DAMS

PRESENTED BY
Adil Ahmad Wani
ROLL NO. CE-14-09
CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION TO DAMS
 SITE SELECTION,PRELIMINARY AND FINAL SITE
INVESTIGATION
 RIGID DAMS: BASIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES
 EMBANKMENT DAMS: DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
 SPILLWAYS, TYPES OF SPILLWAYS, SPILLWAY GATES
INTRODUCTION
 A dam is a structure built across a river to create a
reservoir on its upstream side for impounding water.
 Dams serve the purpose of retaining water,
navigation, irrigation, etc.
 Dams are generally constructed in the mountainous
reach of the river where the valley is narrow and
foundation is good.
SITE SELECTION
1.TOPOGRAPHICALLY
 Narrow gorge or small valley with enough
catchment areas so that length of dam is small and
capacity is large.
 Riverbed should be high to reduce the cost and
height of dam.
 In case of confluence of two rivers, dam should be
located on downstream side.
2.TECHNICALLY
 There must exist suitable foundation. If not available
improvement costs to make suitable foundation
should not be excessive.
 The site must be impermeable so that maximum
desired amount of water is stored.
 Stability with reference to seismic shocks and slope
failures around the dam are a great relief to the
public as well as engineering.
3.CONSTRUCTIONALLY
 Dam should not be far away from deposit of
materials.
 Natural materials of construction like earth, sand,
gravel, and rock should be easily available
otherwise cost will increase.
4.ECONOMICALLY
 Benefits arising should be realistic and justified in
terms of land irrigated or power generated or floods
averted or water stored.

5.ENVIRONMENTALLY
 Surrounding of the site should be healthy and free from
mosquitoes.
 Site of dam should not involve ecological disorder (in
the life of plants, animals and man).
 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION
 Preliminary surveys should include all details of
site.They need not to be precise but should be
accurate enough to prepare topographical maps of site
L-section and cross section of the river.
 Geological studies include determination of
overburden and nature of rock.
 Hydrological data regarding the possible runoff, yield
maximum discharge, HFL is collected.
 FINAL INVESTIGATIONS
 Land required for dam and other structures is
demarcated. Land likely to be submerged is also
marked. Alternatively arrangement for the people
affected is planned.
 Final design, estimate and location. All information and
estimate is collected including information needed by
construction engineers.
 RIGID DAMS
 They are constructed with materials such as stone
masonary, steel, concrete or timber.
 TYPES OF RIGID DAMS
1.GRAVITY DAM
2.ARCH DAM
3.BUTTRESS DAM
4.TIMBER DAM
 FORCES ACTING ON DAM
 Weight Of The Dam: In gravity dams and embankment
dam the weight of the dam is the major force acting for
holding the water back on the upstream side. The forces
arising due to the weight of the dam are compressive in
nature.
 Water Pressure: The dam is required to resist horizontal
forces acting due to weight of the water impounded on
it. This water pressure can be calculated by
hydrostatic pressure distribution.
 Earthquake Forces: The disturbance in dams is highly
dangerous because they store huge volumes of water. Dams
built in the areas known to be seismically active must be
designed to withstand additional forces that are likely to
arise in a future shock.
 DESIGN CONSIDERATION
 It shall be safe against overturning at any horizontal
position within the dam at the contact with the
foundation or within the foundation.
 It should be safe against sliding at any horizontal plane
within the dam, at the contact with the foundation or
along any geological feature within the foundation.
 The section should be so proportional that the allowable
stresses in both the concrete and the foundation should
not exceed.
 Primary loads are identified as universally applicable and
of prime importance of the load.
 Secondary loads are generally discretionary and of lesser
magnitude like sediment load or thermal stresses due to
mass concreting.
 Exceptional loads are designed on the basis of limited
general applicability or having low probability of
occurrence like inertial loads associated with seismic
activity.
 The forces that give stability to the dam include:
1. Weight of the dam
2. Thrust of the tail water
 The forces that try to destabilize the dam include:
1. Reservoir water pressure
2. Uplift
3. Forces due to waves in the reservoir
4. Ice pressure
5. Temperature stresses
6. Silt pressure
7. Seismic forces
EMBANKMENT DAMS
 It is typically created by the placement and compactions
of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions
of soil, clay or rock.
 They may be of two types: earth- filled dam made of
compacted earth and rock-filled dam.
EMBANKMENT DAM
 BASIC COMPONENTS OF AN EARTH DAM

 An earth dam consists of the following basic components, i.e

 Foundation
 Core or (membrane)
 Shell
 Transition Filter
 Internal Drain
 Toe Drain
 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
 The causes of failure is a critical element in the design and
construction process for new dams and for the evaluation of
existing dams.
 The primary cause of failure of embankment dams is
overtoppling as a result of inadequate spillway capacity.
 The next most frequent cause is seepage and piping.
Seepage through the foundation and abutments is a greater
problem than through the dam.
SPILLWAYS
 A spillway is a structure constructed at or near the dam site
to dispose of surplus water from the reservoir to the channel
downstream.
 Spillway acts as a safety valve for the dam.
 Spillway must have adequate discharge capacity to pass the
maximum flood downstream without causing any damage to
the dam or its appurtenant structures.
 TYPES OF SPILLWAYS
 There are two main types of spillways: 1.controlled and
2.uncontrolled.
 A controlled spillway has mechanical structures or gates to
regulate the rate of flow.
 An uncontrolled spillway, in contrast, does not have gates;
when the water rises above the crest of the spillway it begins
to be released from the reservoir. Rate of discharge is
controlled only by the depth of water above the reservoir’s
spillway.
 The more common types of spillway are:
1. Drop spillway
2. Ogee spillway
3. Siphon spillway
4. Chute or Trough spillway
5. Shaft spillway
6. Side channel spillway
SPILLWAY CREST GATES
 For a gated spillway, crest gates are provided on the crest of
spillway. By installing the crest gates, additional storage,
equal to the volume of water stored between the crest level
and the top of gates, is made available.
 While in case of ungated spillway, the useful storage in the
reservoir is only upto the crest level of the spillway.
 Various types of gates commonly used in practice are:
1. Flash boards 2. Stoplogs and Needles 3. Vertical lift
gates
4. Tainter or Radial gates 5. Roller gates 6.Drum gates
7. Bear-trap gates