain soil particles. When suitable material is at hand, transportation is minimized leading to cost savings during construction. Rock-fill dams are resistant to damage from
earthquakes. However, inadequate quality control during construction can lead to poor compaction and sand in the embankment which can lead to
liquefaction of the rock-fill during an earthquake. Liquefaction potential can be reduced by keeping susceptible material from being saturated, and by providing adequate compaction during construction. An example of a rock-fill dam is
New Melones Dam in
California.
Earth-fill dams
Earth-fill dams, also called earthen, rolled-earth or simply earth dams, are constructed as a simple
embankment of well compacted earth. A
homogeneous rolled-earth dam is entirely constructed of one type of material but may contain a drain layer to collect
seep water. A
zoned-earth dam has distinct parts or
zones of dissimilar material, typically a locally plentiful
shell with a watertight
clay core. Modern zoned-earth embankments employ filter and drain zones to collect and remove seep water and preserve the integrity of the downstream shell zone. An outdated method of zoned earth dam construction utilized a
hydraulic fill to produce a watertight core.
Rolled-earth dams may also employ a watertight facing or core in the manner of a rock-fill dam. An interesting type of temporary earth dam occasionally used in high latitudes is the
frozen-core dam, in which a coolant is circulated through pipes inside the dam to maintain a watertight region of
permafrost within it.
Because earthen dams can be constructed from materials found on-site or nearby, they can be very cost-effective in regions where the cost of producing or bringing in concrete would be prohibitive. This makes it better for the environment too.
Asphalt-Concrete Core
A third type of embankment dam is built with
asphalt concrete core. The majority of such dams are built with rock and/or gravel as the main fill material. Almost 100 dams of this design have now been built world-wide since the first such dam was completed in 1962. All asphalt-concrete core dams built so far have an excellent performance record. The type of asphalt used is a
viscoelastic-
plastic material that can adjust to the movements and deformations imposed on the embankment as a whole, and to settlements in the foundation. The flexible properties of the
asphalt make such dams especially suited in
earthquake regions.
Cofferdams
A
cofferdam is a (usually temporary) barrier constructed to exclude water from an area that's normally submerged. Made commonly of wood,
concrete or
steel sheet
piling, cofferdams are used to allow construction on the
foundation of permanent dams, bridges, and similar structures. When the project is completed, the cofferdam may be demolished or removed. See also
causeway and
retaining wall. Common uses for cofferdams include construction and repair of off shore oil platforms. In such cases the cofferdam is fabricated from sheet steel and welded into place under water. Air is pumped into the space, displacing the water allowing a dry work environment below the surface. Upon completion the cofferdam is usually deconstructed unless the area requires continuous maintenance.
Timber dams
Timber dams were widely used in the early part of the industrial revolution and in frontier areas due to ease and speed of construction. Rarely built in modern times by humans due to relatively short lifespan and limited height to which they can be built, timber dams must be kept constantly wet in order to maintain their water retention properties and limit deterioration by rot, similar to a barrel. The locations where timber dams are most economical to build are those where timber is plentiful,
cement is costly or difficult to transport, and either a low head diversion dam is required or longevity isn't an issue. Timber dams were once numerous, especially in the North American west, but most have failed, been hidden under earth embankments or been replaced with entirely new structures. Two common variations of timber dams were the
crib and the
plank.
Timber crib dams were erected of heavy timbers or dressed logs in the manner of a log house and the interior filled with earth or rubble. The heavy crib structure supported the dam's face and the weight of the water.
Timber plank dams were more elegant structures that employed a variety of construction methods utilizing heavy timbers to support a water retaining arrangement of planks.
Very few timber dams are still in use. Timber, in the form of sticks, branches and withes, is the basic material used by
beavers, often with the addition of mud or stones.
Steel dams
A
steel dam is a type of dam briefly experimented with in around the turn of the 19th-20th Century which uses steel plating (at an angle) and load bearing beams as the structure. Intended as permanent structures, steel dams were an (arguably failed) experiment to determine if a construction technique could be devised that was cheaper than masonry, concrete or earthworks, but sturdier than timber crib dams.
Beaver dams
Beavers create dams primarily out of mud and sticks to flood a particular habitable area. By flooding a parcel of land, beavers can navigate below or near the surface and remain relatively well hidden or protected from predators. The flooded region also allows beavers access to food, especially during the winter.
Construction elements
Power generation plant
As of 2005, hydroelectric power, mostly from dams, supplies some 19% of the world's electricity, and over 63% of
renewable energy. Much of this is generated by large dams, although
China uses small scale hydro generation on a wide scale and is responsible for about 50% of world use of this type of power. Others such as the
Berg Strait dam can help to stabilize or restore the water
levels of inland lakes and seas, in this case the
Aral Sea.
|-
!ignore="text-align:center"| Flood prevention
| Dams such as the
Blackwater dam of
Webster,
New Hampshire and the
Delta Works are created with flood control in mind.
|-
!ignore="text-align:center"| Land reclamation
| Dams (often called
dykes or
levees in this context) are used to prevent ingress of water to an area that would otherwise be submerged, allowing its
reclamation for human use.
|-
!ignore="text-align:center"| Water diversion
| See:
diversion dam.
|}
Siting (location)
One of the best places for building a dam is a narrow part of a deep
river valley; the valley sides can then act as natural walls. The primary function of the dam's structure is to fill the gap in the natural reservoir line left by the stream channel. The sites are usually those where the gap becomes a minimum for the required storage capacity. The most economical arrangement is often a composite structure such as a
masonry dam flanked by earth embankments. The current use of the land to be flooded should be dispensable.
