Masonry Dams There are several designs for masonry dams. The gravity dam uses the dead weight of the dam to resist the hydrostatic force of the water. The width of the concrete base, where the force from the water is the greatest, is approximately 3/4 the height of the dam wall.
Revelstoke Dam, one of North America's largest and most modern hydro-electric developments, is located only a few minutes drive north of Revelstoke, British Columbia.
When completed, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. It would stretch nearly a mile across and tower 575 feet above the world's third longest river. Construction of the dam was begun in 1993 and the entire project is expected to be complete in the year 2009.
The arch dam is used in tall rocky gorges and is curved facing the reservoir so as to transmit the major part of the water load to the abutments and to keep the masonry joints closed tight.
Vaiont Dam The most destructive dam disaster in history occurred at the Vaiont Dam in the northern section of Italy known as the Dolomites. On October 9, 1963, a landslide broke loose and filled the reservoir behind the dam. This in turn caused a huge wave of water to surge over the top the dam, flooding towns downstream. The dam itself held with only superficial damage. This was a tragic test of the strength of an arch masonry dam.
The Nurek Dam
Interesting Trivia: Civil engineers are also involved with the design and construction of the electrical generating plants associated with most dams. |
This is the dam for the Kananaskis Plant at Seebee, Alberta which generates enough electricity to supply energy to approximately 13,000 Alberta households. It was first built in 1913 and was expanded in 1951 and again in 1994. The plant is called a run-of-the-river plant, which means that instead of storing water in a reservoir, it simply uses water as the river flows.
