Jan. 13, 2025
A dam is a man-made barrier created by dam construction contractors over a watercourse that collects water behind it to form a reservoir. Dams serve many human needs, including irrigation, hydroelectric generation, lowering flood levels, and enhancing navigation. Dams also include auxiliary structures like:
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To transport water to faraway locations, they are often linked to intake structures like canals, waterways, and pipelines. It is common practice to build a dam over a river to collect the water that flows into the valley behind it and store it in a reservoir. In certain cases, they are constructed across dry valleys or valleys with tiny streams to provide a reservoir for water brought in from elsewhere.
The land where the dam will be built must be made dry by rerouting streams and rivers. Usually, a tunnel or a channel is built around the dam&#;s side to redirect the flow of smaller rivers and streams. The path is shaped by excavating soft soils and rocks, while tougher rocks necessitate using explosives to blast away their surface.
At Gracon LLC, we specialize in rehabilitation, dam maintenance, construction, and replacement projects of all sizes. Our main capabilities include gate seals, welding, hydraulic hoist systems, and electricity.
Many people and groups are involved in planning and building a dam, making it a massive undertaking that requires the coordination of many distinct project management groups. Most large dams take years, if not decades, to complete because of the extensive planning and preliminary engineering processes.
The owner, either on their own or with the help of a licensed contractor, should set up a project organization once the planning and preliminary engineering phase has decided to proceed stage. This company will work with the property owner to produce the project&#;s preliminary plan, which includes determining which aspects of the project will be outsourced to third parties.
Contracting out the job of project engineering, general contractors, main equipment supply, and project construction allows each company to assemble a specialized project management team to oversee their assigned tasks. Information that this group must provide to the larger project management team to maintain cost and time constraints must be specified in the contract. This means that multiple project management teams will be needed for a dam of significant size.
Dams are incredible feats of engineering, able to hold large quantities of water for purposes such as flood control, hydroelectric power generation, and even recreational use. Have you ever wondered what went into the construction of the Hoover Dam?
Building a dam is a labor-intensive, time-consuming procedure that requires extensive manpower, supplies, and equipment. Some of the procedures involved in the Hoover Dam construction are listed below.
Rerouting the water: First, the land along the river where the dam will be constructed must be dewatered so that construction may begin. The engineers accomplish this by creating underground tube systems to reroute the water. The tunnels must be dug deep enough to collect rainwater and transport it underground. The river should be made shallow enough to work in, but not completely drained.
Laying the Dam&#;s Foundation: The first step in laying the foundation for the dam is to construct a cofferdam to redirect river water away from the tunnel is necessary if you haven&#;t already done so. The heaviest rocks should go at the bottom of the foundation stack, followed by the smaller rocks.
Constructing the primary framework: To stop water from leaking through the margins of the dam, you should compact the riverbed to remove any stray rocks and build a plinth (concrete base). After laying the foundation, the next phase of dam construction involves erecting the main structure on each side of the dam&#;s center. Reinforced concrete steel is commonly used in dam construction because of its durability against water.
Filling: After constructing the dam to the desired height, the reservoir must be filled. After the dam has been constructed, it is necessary to check its functionality (including the floodgates and valves) and observe its behavior.
Many essential functions for modern society rely on the services that dams provide, including safe drinking water, irrigation, flood prevention, generation of electricity, recreation, and more. The skilled builder contractors of Gracon are experts in constructing, repairing, and replacing mechanical components of dams of varying sizes. We also have the capacity to weld, as well as install, and repair gate seals and electric and hydraulic hoist systems.
Our method of building, installation, and rehabilitation is strongly rooted in our history and future as it was one of the early foundations of Gracon&#;s top dam construction enterprise. By providing these services, Gracon&#;s construction contractors have been able to learn about the market, set competitive rates for projects, and effectively address client concerns.
We also offer a range of industrial services including:
One of the top dam construction contractors companies, Gracon can create and install brand-new high-pressure slide gates, radial gates, crest gates, tainter gates, drum gates, and miter gates for dams.
