by Hubert CHANSON (h.chanson@uq.edu.au)
and D.Patrick JAMES
M.E., ENSHM Grenoble, INSTN, PhD (Cant.), DEng (Qld),
Eur.Ing., MIEAust., MIAHR, 13th Arthur
Ippen awardee
Dept. of Civil Engrg., Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072,
Autralia
Dam designs may be divided into three main types : gravity structures
relying on their weight for stability, arch structures using the abutment
reaction forces and buttress dams. The design of an arch dam relies on the
abutment reaction forces to resist the water pressure force and it
requires advanced engineering expertise. The writers demonstrate that the
historical development of arch dams took place in five stages: the Roman
arch dams, the Mongol arch dam, four arch dams in the early 19th century,
the Australian concrete arch dams and the modern arch dams of the early
20th century (CHANSON and JAMES 1998,1999).
[1] The first arch dam is probably the Roman dam at Glanum
(Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France), built during the first century BC to
supply water to the Roman town. Recent studies indicated that the dam was
a thin arch made of cut stones and the wall abutments were cut in the rock
(AGUSTA-BOULAROT
and PAILLET 1997). The site was well selected (Photograph
beside). The writers hypothesise that the arch dam design was
introduced because the site was favourable to a masonry dam but nearby
construction materials were scarce. Another unusual Roman dam was the
Esparragalejo dam, near Merida (Spain). Built around the 1st century AD
for irrigation purposes, the structure was a multiple-arch buttress dam,
5.6-m high and 2-m thick at base with circular arches.
The arch technique was applied by the Romans to sewers, aqueducts and
bridges, although there is no evidence of scientific design rules,
Professor C. O'CONNOR suggested that, for Roman bridges, the ratio of arch
rib thickness to span was about 1/10 for spans less than 15-m and could be
reduced down to 1/20 for greater spans (O'CONNOR
1993). Interestingly the ratio of dam wall thickness to arch
curvature radius was between 1/10 and 1/7 at Glanum (i.e. close to Roman
bridge dimensions).
[2] During the 13th century, the Mongols invaded and settled in Iran
where they built several large dams. Around the 14th century, they built
also a number of arch dams (GOBLOT 1967). The
Mongol arch dams were thick arch walls significantly higher than the Roman
dams. The first one (Kebar, AD 1300) was heightened to 26 m around AD 1600
while the Kurit dam was 60-m high before heightening. Interestingly these
structures were used for several centuries and several dams were still
standing in the 1970s.
Some transfer of expertise on arch dam design might have taken place from
the Romans to the Iranians. After the defeat of Valerian's army in AD 260,
70,000 men were captured and transported to Persia where they were forced
to work. The Roman prisoners built bridge-weirs and dams in Iran and some
structures were still in use when the Mongols invaded in Iran. As the
Roman army was involved in dam construction, the Mongols might be aware of
the Roman arch dams. Both the Roman and Mongol dams in Iran were
milestones in arch dam development. From the 14th century up to the
beginning of the 19th century, the arch dam development was scattered and
disparate.
[3] During the first part of the 19th century, the arch dam design was
dominated by four large structures: the Meer Allum (India), Jones Falls
(Canada), Zola (France) and Parramatta (Australia) dams. In India, the
extra-ordinary Meer Allum (Mir Alam) dam was completed around 1804 with a
10-Mm3 water storage capacity. The multiple-arch dam was built to supply
water to Hyderabad and it is still in use. It consists of 21 semi-circular
vertical arches with span ranging from 21.3 to 44.8 m. The Jones Falls dam
was completed in 1831 as part of the Rideau waterway system (Canada). The
18.7-m high dam was a constant-radius arch wall, 8.4-m thick at base. The
dam is still used today for hydropower and navigation purposes. The Zola
dam, was built between 1847 and 1854 for the water supply of
Aix-en-Provence, France. It was the first arch dam design based on a
rational stress analysis (SCHNITTER 1994). The
reservoir was used as a town water supply until 1877. Today it is still in
use for flood retention (Photo beside).
The 12.5-m high Parramatta dam near Sydney (Australia) wa built between
1851 and 1856. It was a constant-radius arch with a cylinder shape and it
was heightened by 3.35-m in 1898.
All four structures were constant-radius arches built in cut-stone
masonry. They are still in use and their long-lasting operation
demonstrates the soundness of design and the quality of the masonry
construction. It is generally believed that the thickness of cylindrical
arch was calculated using the thin cylinder formula. It is worth noting
that three dams were built in the British empire. Two structures were
designed by Royal Engineers : the Meer Allum and Jones Falls dams. The
writers believe that the Royal Engineers in India were aware of the
successes of Meer Allum and Jones Falls dams and they might have advised
Australian engineers.
