Gravity, arch and embankment dams resist water pressure.
Gravity dams resist water by weight; arch dams transfer load to abutments; embankment dams use earth/rockfill with impervious core. Design checks sliding, overturning, uplift, seepage, spillway capacity and seismic loads. Instrumentation monitors safety.
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam 221 m high.
Dams hold large volumes of water and must resist very large forces, so their design is one of the most demanding in civil engineering.
Gravity, arch and embankment dams resist water pressure.
Dams hold large volumes of water and must resist very large forces, so their design is one of the most demanding in civil engineering.
Gravity dams rely on their weight to resist water pressure, while arch dams transfer the load to the valley sides through arch action.
A dam built from earth or rockfill, which suits sites where soft ground or wide valleys make concrete impractical.
Typical applications include designing a concrete gravity dam to resist sliding and overturning, choosing an earth embankment dam where rock is weak and designing an arch dam in a narrow gorge with strong rock abutments.
Study "Bearings and expansion joints" first (topic 68 of 112 in Civil & Structural). It covers the groundwork this topic builds on.
Hydrostatic and uplift forces. Probable maximum flood. Stilling basins.
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam 221 m high.
The next topic is "Structural health monitoring", which builds directly on this one.
It is classed as Intermediate in Civil & Structural (topic 69 of 112). It is an intermediate topic. Work through the beginner topics in Civil & Structural first.
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