El Atazar Dam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
El Atazar Dam is an arch dam built near Madrid, Spain on the Lozoya River, very close to where the Lozoya joins the Jarama. It is the oldest dome dam in the world. The curved design of the dam is optimum for the narrow gorge in which it was built to retain water in the reservoir. Arch dams are thin and require less material to construct than other dam types.[1]
When the dam was built, the decision was made to use the dam to store and regulate water only and not to provide energy. Construction started on the dam in 1968 and finished in 1972.
Contents |
[edit] Design
The dam is 440 feet (134 m) high and 171.6 feet (52.3 m) wide at the foundation. The reservoir capacity is 344,000 acre-feet (424,000,000 m³). It is a double curvature concrete arch buttress design.[2]
[edit] Problems
Monitoring of the dam revealed abnormal movement. Although dams normally move, the left side of the El Atazar Dam was moving more than the right because a support built on the dam's right made that side less flexible. In 1977 a crack was noticed in the dam. By 1979 the crack had grown to 150 feet and was repaired. Inspection in 1983 revealed that the settling in the foundations and the movements of the dam had caused fracturing in the rock, resulting in significantly increasing the foundation's permeability. The crack has been treated and since then the problems have abated.[3]
 El Atazar Dam |
 |
 |
 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dam basics. PBS. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
- ^ El Atazar Background. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
- ^ El Atazar Problem. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.
