Arch Dam - History

History

The first known arch dam, the Glanum Dam, also known as the Vallon de Baume Dam, was built by the Romans in France and it dates back to the 1st century BC. The dam was about 12m high and 18m in length. Its radius was about 14m and it consisted of two masonry walls. The Romans built it to supply nearby Glanum with water.

The Monte Novo Dam in Portugal was another early arch dam built by the Romans in 300 AD. It was 5.7m high and 52m long with a radius of 19m. The curved ends of the dam met with two winged walls that were later supported by two buttresses. The dam also contained two water outlets to drive mills downstream.

The Dara Dam was another arch dam built by the Romans in which the historian Procopius would write of its design: "This barrier was not built in a straight line, but was bent into the shape of a crescent, so that the curve, by lying against the current of the river, might be able to offer still more resistance to the force of the stream."

The Mongolians also built arch dams in modern-day Iran. Their earliest was the Kebar Dam built around 1300, which was 26 m high and 55 m long, and had a radius of 35 m. Their second dam was built around 1350 and is called the Kurit Dam. After 4 m was added to the dam in 1850, it became 64 m tall and remained the tallest dam in the world until the early 20th century. The Kurit Dam was of masonry design and built in a very narrow canyon. The canyon was so narrow that its crest length is only 44% of its height. The dam is still erect, even though part of its lower downstream face fell off.

The Elche Dam in Elche, Spain was a post-medieval arch dam built in the 1630s by Joanes del Temple and the first in Europe since the Romans. The dam was 26 m high and 75 m long, and had a radius of 62 m. This arch dam also rest on winged walls that served as abutments.

In the 20th century, the world's first variable-radius arch dam was built on the Salmon Creek near Juneau, Alaska. The Salmon Creek Dam's upstream face bulged upstream, which relieved pressure on the stronger, curved lower arches near the abutments. The dam also had a larger toe, which off-set pressure on the upstream heel of the dam, which now curved more downstream. The technology and economical benefits of the Salmon Creek Dam allowed for larger and taller dam designs. The dam was, therefore, revolutionary, and similar designs were soon adopted around the world in particular by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Arch dam designs would continue to test new limits and designs such as the double- and multiple-curve. The Swiss engineer Alfred Stucky and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would develop a method of weight and stress distribution in the 1960s, and arch dam construction in the United States would see its last surge then with dams like the 143-meter double-curved Morrow Point Dam in Colorado. By the late 20th century, arch dam design reached a relative uniformity in design around the world. Currently, the tallest and largest arch dam in the world is the 292 m Xiaowan Dam in China, which was completed in 2010. The longest multiple arch with buttress dam in the world is the Daniel-Johnson Dam in Quebec, Canada. It is 214 meters high and 1,314 meters long across its crest. It was completed in 1968 and put in service in 1970. China is currently constructing the Jinping 1 Dam in Sichuan, which when complete will be world's tallest arch dam at 305m.