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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams
and
Three Gorges Dam

Kamran M. Nemati
Visiting Professor
Tokyo Institute of Technology

Concrete Dams

U.S. Delegation to TGP-Nov. 99

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Three Gorges Dam

Goals:
g

Location:
g

Flood Prevention
Navigation improvement
Power generation

Yangtze River downstream from

Three Gorges

Worlds Largest:
g

Height 181 meters

Power 18 200 MW
Reservoir volume 39.3 billion m3

Concrete volume 27.94 million m3

Concrete Dams

Timeline

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

1919 - Sun Yat-sen proposed project

1931 and 1935 - Floods killed over 200,000 people
1944 - J. L. Savage, the chief designer of both the
Grand Coulee and Hoover dams, sent by United
States Bureau of Reclamation to survey area and
consult with Chinese engineers
1970 - Construction began on Gezhouba dam
1992 - Chinese Government adopted official plan for
the dam project
2009 - Expected completion of the TGP

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Stages of Construction

Phase 1 (1993-1997)
g

Phase 2 (1998-2003)
g

Water diversion channel

Construction of transverse cofferdams
Construction of the spillway, left powerhouse and navigation
facilities

Phase 3 (2004-2009)
g

construction of the right bank powerhouse

Concrete Dams

Structure of Gravity Dams

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Triangular shape
Vertical Upstream face
Uniformly sloped Downstream face
Grout curtain

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Forces acting on the dam

Major Forces:

Gravity of Dam
Force of Reservoir
Uplift Force

Others:

Thermal Stress
Internal structural forces
Sedimentation pressure

Concrete Dams

Calculation of Forces
Force of Gravity of the Dam

Concrete volume = 27.94*106 m3

Density of concrete = 2407.82 kg/ m3
F = mg=(6.727*1010 kg)(9.81 N/kg)

Mass = 6.727*1010 kg

Force = 9.599* 1011 N

Horizontal Pressure of water

Upstream:
Depth = (1/3)*175 m = 58 m
Density of water = 1 kg/ m3
Downstream:
Depth = (1/3) * 83 m = 28 m

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Pressure = 58 kg/m2
Pressure = 28 kg/m2

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Uplift Force

Newtons 3rd Law - Action/Reaction

Due to choice of foundation most force of
gravity dam dissipated to surrounding area
Uplift force, compared with gravity is
minimal

Concrete Dams

Sedimentation

Major concern for engineers

Potential cause of:

Prevention measures:

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Abrasion of spillway and structure

Accelerated wear of turbine runners
Increased pressure on dam structure
Dikes to prevent sediment from settling
Silt-flushing outlets in the water intakes
Erosion prevention via tree planting
Dredging to remove build up

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Mass Concrete
Mass concrete is any large volume of cast-in-place concrete with dimensions large
enough to require that measures be taken to cope with the generation of heat and
attendant volume change to minimize cracking
Higginson, Elmo C. Mass Concrete for Dams and Other Massive Structures.

Goal
g

Prevent cracking of structure

Must control heat fluctuations

Concrete Dams

Heat of Hydration
Conservation of Energy:
The reaction creating the cement is reversed by the hydration process. This causes all of
the energy added to the compounds to produce the cement to be released again in the
reaction.

Dry Cement
No hardening properties
Compounds in nonequilibrium, high-energy
states

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Hydrated Cement
Has hardening properties
Compounds move to
stable, low energy states
Produce heat as a byproduct

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Cement Production

Made from a homogenous mixture of

calcium silicates, heated in a kiln.
Process requires fossil-fuel energy
input, at about 800 kCal per kilogram of
clinker.
3CaO SiO 2
Limestone CaO + CO2
2CaO SiO2

Clay SiO2 + Al2 O3 + Fe2 + H 2 O
3CaO Al2 O3

4CaO Al2 O3 Fe 2O3

Concrete Dams

Heat Dissipation over time

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Heat from hydration is produced non-uniformly with

time and thus the cooling-off process is very long
Mass concrete takes many years to cool due to large
volumes of material and relatively small surface area.
Long hydration process and large temperature drop
can cause fracturing within the structure.

