Concrete dams are built to retain water for flood control, power generation, and water management. They are made of water, cement, sand, and aggregate. Almost all modern dams are made of concrete due to its strength. There are three basic designs: arch, gravity, and gravity arch. Roll-compacted concrete is a good type for construction. Dams have spillways and can generate electricity through hydroelectric power plants.
A concrete dam is a structure designed and built for the purpose of retaining water, which is usually placed in the path of a river. Dams are built for a variety of reasons, including flood control, power generation, and water management. A concrete dam is the strongest type of dam built in modern times and can take many different forms. Concrete itself is a building material made up of water, cement, sand and gravel or aggregate.
In modern times, almost all dams are made partially or entirely of concrete. Concrete is an excellent material for building dams because it is very strong when compressed, pressed, or pushed together. Many concrete dam designs exploit this property to produce extremely large dams capable of holding many cubic miles (1 cubic mile = 4.2 cubic km) of water.
Dams built in concrete have three basic designs. An arch dam is a relatively thin, curved concrete curtain wall, with the concave side of the curve facing downwards. This type of dam is made of solid concrete reinforced with steel. It relies on the pressure of the water behind it to add force as this pressure pushes the sides of the dam into the walls on either side. Arch dams are particularly suitable for areas where a river flows at the bottom of steep canyons or ravines with solid rock walls.
A gravity dam is a type of dam that relies on its own mass to hold it in place and hold back water. Gravity dams are often massive structures, sometimes tens of feet thick (1 foot = 3 meters). The dam is made of concrete, but the main part of its interior is filled rather than solid. A gravity dam is usually not curved, and a cross section will resemble a right triangle, with the right angle down on the side facing the water and the side facing the water sloping downward so that the dam is thicker at the bottom. Gravity dams are better for areas where there is no solid bedrock or canyon walls for anchoring.
The third major type of concrete dam is the gravity arch dam, which combines the features of both arch dam and gravity dam. Arch-gravity dams are curved dams that use the arch principle to enhance their strength, but are much thicker than a typical arch dam and have a core fill. They are designed so that their enormous weight, combined with the increased strength of an arch over a straight-line structure, will hold the dam in place and hold back water.
Some concrete dams may have several small arches or buttresses or a couple of large arches or other variations, but most, if not all, are variations on one of three basic designs. A relatively good type of concrete, for concrete dam construction, is called roll-compacted concrete and uses heavy rollers to press the concrete during construction. Many newer dams are being built using this technique, but the designs are still of the same basic types. A typical concrete dam has spillways to release water when needed, and many are designed to harness the flow of water to generate electricity via hydroelectric power plants. Running water that drives huge turbines produces up to 20% of the world’s electricity.
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