THREE GORGES DAM

Deepak Patil 2008ME10503

About Three Gorges Dam :

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China.

CONSTRUCTION:
Excavation: 102.6 million cubic meters of earth and stone (134 million cubic yards). Concrete: 27.2 million cubic meters (35.5 million cubic yards). Steel reinforcing bars: 354,000 tons. Dam height: 185 meters (607 feet). Dam length: 2,309 meters (1.4 miles) divided into three parts. In the center will be a 484-meter spillway section with 23 bottom outlets and 22 sluice gates. On the left and right of the spillway will be two giant power stations.

RESERVIOR:
Average width: 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles). Length: 600 kilometers (370 miles). Storage: 39.3 billion cubic meters of water (51.4 billion cubic yards). Water level: elevated 175 meters (574 feet) above Yangtze River surface. Runoff: 451 billion cubic meters (589 billion cubic yards) of Yangtze River water will flow into the reservoir annually. Silt: The muddy Yangtze will discharge 530 million tons of silt into the reservoir in a typical year.

ELECTRICITY:
Machinery: The two power stations flanking the dam's central spillway will operate 26 of the world's largest turbine generators, 700 megawatts each. Capacity: Total generating capacity will be 18,200 megawatts, or as much as big 18 nuclear power stations. Transmission: Fifteen 500,000-volt transmission lines will send electricity to Shanghai and elsewhere throughout East China , Central China and eastern Sichuan Province . Output: 84.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equivalent to burning 40 million tons of coal.

ECONOMICS:
The government estimates that the Three Gorges Dam project will cost 180 billion yuan (US$22.5 billion). By the end of 2008, spending had reached 148.365 billion yuan, among which 64.613 billion yuan was spent on construction, 68.557 billion yuan on relocating affected residents, and 15.195 billion yuan on financing.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE:

Initial Site

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

After Completion

Phase 1 began in 1994 and ended in 1997 with the initial diversion of the Yangtze River. Phase 2 began in 1998 and is due to end in 2003 when the water level rises to 156 meters (511 feet) and the dam starts generating electricity. Phase 3 should end in 2009 when the water level reaches 175 meters (574 feet) and full power generation begins.

Stage 1
5 steps in Stage 1
1. Rock fill dam (cofferdam) in the river. 2. Pit formed is dried by pumping water. 3. Dried pit is excavated. 4. Concrete Cofferdam constructed along rock fill dam. 5. Rockfill dam are washed off.

Step 1
A cofferdam is formed on one side of the river by dumping rocks into the water to create an embankment dam.
Rock is excavated at site

Rock is transported to dam site Rock is dumped into river

Step 2
Water is pumped out from the enclosure formed between the riverbank and the dam to create a dry pit.

Pumped water is fed into main river flow.

Step 3
The pit is excavated to a deep enough level so that all of the river water can be diverted through it during Stage 2 of the construction.

Soil is dumped at Rock excavation site

Pit is excavated

Soil is transported

Step 4
A concrete cofferdam is constructed along one side of the pit.

Framework is constructed

Concrete is setting

Concrete is poured by pump into framework

Step 5
Rockfill dams are washed off by either use of small explosives or excavators.

Washed off material from rockfill dam is used for creation of next rockfill dam along with new excavated material.

Stage 2
4 steps in this stage 1. Construction of Rockfill Cofferdams. 2. Enclosure between all cofferdam is dried and excavated. 3. Main dam and Water Spillway is constructed. 4. Rockfill cofferdams are washed off.

Step 1
Two more rock fill cofferdams are constructed on the other side of the river, again by dumping rocks in the water, one upstream of the dam location and one downstream

Step 2
These form an enclosure with the river bank and the Stage 1 concrete cofferdam. The enclosure is then pumped dry and excavated, so that the first portion of the main dam can be built within it.

Step 1 and Step 2 progresses in similar way as they progressed in Stage 1.

Step 3
Main dam and water spillway is constructed. Main dam is constructed in similar steps as concrete cofferdam is constructed. Water spillways also constructed in same way except for gates.