By working on a wide variety of projects, the Gracon team has become one of the most knowledgeable and experienced in the country. Our highly skilled staff are able to tackle even the most technical issues associated with a dam&#;s inner workings because they have worked on projects identical to this for many years.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.
All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).
In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.
5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment. (Grade 5)
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Click to view other curriculum aligned to this Performance Expectation This lesson focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS: Science & Engineering Practices Disciplinary Core Ideas Crosscutting Concepts Apply scientific ideas to solve design problems.Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback!
Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth's resources and environments.Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback!
A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback!
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Where does your water come from? Mountains, rivers, reservoirs? What is a reservoir? A reservoir is a human-made lake created by building a dam. Why do we need dams? When you turn on a faucet at home, where does that water come from? Why is there always water coming out? There is always a supply of water because we hold water in reservoirs. To do this, we must build dams.
Why else do we build dams? (Take suggestions; write answers on the board.) Dams are important because they provide water for domestic, industry and irrigation purposes. Dams often also provide hydroelectric power production and river navigation. Domestic use includes everyday activities such as water for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing, and lawn and garden watering. Dams and their reservoirs provide recreation areas for fishing and boating. They help people by reducing or preventing floods. Students can learn more about why dams are built with the associated activity How Much Water Do You Use? During times of excess water flow, dams store water in the reservoir; then they release water during times of low flow, when natural flows are inadequate to meet water demand. When engineers design and maintain dams, they consider all these purposes.
For the next several lessons, you are going to be civil engineers working for the company Splash Engineering. Your main client is the government (also known as a "municipality") of Thirsty County. The government of Thirsty County has been receiving complaints from its residents over the last decade. The main problems include:
The Thirsty County government has hired the Splash Engineering firm (your class) to study the needs of the community and develop a solution that addresses those needs.
A dam is built to control water through placement of a blockage of earth, rock and/or concrete across a stream or river. Dams are usually constructed to store water in a reservoir, which is then used for a variety of applications such as irrigation and municipal water supplies. Reservoir water can also be directed to flow through hydraulic turbines, producing electric power for use in homes and industries. Hydroelectric power is considered a renewable source of energy because the reservoir water that is used to generate electricity is continuously replenished. A dam using locks and canals, such as the series of locks on the Panama Canal, enables navigation through a human-made water route that must overcome elevation differences.
The disadvantages of dams include the resulting flooding of large areas of land (destroying flora and fauna), altering the physical characteristics of the river below the dam (also affecting flora and fauna), impeding fish migration, and killing large numbers of fish that pass through hydroelectric turbines. In recent years, engineers and scientists have begun to manage reservoirs and their releases to be less harmful to aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and plants, as well as humans residing below the dam&#;a method of water resource management called adaptive management.
Dams can be useful for a variety of reasons. What are some purposes for which we create dams? (Answers: To supply water for irrigation, municipal water, flood control, hydroelectric power generation, river navigation.) What might be negative effects from a dam? (Answers: Upstream flooding that destroys animals, plants, ecosystems and private property; downstream alteration of terrain, ecosystems, plants and wildlife; impeding fish migration, killing fish that pass through turbines, etc.)
In the case of our imaginary Thirsty County, why should the municipality consider building new dams? (Answers: To provide enough water for people and farmers during the summer, to allow boats to cross Birdseye River year round, to help control flash floods, to produce electricity without air pollution.)
adaptive management: The operation of dams and reservoirs to benefit not only human needs, but also the needs of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems impacted by the dam.
dam: A barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one made of earth, rock, masonry and/or concrete, built across a stream or river.
engineer: A person who applies her/his understanding of science and mathematics to creating things for the benefit of humanity and our world.
hydroelectric power: Renewable energy generated by water flowing through turbines.
migration: To periodically move from one region or climate to another, as by wildlife such as birds and fish.
municipality: A political unit, such as a county, city, town or village, incorporated for local self-government.
reservoir: An artificial lake where water is collected and stored behind a dam.
turbine: A machine that converts the kinetic energy of falling water (or any moving fluid, including steam, gases or air) into electrical energy by connecting a generator to a rotating shaft that is spun by water pressure pushing blades, buckets or paddles.
