EVOLUTION IN THE DESIGN AND CONTRUCTION OF GRAVITY DAMS

Abstract

The review of the process of evolution of the design and construction of gravity dame over centuries makes an absorbing study. From the time the first gravity dams were constructed around the eighth century B.C., to now, when dams of several hundreds of metres of height have become almost common-place, there has been matching advances - in design procedures, con-struction processes, materials and equipment and, for a measure of confidence, instrumentation. Spectacular also has been the advance in our knowledge of foundations and their behaviour. From the time Galileo worked on the problem of a beam in bending to the largely c unputerised methods of structural analysis of today; from the time Wilson and Gore experimented on India_rubber models to the present-day sophisticated photoelastic laboratories; and from the time hatching and mixing of concrete ingredients was by shovel and hand, to the high-capacity concreting plants of today, the change has been, to say the least, remarkable. In dam design and ccnstruction, as in every other field, there is no good teacher like proven experience and no better teacher than a failure. It would, however, be wrong to attempt to make any unfavourable comparison of the old structures, modest as they may be, compared to the Bhakras, Grand Dixences or Nagar. junasagars of today, since several of the old structures ranked, in their own right, as epoch-making. This, the review presented herein, constantly keeps in view. ...There cam be xo rest for the designer who, in the interest of aesthetics, safety and econoxy, seeks for better design and construction.