[4] The 75 Miles dam was built in 1880 near Warwick (QLD, Australia), as a
water supply for steam locomotives (CHANSON 1999).
It was a non-reinforced concrete thick arch (Photo
beside). In 1900-1901, the dam was heightened with the addition of
three concrete buttresses. The 75-Miles dam in 1880 is the world's oldest
concrete arch dam and it is still in use as an emergency reserve.
Completed in 1896, Lithgow No. 1 dam (NSW, Australia) was a concrete
single-radius thin-arch structure. In 1914 or 1915, the dam was
heightened. The dam was disused around 1983-84 because the reservoir did
not have enough available head to feed the new wastewater treatment plant.
Lithgow No. 1 dam was the first Australian thin-arch dam, and it is the
world's oldest concrete thin-arch structure (CHANSON
and JAMES 1998). Two thin-arch dams, de
Burgh dam and Barren Jack City dam (NSW, Australia), were built
around 1907-1909 for railway water supply. These were reinforced-concrete
single-radius thin-arches, the world's oldest reinforced-concrete thin
arch dams. Another Australian arch dam is the Junction Reefs dam completed
in 1897. The multiple-arch dam has 5 elliptical arches, each with a 8.5-m
span and a 60-degrees lean. It was the first modern multiple-arch design.
[5] The introduction of concrete as a construction material for arch dams marked a significant advance. Designers were able to consider complex curved shapes to minimise the construction material and the overall cost. The developments took place first in North America. The world's oldest cupola dam is the Ithaca dam (New York, USA, 1903). Designed to be a 27-m high structure, construction was stopped when the dam height reached 9-m because of local opposition. The oldest concrete multiple arch dam was the Hume Lake dam (California, USA 1908) built in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 114 days ! The 206-m long 18.6-m high structure consisted of 12 circular arches (15.24-m span) and concrete reinforcement included old logging cables (over 12 km) and railroad scrap iron. The first constant-angle arch dam was completed in 1914 : the Salmon Creek dam (Alaska). The arch radius ranged from 44.96-m at base to 100.9-m at crest. Another advanced design was the Coolidge dam (Globe Ariz., USA 1928), the first cupola-shaped multiple-arch structure.
Photographs
Photo No. 1 : Site of the Roman dam at
Glanum (Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France). The present dam, les Peirou dam,
was built on the foundation of the Roman arch dam at Glanum (CHANSON and
JAMES 1998b, 1999). Photograph taken in June 1998.
Photo No. 2 : Zola dam, (Aix-en-Pr.,
France 1854) is an arch dam designed by Maurice ZOLA (1795-1847), father
of the novelist Emile ZOLA (CHANSON and JAMES 1998b, 1999). Photograph
taken in June 1998.
Photo No. 3 : 75 Miles dam, the world's
oldest concrete arch dam in 1880 shortly before completion (Courtesy of
the MACCROSSAN family) (CHANSON and JAMES 1998b, 1999).
Photo No. 4 : De Burgh dam (NSW,
Australia 1908) is Australia's first reinforced concrete arch dam. Named
after its designer Ernst de BURGH, it was built as a water supply for the
narrow-gauge railway line connecting Goondah NSW to the construction
site of the Burrinjuck dam (CHANSON and JAMES 1998b).
Photo No. 5 : Junction Reefs dam
(Lyndhurst NSW, Austalia, 1897). Built between 1895 and 1897, completed in
1897, the Junction Reefs dam is a concrete-brick multiple arch dam (CHANSON
and JAMES 1998b). There are 5 arches, with a 8.5-m span each,
sitting on 6 buttresses. The dam foundation and the outside walls are made
of concrete. The arches and buttresses are brick works. The reservoir was
built to supply hydropower to the mining company. Four Pelton wheels were
supplied by the dam. The Junction Reefs dam is well-known wroldwide as a
heritage structure of international significance (WEGMANN 1922, SMITH
1970, SCHNITTER 1994). Interstingly the Junction Reefs dam may be
compared with the Tallong dam. The Tallong dam, completed in 1883, is a
brick buttress-slab structure, still in use. Photo
No.
1 : View from the left abutment on 28 Dec. 1997; note the unlined
rick spillway in the foreground.