Pre-Lesson Assessment
Brainstorming: Ask students to think of all the different ways in which they use water on an everyday basis. Possible answers include drinking, bathing, cooking, swimming, cleaning, etc. Write these answers on the board and then ask the students to tell you where the water comes from for these activities. Students may answer that water comes from rivers, lakes, and streams, in which case you can start a discussion about the need for dams to store water. Be sure to mention that 33% of American citizens get their water from groundwater sources.
Post-Introduction Assessment
Teaming: After you have introduced the hypothetical Thirsty County scenario, divide the class into engineering teams of 2-3 students each, and ask each team to write a short "proposal" response to the municipality of Thirsty County to address the residents' needs. Proposals should comment on the needs of the residents, some possible solutions (at least a Plan A and Plan B), and benefits/problems associated with each plan proposed. For example, students may write a statement that says their team will "address the residents' needs by designing a dam that provides people with water during summer droughts, protects buildings from flash floods and storms, and produces hydropower as a clean energy alternative to coal-fired power plants." This exercise helps students understand their role as civil engineers working for Splash Engineering firm. Emphasize that engineers must propose multiple plans to the County Board and convince the board members that their design is worth spending taxpayer money. Encourage students to address topics such as water-saving appliances, efficient water use in gardens and landscaping, (both water conservation measures) and not building on land that has a high risk of annual flooding.
Lesson Summary Assessment
Pros and Cons: Ask students to think of all the benefits of building a dam (such as water storage, hydroelectricity, flood mitigation, etc.). Create a list of these benefits on the board. Next, ask students to think of some negative effects of dam construction (such as impeding fish migration, damaging flora and fauna, etc.). Next to the list of benefits, create a list of these negative effects. Ask students: "What should engineers do when their designs have both positive and negative impacts on society?" Do students think this is a common dilemma for engineers? (Answer: All engineering projects have positive and negative effects. The main job of engineers is to develop plans to help address problems people have without creating new problems or making other problems worse. If Thirsty County has no money for schools and people are starving in the streets, spending money on a dam might not be the best engineering solution to the water issues Thirsty County faces.)
Plan a field trip to a nearby dam to give students a real-world sense of these (often) gigantic engineering structures. If a field trip is not possible, show students a library video on dams or photographs of the Hoover Dam, located on the border between the states of Arizona and Nevada; see a link in the Additional Multimedia Support section.
Show students recent and historic photographs of the well-known Hoover Dam on the US Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado River region website. The photograph gallery provides dam views, power plant, historic views and old post cards. See: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/gallery/picindex.html
As a general introduction to dams, show students a 22-slide overview "virtual tour" of the Shasta Dam in northern California, available at the US Bureau of Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Region page at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/ and http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/shasta/virtual_tour.pdf
Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation.
Upper Elementary Lesson Swim to and from the Sea!Students are introduced to the basic biology behind Pacific salmon migration and the many engineered Columbia River dam structures that aid in their passage through the river's hydroelectric dams. Students apply what they learn about the salmon life cycle as they think of devices and modifications t...
Upper Elementary Lesson Water and Dams in Today's WorldStudents learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different types of dams, all designed to resist the forces on dams.
Upper Elementary Lesson Are Dams Forever?Students learn that dams do not last forever. Similar to other human-made structures, such as roads and bridges, dams require regular maintenance and have a finite lifespan.
Dictionary.com. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Accessed July 8, . (Source of some vocabulary definitions, with some adaptation) http://www.dictionary.com
Down the Drain: How Much Water Do You Use? . Collaborative Projects, Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. Accessed February 29, . http://www.ciese.org/
United States Society on Dams. Last revised November 14, . USSD. Accessed December 4, . http://www.ussdams.org/
The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation (GK-12 grant no. ). However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
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