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Pozzolans
Advantages:

Example: Fly Ash

Pozzolans react with a

product of the hydration
reaction of portland cement
Pozzolans reactions do not
produce extremely high
temperatures
Reduce the amount of
cement needed

Flue dust from coal burning

power plants
Used for 35% of paste
material in TGP
Increases the workability of
the cement
Develops a strong cementlike nature upon reacting
with hydrated cement

PortlandCement : C 2S + H 2 O
C H S + CH
fast

slow
C H S
PortlandPozzolanCement : Pozzolan + CH + H 2 O

Concrete Dams

Aggregate

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Varies from fine sand to

coarse gravel and crushed
rock
TGP aggregate: maximum
size of 150 millimeters in
length
Type depends on what
properties the concrete
design calls for and what
types of aggregate is
available
Drastically decreases the
amount of cement paste
needed - 80% of TGP
concrete is aggregate

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Concrete Properties

Elastic Modulus (E) and Coefficient of Thermal

Expansion ()

E = Va E a + Vp E p
= Va a + Vp p
Dependent on the Volume ratio of aggregate
to paste in the concrete

Concrete Dams

Thermal Stress

Mechanics

Strain: L/L
Stress: Force/Area

Thermal Strain:=(T)
Elastic Modulus:

Youngs Modulus:
Stress
Y=
Strain

Thermal

E=

Thermal Stress
=
ThermalStrain

Solving for Thermal Stress (with additional restraint term R):

= RET

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Thermal Stresses in Concrete

= E = T = RET

Where: = Thermal stresses

R = Restraint (0 < R < 1)
E = Modulus of elasticity
= Coefficient of thermal expansion
T = Temperature drop

You have control on:

T

Very little you can do about E

and because they are function
of aggregate available on site

The only control you have is the amount of

temperature drop, T.

Concrete Dams

Computation of T:
Temperature
change with time

T = Placement temperature of fresh concrete +

Adiabatic temperature rise Ambient temperature
Temperature drop due to heat losses.

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Cooling Techniques: Pre-Cooling

Cool components before

batching
Mix concrete at night or early
morning
Use ice chips instead of water

Result: Placing temperatures of 7 Celsius

Much lower maximum temperature and less time to cool

Concrete Dams

Cooling Techniques: Post-Cooling

Purpose:

Control temperature change in

structure
Regulate thermal shrinking to
maintain stable volume

Process:

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Imbed thin-walled metal pipes

in the structure
Run cold water through pipes
to lower maximum temperature

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Power Generation
Water Flow
Reservoir
Penstock
(entrance tube)
Turbine
Draft Tube

Concrete Dams

Power Potential

Determined by three
factors:
g

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Net head (H)

Discharge available
(Q) - dependent on the
size of the turbine
system, and flow rate
of the water
Efficiency of the
turbine system (e)

P(kw) =

HQwe
737 ftkwlb

With two constants:

g

Weight of water (w)

Proportional constant to find Power in kW

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Parts of a Francis Turbine

Scroll Case

Concrete Dams

Parts of a Francis Turbine

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Scroll Case
Stay vanes

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Parts of a Francis Turbine

Scroll Case
Stay vanes
Guide vanes

Concrete Dams

Parts of a Francis Turbine

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Scroll Case
Stay vanes
Guide vanes
Runner

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Parts of a Francis Turbine

Scroll Case
Stay vanes
Guide vanes
Runner
Tailrace

Concrete Dams

Generators

Uses Faradays law

coil of conducting material
traveling through a magnetic field
causes an electromagnetic force
to be induced in the coil

Parts
g

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

Rotor - driven by the

turbines shaft
Stator

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Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering

Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Energy Transmission
generated power

Power from Generators:

700 MW

Voltage: 20 kV
Alternating Current: 35 kA

15 transmission lines:

transformer

AC to DC conversion

transmission

500kV AC to central China and

Chongqing
DC to AC conversion
500kV DC eastern China
transformer

power usage

Concrete Dams

Transformers

Lenz's law: induced

voltage and current occur in
direction opposite to the
change that produces it

20kV to 500kV
uses step-up
transformer N1< N2

500kV to 220V uses

step-down transformer

N1> N2

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

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Concrete Dams: Three Gorges Dam in China

Concrete Dams

Rectifiers and Thyristors

Conversion of power: AC - DC - AC

Why DC?
g

smaller volume of conductor to transmit a given

amount of power
lack of continuous capacitance charging current

fewer insulation difficulties

Concrete Dams

Impacts of the TGP

Positive
Flood control
Power generation:
18,200 MW installed
capacity
Navigation
improvement: sea-faring

Negative
Population relocation:
1.2 million people must move

Loss of farmland
Flooding of cultural
relics: historical landmarks
and remnants of ancient
civilizations

ships able to travel additional

630km upriver

Professor Kamran M. Nemati

Second Semester 2005

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