A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXISTING ARCH DAMS

Abstract

Many factors ,influence the layout of an arch dam . at a particular site. The foremost of these factors are associated with topographic , geológie, and hydrologic conditions. Du,.e to a number of factors governing the final design of an arch dam, It becomes very difficult for a designer to select a pre- .iminary sections 'and layout of the darn and to assess the quan-- tities of materials involved in its construction. The study contains the data on the existing arch dams of di f fen nt types. The data has been analysed and the rela-tions hav& been found to calculate the volume o.f concrete for any height of dam and for a given valley shape. The latest trend in arch dam designs is to adopt the do le•curvature profiles which act like membrane. The data of such types of darns has been analysed to define thickness and upstream profile of archon. some marvel designsof arch dams are also discuss' ed to bring out the intricacies of arch dam design. The study may be useful for fixing the preliminary dimensions of arch darns.