Dams
Tignes, the arch dam | <
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Dams General
Dams: what for ?
Various types of dams
Construction of Dams
Tignes, the highest arch dam in France. (photo Coyne et Bellier)
Dams are some of the most spectacular achievements of modern industrial engineering. By their very size and complexity they represent veritable milestones in the field of engineering and have a major effect on their surroundings...
We are specialy indebted to Jean-Louis Bordes, who provided the texts, and to the firm Coyne & Bellier from which most of the pictures are coming.
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Serre-Ponçon, to control seasonal flooding of the Durance (© Coyne & Bellier)
From irrigation to navigation, to the production of energy or the supply of drinking water, dams fulfil an essential role that holds promise of a great future. Water is, after all, a vital resource, at the centre of our activities.
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Earth-fill or concrete - the two types of dam. (© Coyne & Bellier)
A dam may firstly be defined in terms of the type of materials used. The choice between earth and concrete will have consequences both for its shape and for the techniques used to deal with excess water...
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The Birecik dam (Turkey) during the course of its construction (© Coyne & Bellier)
A dam will fundamentally change the area in which it is situated. This is why its design, and then its construction, require detailed studies, especially of the site, and these will decide on the characteristics of the structure.
From that point a dam takes on the form of a joint project, to which each player brings innovations reused again at a later date for other projects. (...)
Plants and Materials
Hydromechanic engines
Supervision and Accidents
Ancient dams
Since the beginning of the XXth century, important progress has been made in our knowledge of the materials used for dams, as well as their execution.
It is such an evolution that has allowed us to build structures that are increasingly high (in excess of 300 metres) and of ever increasing safety...
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Dams incorporate hydromechanical equipment that is state of the art for the period of their construction.
These hydromechanical equipments cover:
Equipment which enables the structure to function (gates and valves), Equipment which transfers the water to nearby plants (pressure pipelines), Equipment which allows hydraulic energy to be transformed into electrical energy (turbines).
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The increase in the number and size of the structures throughout the world has not prevented a steady decrease in the frequency of accidents. There is one main reason for this - the progress made in monitoring events, allowing ever better suited solutions for the various problems encountered...
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The first traces of a dam, where archaeologists agree, date from 5000 BC. It was in Jawa in Jordan where this structure of fairly modest size was found.
Such structures appeared throughout the world, in civilisations without any contact with each other, from Asia to South America. Ambitious structures were built primarily in Egypt and Rome, and their execution continues to serve as a point of reference right through to the modern era.
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Recent dams
GrandMaison Dam
Major figures
Faced with the rise in the demand for water, dams developed.
The XVIIIth century marked a turning point with the desire to equip French territory with large engineering structures. Ever since then, dams have never ceased to grow in size and performance, drawing from scientific progress and a number of technical innovations...
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Aerial view of the dam (EDF)
Dams are of two types - storage dams and river dams. This account focuses on the Grand’Maison storage dam.
The Grand’Maison dam is in the upper Romanche valley, one of the birth-places of hydro-electric power. This "high-head" dam is located between two pondages: Grand’Maison at an altitide of 1,700 m and Verney at 770 m.
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Mausoleum of Aristide Bergès in Toulouse
A dam is primarily a collective operation: There is the project manager who is in charge of overall planning, the project engineering manager who finalises the design, calculates the cost and supervises construction, and contractors who, on site, find technical solutions to turn his intentions into reality. There have been some individuals who, whatever their role, have played a decisive part in this art which has a history of many thousands of years.
Hereafter are some of these major figures that we want to present to you...
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