Concrete structure is erected

Gates are fixed in place with the help of cranes

Step 4
Rockfill cofferdams are washed off either by explosion or by excavation. In the similar way discussed in stage 1.

Meanwhile, during the stage 2 the water flows through the deeper channel on the other side of the river formed during Stage 1.

Stage 3
4 steps in this stage 1. Construction of 2 rockfill cofferdams. 2. Pit is dried up by pumping water out. 3. Dam is constructed extending to water spillway. 4. Cofferdams are washed off.

Two more rockfill cofferdams are constructed to create a final enclosure, which is pumped dry and excavated to complete the construction of the dam across the river.

While stage 3 work is going on river water is stored in dam constructed in stage 2.

Cofferdam
Placing explosives and sensors after 3 stages of construction

Cofferdam

Explosion in cofferdam (Final work dam construction)

Ship locks
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to take a reasonably direct line across county that is not level. It is required when a stretch of river is made navigable by bypassing an obstruction such as rapid, dam, or mill weir because of the change in river level across the obstacle. The 5 locks are respectively 280 meters long, 35 meters wide, and 5 meters deep.

Construction

Step 2 : Framework is set up on the lining of canal and locks. Step 1 : A canal is excavated from main reservoir to main stream of river

Step 3 : Concrete is poured into framework erected.

Step 4 : Gates are installed using cranes.

Ready and operational Ship-Locks

Equipments Used:
 Backhoe Loaders  Bulldozer with Blade and Ripper  Bulldozer with Hydraulic Scraper  Dumper  Concrete Batching Plant  Concrete Mixers Trucks  Concrete Pumps  Water Pumps  Cranes  Excavators  Crusher  Sheepsfoot Roller

Backhoe Loader
A backhoe Loader, also called a loader backhoe, digger, or colloquially shortened to backhoe, is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor fitted with a shovel/bucket on the front and a small backhoe on the back. Due to its (relatively) small size and versatility, backhoe loaders are very common in urban engineering and small construction projects

Backhoe Loaders Applications

Small backhoe loaders also referred as mini backhoe loaders are quite useful in different areas. Owing to its small and portable size, backhoe loaders finds their application in the following fields : Construction Light demolition Transportation of light building material Digging holes Paving roads Breaking asphalt Small urban engineering project

Bulldozer with Blade and Ripper

Bulldozer is a heavy machine having a track and is fitted with a dozer blade. The tracks provides them with excellent ground hold and mobility through very rough terrain. Bulldozer is easy to operate machine for clearing and grading land. Bulldozer, due to its size and power has undergone many modifications since its invention and is used mainly for accomplishing big infrastructural projects like dams, canals, roads, buildings, etc.

APPLICATION:
Bulldozer with rippers and blades are very helpful in building big dams in different areas. It prepares the ground by clearing and leveling it. The main parts of the bulldozer are tractor, blade and rippers. Tractor is controlled by control joystick, monitor panel, and pedals. Through blade it shaves the uneven ground and carries the shaven soil along with it. While shaving, it levels and tighten the ground with its on the basis of the nature of the work the dozer blade is categorized as straight blade, universal blade, combination of straight and universal blade. Rippers on the other hand scratch the ground. Ripper can shave big rocks and hard grounds also which the blade is unable to do.

Bulldozer with Hydraulic Scraper

Bulldozer with hydraulic scraper is a heavy, driveroperated machine for clearing and grading land. The function of the dozer is determined and depend upon the kinds of blade it has used. The blades generally used by bulldozer are straight, universal or combination of both. Bulldozer with hydraulic scrape is based upon the hydraulic system and use straight blade for the clearance and scraping out land.

APPLICATION AND OPERATION:

Bulldozer with hydraulic scraper dozer too has tractor, ripper and blade as the main part. It uses scraper for doing various which in turn is controlled by joy stick, monitor panels and pedals. The whole mechanism of the dozer depends on the principle of the hydraulics system. It is used for heavy work done by bulldozer with Blade and Ripper.