Significant other
engineering and
engineering geology considerations when building a dam include:
Impact assessment
Impact is assessed in several ways: the benefits to human society arising from the dam (agriculture, water, damage prevention and power), the harm or benefits to nature and wildlife (especially fish and
rare species), the impact on the geology of an area - whether the change to water flow and levels will increase or decrease stability, and the disruption to human lives (relocation, loss of
archeological or cultural matters underwater).
Environmental impact
Dams affect many ecological aspects of a river. Rivers depend on the constant disturbance of a certain tolerance. Dams slow the river and this disturbance may damage or destroy this pattern of ecology. Temperature is also another problem that dams create. Rivers tend to have fairly homogeneous temperatures. Reservoirs have layered temperatures, warm on the top and cold on the bottom; in addition often it's water from the colder (lower) layer which is released downstream, and this may have a different
dissolved oxygen content than before. Organisms depending upon a regular cycle of temperatures may be unable to adapt; the balance of other
fauna (especially
plant life and
microscopic fauna) may be affected by the change of oxygen content.
Water exiting a turbine usually contains very little suspended sediment, which can lead to scouring of river beds and loss of riverbanks; for example, the daily cyclic flow variation caused by the
Glen Canyon Dam was a contributor to
sand bar erosion.
Older dams often lack a
fish ladder, which keeps many fish from moving up stream to their natural breeding grounds, causing failure of breeding cycles or blocking of migration paths. Even the presence of a fish ladder doesn't always prevent a reduction in fish reaching the
spawning grounds upstream. In some areas, young fish ("smolt") are transported downstream by
barge during parts of the year. Turbine and power-plant designs that have a lower impact upon aquatic life are an active area of research.
A large dam can cause the loss of entire
ecospheres, including
endangered and
undiscovered species in the area, and the replacement of the original environment by a new inland lake.
Depending upon the circumstances, a dam can either reduce or increase the net production of
greenhouse gases. An
increase can occur if the reservoir created by the dam itself acts as a source of substantial amounts of potent
greenhouse gases (
methane and
carbon dioxide) due to plant material in flooded areas decaying in an
anaerobic environment. According to the
World Commission on Dams report, when the reservoir is relatively large and no prior clearing of forest in the flooded area was undertaken, greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir could be higher than those of a conventional oil-fired thermal generation plant. A
decrease can occur if the dam is used in place of traditional power generation, since electricity produced from hydroelectric generation doesn't give rise to any
flue gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion (including
sulfur dioxide,
nitric oxide,
carbon monoxide, dust, and
mercury from
coal).
Human social impact
The impact on human society is also significant. For example, the
Three Gorges Dam on the
Yangtze River in
China, is more than five times the size of the
Hoover Dam (
U.S.) and will create a reservoir 600 km long, to be used for hydro-power generation. Its construction required the loss of over a million people's homes and their mass relocation, the loss of many valuable archaeological and cultural sites, as well as significant ecological change.
Economics
Construction of a hydroelectric plant requires a long lead-time for site studies, hydrological studies, and environmental impact assessment, and are large scale projects by comparison to traditional power generation based upon
fossil fuels. The number of sites that can be economically developed for hydroelectric production is limited; new sites tend to be far from population centers and usually require extensive
power transmission lines. Hydroelectric generation can be vulnerable to major changes in the
climate, including variation of rainfall, ground and surface
water levels, and glacial melt, causing additional expenditure for the extra capacity to ensure sufficient power is available in low water years.
Once completed, if it's well designed and maintained, a hydroelectric power source is usually comparatively cheap and reliable. It has no fuel and low escape risk, and as a
renewable energy source it's cheaper than both nuclear and wind power. It is more easily regulated to store water as needed and generate high power levels on demand, compared to
wind power.
Dam failure
Dam failures are generally catastrophic if the structure is breached or significantly damaged. Routine
deformation monitoring of seepage from drains in, and around, larger dams is necessary to anticipate any problems and permit remedial action to be taken before structural failure occurs. Most dams incorporate mechanisms to permit the reservoir to be lowered or even drained in the event of such problems. Another solution can be rock
grouting - pressure pumping
portland cement slurry into weak fractured rock.
During an armed conflict, a dam is to be considered as an "installation containing dangerous forces" due to the massive impact of a possible destruction on the civilian population and the environment. As such, it's protected by the rules of
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and shan't be made the object of attack if that may cause severe losses among the civilian population. To facilitate the identification, a
protective sign consisting of three bright orange circles placed on the same axis is defined by the rules of IHL.
The main causes of dam failure include spillway design error (
South Fork Dam), geological instability caused by changes to water levels during filling or poor surveying (
Vajont Dam,
Malpasset), poor maintenance, especially of outlet pipes (
Lawn Lake Dam,
Val di Stava Dam collapse), extreme rainfall (
Shakidor Dam), and human, computer or design error (
Buffalo Creek Flood,
Dale Dike Reservoir,
Taum Sauk pumped storage plant).
A notable case of deliberate dam failure (prior to the above ruling) was the
British Royal Air Force Dambusters raid on
Germany in
World War II (codenamed
"Operation Chastise"), in which three German dams were selected to be breached in order to have an impact on German infrastructure and manufacturing and power capabilities deriving from the
Ruhr and
Eder rivers. This raid later became the basis for several films.
Further Information
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