- Published: January 13, 2022
- Updated: January 13, 2022
- University / College: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Level: Undergraduate
- Language: English
- Downloads: 37
Grande Dixence Dam Grande Dixence Dam is the world’s highest/tallest gravity dam. The dam has a base width of 200 meters and slims to just 15 meters at the top. The dam has a wall height of 285 meters, which make it the highest dam in the world. The length of the dam is 695 meters. On a yearly base the Grande Dixence dam water storage capacity exceeds 400m3 (Russell 3). During its construction, a watertight foundation soils was achieved by having a grout curtain surround that extends about 200 meters deep. The construction of the dam began in the year 1951 and lasted for approximately 11 years – the construction of the dam ended in 1962. To complete the construction of the dam’s wall about 6, 000, 000m3 of concrete was required (Berlow 67).
The construction of Grand Dixence dam involved four major construction stages. The first stage involved the erecting of 182 meters high wall, which is about 0. 64 of the dam’s full height. In the first stage about 1. 85 million meters cubed of concrete was used, which is about 0. 3 of dam’s total concrete volume. During the construction process, to ensure sound forces transfer and interlinkage between concrete “… previous stage to the following, downstream face of the dam in the first, the second and third stages were completed step by step for which the surfaces of the of the vertical planes of the steps were provided with projections” (Landau & Mgalobelov 102). In all the four stages the construction process of the dam had to take into account any possibility of tensile stress occurrence due to “… partial filling of the reservoir on the stress strain state of the dam” (Landau and Mgalobelov 102). As such, the construction of the dam had to be executed stage-wise.
Work Cited
Berlow, Lawrence. The Reference Guide to Worlds Most Famous Landmarks. Phoenix, Ariz: Oryx Press, 1995. Print.
Landau, Yu A & Mgalobelov, Yu B. Non-conventional Construction of Concrete Dams and Rock Foundations: A critical review of patens and ligences. New York, NY: CRC Press, 1997. Print.
Russell, Jesse. Grande Dixence Dam. S. l: Book On Demand Ltd, 2013. Print.