Dumpers
Dumper is a small dieselpowered vehicle used to carry loads and materials to the construction sites. It has a towing eye on its back end, to tow such things as a air compressor to run pneumatic drills. Using steel dumpers, heavy duty containers are handled easily. The starting handle is used to start the dumper manually. Tipping, loading, refueling and traveling are some of the factors which should be considered while starting the dumpers.

APPLICATION:
The main applications of dumpers are : Transporting materials to construction sites. They are used for trucking and transportation. They are helpful in manufacturing and production line. They are designed also to handle smaller items like plastics, metals, glass, rubber, plastics etc.

Concrete Batching Plant

Concretes are the most important raw materials for constructing buildings, roads, dams and other infrastructures. Concrete batching plants are those plants which uses sand, gravel, cement, water, and other materials for producing concretes. These plants are either mobile or stationary.

Concrete Mixer Trucks

Concrete mixing trucks are trucks having rotating drum which have spiral blades inside mixing concrete. Theses trucks are mainly used to slow setting of ready mix concrete till it reaches site from Concrete Batching Plant.

Concrete Pumps
A concrete pump is a tool used for transferring liquid concrete by pumping. There are two types of concrete pumps; 1. Trailer-mounted boom  used on most of the larger construction  place concrete with pinpoint accuracy 2. Truck-mounted concrete pump  used for smaller volume concrete placing applications  It is more convenient to move these pumps to other site or location.

RMC is mixed at Concrete Batch Plant

RMC is transported to site in Concrete mixing truck

RMC from truck is fed to pump which pumps concrete into framework

Water Pump
Big water pumps are used to dry up the pit for construction of dam. These pumps have high volume flow rates but lower water lift capacities.

General mobile pump Site photograph of water pumping

Cranes
Development depends on infrastructure and infrastructure on heavy machineries. Of all the heavy machines cranes acquire an important position as they are involved in the building and maintenance of huge projects. Crane machines are the huge tower like machineries having ropes meant to lift or to lower any heavy devices. Hence they are also referred as lifting cranes. Cranes are not permanent structure. In fact it is a temporary structure either fixed in the ground or mounted on certain vehicles. Cranes are operated either through cab operator or through infrared or radio signals.

Use and Application

Cranes are used move materials in a horizontal position from one place to another. Cranes are also used to lift and lower materials. One or more simple machines are used in cranes to produce a mechanical force, which is able to move loads beyond the normal capability of a human. Cranes are used for the loading and unloading of goods in the transport industry, for the movement of debris, sand, mud and other materials in the construction industry and for the assembling of heavy equipment in the manufacturing industry .

Cranes working at Three Gorges Dam site

Excavators
Excavators are multiple usage heavy construction or engineering machines used to dig or move large objects. Excavators are widely used in the construction sites meant for roads, buildings, highways, landmarks, skyscrapers etc. Using an excavator makes the task of lifting and carrying much easier and quick. The design of an excavator is very distinguished and this is one construction machine which is easily recognized almost anywhere. The long arm is the most important part of the machine.

Crusher
For constructing heavy infrastructure crushed rocks and stone materials are needed. The crushers reduces the size of the big rocks and materials to a minimal size for the purpose of constructing dams, buildings, roads, etc. There are different types of crushers that are used for the purpose of crushing : Jaw crusher Cone crusher Impact crusher Roller crusher Pressure crusher

Sheepsfoot Roller
Sheepsfoot roller is one of the most commonly used soil compactor used by contractors and builders all over the world. The sheepsfoot roller is a self propelled heavy machinery which run static and are typically mowed. This type of roller is available in variety of sizes depending on the nature of the soils.

Uses
These days, contractors use varied soil and aggregate compactors. The most popular one is sheepsfoot roller as this type of roller can compact the soil directly beneath the foot tip. Because of high pressure applied on the soils and the high compaction speed, the sheepsfoot roller is very useful in the construction of both small and big dams. According to leading manufacturers of construction machines, the sheepsfoot roller is most effective and efficient for compaction of plastic soils like clay or silt.

Thank You