Dams Reservoirs

CIVIL ENGINEERING
Civil engineering work includes:

• dams
• embankments
All these need to take into
• motorways account:
• bridges
1. Geological factors
• buildings
2. Geological rock properties
• cuttings
• quarries • rock type
• fracture/joints
• tunnels
• weathering
• mines • dip of rocks Geological factors
• folding/faulting
• cleavage
• water table depth
• porosity/permeability
• rock strength Rock properties
Dams
&
Reservoir
s
Dams & reservoirs are constructed for a
wide range of uses:
Power Water supply

generatio
n
Irrigation
Flood control
Types of Dams
There are many different designs of dam, which

include two principal types:
Gravity
Dams
Arch Dams
Arch Dam
Gravity
When building dams
& reservoirs
geologists must take
into account:
• geological structures
• rock properties
Types of Dams Across Constricted
Valleys
Gravity
Dams
• These rely on their
weight to hold them in
position and thereby
impound the water. They
are usually made from
reinforced earth,
masonry or concrete. Arch Dams
• The arch squeezes together as
the water pushes against it.
The stress of the impounded
water is also transmitted
horizontally into the rock of
the valley sides. These are
In building major structures like arch
dams and gravity dams geological
factors and geological rock properties
must be taken into account. These
include:
• Valley shape and rock structure
• Foundation strength
• Porosity and permeability
• Zones of structural weakness and high

permeability
1. Valley Shape:
Narrow, deep and steep-sided valleys are the key
characteristics looked for in valley shape. This is
due to: Ideally, above
a chosen dam
Deep site a valley
valleys should widen
maximise and remain as
water flat as
storage possible
Valley
constriction
minimises Narrow width
dam length of dam
reducing makes it
costs structurally
stronger
2. Rock Structure:
The rock structure surrounding the reservoir has to
be looked at carefully:
• Synclinally folded rocks dip

towards the reservoir,
reducing possible leakage
but increasing their liability
to slip into the reservoir.
Anticlines increase leakage
but are less prone to slip.
• The rocks of the valley sides must not be liable to
slippage because as the reservoir fills, the water table
rises to lubricate zones of weakness.
• Other zones of weakness include fault zones which
must be avoided. Also fault zones may have associated
3. Foundation Strength:
Obviously good foundations are highly desirable
because the force of the dam must not exceed the
strength of the ground. Or it will fail!
Gravity
• Site to serve as a foundation for major dams depends
Dams
on factors:
a. Existing rock type
b. Extent of weathering it has undergone
c. Occurrence of intrusions
d. Extent of fracturing
e. Occurrence of geological structures – Faults, Joints
f. Mode and number of rock types
Suitability of Rocks as Foundation
 Igneous rocks: Massive Plutonic and/or Hypabassal igneous
rocks (Granite, Syenites, gabbro etc.,) are most desirable as
they are very strong and durable (not effected by weathering).
 Sedimentary rocks: Bedding and its orientation, thickness of

beds, nature and extent of compaction and cementation, grain
size etc., influence the strength and durability of the rock.
Sandstone -well cemented types and limestone – if massive,
are considered competent and suitable for dam foundation.
Whereas laterites, shales are most undesirable.
 Metamorphic rocks: Gneisses are generally competent, unless

the posses very high degree of foliation. Quartzite is considered
to desirable as it is very hard and highly resistant to
weathering.Schists, Marbles, Slates etc., are considered
unsuitable for dam sites.
Gravity Dams
• Where foundations are weak (clays and mudstones)
gravity dams made out of earth are used, in order to
spread the weight. • The foundations for
gravity dams should
show limited
compaction when
loaded with the weight
of the dam.
Consequently deeply
weathered sites or
poorly consolidated
glacial deposits
• Existing are
fractures
• On firmer foundations (igneous avoided.
or bedding should
and metamorphic rocks) gravity be minimal, and
dams made out of concrete and should dip
masonry are used.
Arch Dams • The construction of arch
dams relies on the rock mass
strength of the valley sides.
• Where there is sufficient
strength, thin arch dams,
which are cheap and
economical to build, may
be adequate.
• However, since the stresses imposed in such
situations are horizontal instead of vertical, an
absence of fractures parallel to the valley sides is
essential.
• In general, only rocks with very high rock mass
strength are suitable for building arch dams, and in
all cases uniformity of the rock body is desirable.
4. Porosity & Permeability:
The porosity and permeability of the rocks
surrounding the reservoir and the dam indicate
sources of potential leakage. Such as:
Gravity soils • Aquifers • Faults • Joints
• Permeable
Dams
• Beds dipping away from the reservoir e.g.
anticlines
A dam should not be built on a permeable base
because leakage under a dam generates pressure
which lifts the dam and may cause it to fail.
Rocks with calcite cement may become more

permeable as the calcite dissolves away.
Parts of a Dam
Buttress
A buttress dam or dams
hollow dam is a dam with a solid, water-tight
upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream
side by a series of buttresses or supports. The dam wall may be
straight or curved. Most buttress dams are made of reinforced
concrete and are heavy, pushing the dam into the ground.
Earthen
alsodams
Earth fill dam, called EarthDam,
or Embankment Dam, dam built up by
compacting successive layers of
earth, using the most impervious
materials to form a core and placing
more permeable substances on the
upstream and downstream sides.
These are planned in places
where underlying materials are too
weak to support a masonry dam
(where competent rocks are at deeper
depths).
Geological Factors Rock Properties
• Rock type
• Rock strength
• Weathering
• Porosity
• Structural weaknesses
(bedding, joints, faults & cleavage)
• Permeability
• Depth to rockhead
Civil Engineering
Hydrogeology
• Depth to water table
Geology of Major Dam sites in
Bhakra –INDIA
Nangal Project – Punjab
 It is located on a thick Sandstone beds intercalated with
bands of Silt stones and lies in southern limb of Ramgarh-
Dhar Anticline.
 Downstream Dip – 70
 Strike – Slightly oblique (NW-SE).
 Claystones – 30m (Upstream), 76m (downstream), 9m
(band in middle third section of dam).
Nagarjuna sagar Dam
 The rock types exposed in and around the dam sites are the Granite-Gneisses of the
peninsular gneissic complex and the Quartzites and shales belonging to Srisailam
stage of Cudappah systems. Few dolerite dykes intrusive into granite-gneisses.
 Strike – N 60 W-S 60 E and N 40 E-S 40 W.
 Quartizes and shales are - 3 to 5 dip towards downstream.
 Minor Faults rarely exceeding 0.60-0.91m are observed in Quartzites and shales.
 Weathering of granite gneisses are limited to 0.6-4.6m.

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CIVIL ENGINEERING

Civil engineering work includes:

Power Water supply

There are many different designs of dam, which

• Porosity and permeability

• Zones of structural weakness and high

• Synclinally folded rocks dip

 Sedimentary rocks: Bedding and its orientation, thickness of

 Metamorphic rocks: Gneisses are generally competent, unless

Rocks with calcite cement may become more

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