San Luis Dam - Embankment dam

An Embankment dam is a massive semi-plastic mound of earth and/or rock with a dense, waterproof core.^[1] The force of the dammed water pushes the heavy weight of the dam down into the ground, strengthening the dam and preventing it from falling over.^[2] Such a dam is composed of fragmented independent material particles. The friction and interaction of particles binds the particles together into a stable mass rather than the use of a cementing substance.^[3] San Luis Dam is a dam that creates San Luis Reservoir, which serves as an off-stream reservoir for the California State Water Project. ...

Types

Pothundi Dam, India

Embankment dams come in two types: the earth filled dam (or earthen dam) made of compacted earth, and the rock filled dam. A cross-section of an embankment dam shows a shape like a bank, or hill. Most have a central section or core composed of an impermeable material to stop water from seeping through the dam. The core can be of clay, concrete or asphalt concrete. This dam type is a good choice for sites with wide valleys. Since they exert little pressure on their foundations, they can be built on hard rock or softer soils. For a rockfill dam, rockfill is blasted using explosives to break the rock. Additionally. the rock pieces may need to be crushed into smaller chunks to get the right range of size for use in an embankment dam.^[4] An Earthen dam is constructed as a simple homogeneous embankment of well-compacted earth, sometimes with a watertight concrete or clay core or upstream face, or sometimes with a hydraulic fill to produce a watertight core. ...

Safety

The building of a dam and the filling of the reservoir behind it places a new weight on the floor and sides of a valley. The stress of the water increases linearly with its depth. Water also pushes against the upstream face of the dam, a nonrigid structure that under stress behaves semiplastically, and causes greater need for adjustment (flexibility) near the base of the dam than at shallower water levels. Thus the stress level of the dam must be calculated in advance of building to ensure that its break level threshold is not exceeded.^[5]

Overflow of an embankment dam outside of its spillways can cause disastrous flooding. Therefore safety requirements for the spillway are high, requiring the spillway to be capable of containing a maximum flood stage. Specifying a spillway able to contain a hundred year flood is common.^[6] Spillway of Llyn Brianne dam in Wales A Spillway is a structure used to provide for the controlled release of flood flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that has been dammed. ...

San Luis Dam is the fourth largest embankment dam in the United States.^[7] San Luis Dam is a dam that creates San Luis Reservoir, which serves as an off-stream reservoir for the California State Water Project. ...

See also

• Dam
• Kaptai Dam

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kaptai Dam is located on the Karnaphuli River at Kaptai, 65 km upstream from Chittagong in Rangamati District, Bangladesh. ...

Notes

1. ^ Dam Basics. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
2. ^ Embankment dam: forces. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
3. ^ Introduction to rock filled dams. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
4. ^ About Dams. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
5. ^ Pressures Associated with Dams and Reservoirs. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
6. ^ Dams - Appurtenant Features. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
7. ^ San Luis Reservoir and Dam. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.

– 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... – 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

• Embankment dams Table of contents
• An introduction to embankment dams