Photo No. 6 : Jones Falls
dam (Canada, 1831). Designed by Colonel John BY, and built betweeen 1828
and 1831, the 18.7 m high masonry arch dam is used to feed the Rideau
Canal linking Kingston to Ottawa. Photo
No. 6.1 : View from the left bank (Courtesy of Ken WATSON).
Related
links
Structurae,
International Database and Gallery of Structures
{http://www.structurae.de/index_e.html}
ICOLD
(International
Commission on Large Dams)
Dams Safety Committee of New
South Wales Australia
Bureau of Reclamation Concrete Dams
US Army Corps of
Engineers Reservoirs in Pittsburgh's district
US
Army
Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla district [Photographs are
listed Here]
US Army Corps of Engineers, Portland district, Photofile
[**]
Cement by the barrel and cask {http://www.engaust.com.au/magazines/cia/0900coverstory.html}
The Rideau canal and the Jones Falls dam {http://www.rideau-info.com/}
{http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/images/img-n-jonesdam1.html}
Hubert CHANSON
is a Professor in Civil Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering and
Environmental Fluid Mechanics at the University
of Queeensland, Australia. His research interests include design of
hydraulic structures, experimental investigations of two-phase flows,
applied hydrodynamics, hydraulic engineering, water quality modelling,
environmental fluid mechanics, estuarine processes and natural resources.
He has been an active consultant for both governmental agencies and
private organisations. His publication record includes over 620
international refereed papers and his work was cited over 3,700 times
(WoS) to 5,600 times (Google
Scholar) since 1990. Hubert Chanson is the author of several books :
"Hydraulic Design of Stepped
Cascades, Channels, Weirs and Spillways" (Pergamon,
1995), "Air Bubble Entrainment in
Free-Surface Turbulent Shear Flows" (Academic
Press, 1997), "The Hydraulics
of Open Channel Flow : An Introduction" (Butterworth-Heinemann,
1st edition 1999, 2nd
editon 2004), "The Hydraulics of
Stepped Chutes and Spillways" (Balkema,
2001), "Environmental
Hydraulics of Open Channel Flows" (Butterworth-Heinemann,
2004), "Applied
Hydrodynamics:
an Introduction of Ideal and Real Fluid Flows" (CRC
Press, 2009), and "Tidal
Bores, Aegir, Eagre, Mascaret, Pororoca: Theory And Observations" (World
Scientific, 2011). He co-authored two further books "Fluid Mechanics
for Ecologists" (IPC Press, 2002) and "Fluid Mechanics for
Ecologists. Student Edition" (IPC,
2006). His textbook "The Hydraulics of Open Channel Flows : An
Introduction" has already been translated into Spanish (McGraw-Hill
Interamericana) and Chinese (Hydrology Bureau of Yellow
River Conservancy Committee), and the second
edition was published in 2004. In 2003, the IAHR
presented him with the 13th Arthur Ippen Award
for outstanding achievements in hydraulic engineering. The American
Society of Civil Engineers, Environmental and Water Resources Institute
(ASCE-EWRI) presented him with the 2004 award for the Best Practice paper
in the Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering ("Energy
Dissipation
and Air Entrainment in Stepped Storm Waterway" by Chanson and
Toombes 2002). Hubert Chanson edited further several books : "Fluvial,
Environmental
and Coastal Developments in Hydraulic Engineering" (Mossa, Yasuda
& Chanson 2004, Balkema), "Hydraulics.
The
Next Wave" (Chanson & Macintosh 2004, Engineers
Australia), "Hydraulic
Structures:
a Challenge to Engineers and Researchers" (Matos & Chanson 2006,
The University of Queensland), "Experiences
and Challenges in Sewers: Measurements and Hydrodynamics" (Larrate
& Chanson 2008, The University of
Queensland), "Hydraulic
Structures:
Useful Water Harvesting Systems or Relics?" (Janssen & Chanson
2010, The University of Queensland),
"Balance
and Uncertainty: Water in a Changing World" (Valentine et al. 2011,
Engineers Australia). He chaired
the Organisation of the 34th
IAHR World Congress held in Brisbane, Australia between 26 June and
1 July 2011.
His Internet home page is http://www.uq.edu.au/~e2hchans.
He also developed a gallery of photographs website {http://www.uq.edu.au/~e2hchans/photo.html}
that received more than 2,000 hits per month since inception.
More pictures of arch dams are here ...
Best educational resource on the Web in
Lightspan's StudyWeb®,
Arts:Architecture:Buildings & Projects:Dams
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