Transmittal Letter

February 27,2015

Dr. Maria Melvyn Alamis

Colegio de San Juan de Letran

151 Muralla St. Intramuros, Manila

Dear Ms. Alamis:

We are submitting to you the research, due March 2, 2015 that you requested. The

research is titled Sufficiency and Effectiveness of the Design of Angat Dam. The

purpose of the research is to inform you of the structural design of the dam. The content

of this research concentrates on the structural aspects of Angat dam. This research also

discusses the purpose, effects, and the risks in constructing a dam. If you have any

questions regarding our research and paper, feel free to ask Paolo Pio Alaan at

piyowmi@gmail.com .

Sincerely,

Paolo Pio Alaan

Head Researcher
 Sufficiency and Effectiveness of the Design of Angat Dam

A Research Proposal submitted to the

Faculty of Engineering of

Colegio de San Juan de Letran

In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for oral communication

Submitted by:

Alaan, Paolo Pio

Alejandro, Alexander

Atijera, Renzo Angelo

Submitted to:

Ma. Melvyn P. Alamis, Ph.D.

February, 25, 2015

Introduction

Dams are barriers that hold water or underground streams. They are huge walls of

stone or concrete built in a path of a river to form an artificial lake or reservoir. They

have the most important roles in utilizing water resources. It is constructed long years

before gaining present information about hydrology and hydromechanics. Its not an

ordinary engineering building. Dam projects are useful in meeting the demand for water

in desired times and in regulating stream system, have undertaken an important

function in the development of civilization. It serves a primary purpose of retaining

water.

Dams have different kinds of purposes like in irrigation, hydropower, water supply for

domestic and industrial use, inland navigation, and flood control. It has been a great use

since the early times. Dams were used to control water level and release the extra if it

reaches the critical level. The reservoir may be used as a water supply for towns and

cities, or to produce electricity in a power station.

The Dam is most important and sensitive part of the hydroelectric power plants. It holds

a large quantity of water which is used for human consumption and generating

electricity. Improper use of location, materials and design may lead into a devastating

effect in the surrounding areas. There is a high risk when creating dams thats why risk

factors should be considered. The factors to be considered when making a dam are the

maximum quantity of water in river, the effect of earthquake in the area, the impact in
the surrounding environment, and human displacement. These factors may affect the

structure of the dam, if not considered it may destroy the whole basin of the dam.

The ancient Egyptian built the first known dam to exist using limestone. The dam was

called the Sadd el-Kafara. The first dam was a failure and the Egyptians never built

another dam until modern times. The second dam was Nimrod in Mesopotamia around

2000BC using clays, earth and wood. And the Romans are the first to use concrete and

mortar for their gravity dams. In modern times the commonly used dams are the arch

dams and buttress dams.

Dams are classified into different types it could be by size, use and material. The four

basic types are the Gravity, Arch, Buttress, Embankment dams (Fig 1).

Figure 1
The concept of Dam and water resource system was came from our colonial masters

like the Spaniards and Americans. In the Philippines one of the most famous dams is

the Angat Dam, which is the supplier of water in the Manila Metropolitan Area. It was

built in October 1967, which cost of almost 315.344 Million pesos. It is located in

Norzagaray, Bulucan, Philippines. It does not only supply potable water but also it

supplies energy in the Metro Manila area. The operator of the Angat Dam is the

NAPOCOR or national power corporation.

Location

The site chosen by the researchers is Angat dam which is located in Norzaragay,

Bulacan. The site was chosen primarily because it supplies about 90% of raw water

requirements for Metro Manila. Angat dam is a water reservoir and is also being used as

a hydroelectric source of power. Angat dam is almost 50 years but was built on a fault

line

Design, Materials, Maintenance

The Angat dam and associated facilities were constructed for supplying the Capital of

the Philippines, Manila, and the whole adjacent metropolitan area with water. They

cover up to 90% of water consumption of the Capital (Blaha 2003). It dimensions are

131 meters in height, 568 meters in length, 550 meters base width, and it can contain a

total water capacity of 850 million cubic meters. Originally, the water supply of the Angat

reservoir comes from the Angat River but when the water consumption continued to rise

in the Metropolitan area, the reservoir needed a new water source. Civil engineers
constructed a tunnel that transfers water from the neighboring Umiray River into the

Angat reservoir. The tunnel normally transfers 13 cubic meters of water per second

into the dam lake.

The Angat dam is a type of embankment dam. Angat dams design is a rock-filled

embankment dam. Rock-filled dams have an impermeable core that stops water from

passing through the dam. It has a sloped wall that is rock-filled and is permeable and

water can sip through the sloped wall (Figure 2). 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. The

design of Angat dam makes it more stable because of its wide base. The only problem

with its stability is that the whole dam itself is almost 50 years old and was built on a

fault line. The fault line wasnt discovered until the year 2012. Most embankment dams

have a central section, called the core. Materials used for the cover include reinforced

concrete and asphaltic concrete.

For the maintenance of the dam, engineers who are assigned to supervise Angat dam

conducts yearly tests to see if the dam is in an operational condition or if the dam has

some minor damages that could cause major disasters on the neighboring provinces or

cities.
Figure 2

Conclusion

In conclusion, the research will help in improving the quality of building dams in the

Philippines. This may serve as a resource material for future civil engineers. It gives

information in making effective design of dams especially the type to be used on certain

areas. This shows that Angat Dam have a durable and long lasting design even though

there are many risk factors when building it especially the fault line. Angat Dam is an

embankment type of dam and it shows that its an effective design on that area due to

the fact that it is built in a fault line. It is considered a successful structure for lasting

almost 48 years.