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The dam design of Three Gorges Project

Wang Xiaomao, Xu Linxiang, Liao Renqiang


( Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research, Wuhan 430010, China)

Abstract:The dam of Three Gorges Project is a concrete gravity dam with the crest elevation of 185 m, the maximum
height of 181 m and dam axis length of 2 309. 5 m.The dam consists of spillway, powerhouse, non- over flow, ship-lift,
temporary ship- lock, left diversion wall and longitudinal cofferdam blocks.Some key techniques relating to dam struc-
ture design are presented, including hydraulics of flood discharge structure, dam joint design, layout and structural type
of penstock, deep anti- sliding stability of dam foundation, reconstruction of temporary ship-
lock and closed drainage and
pumping of dam foundation.
Key words:Three Gorges Project; dam; design

in about 40 km long valley upstream of Nanjinguan, the


1 Introduction demonstration on 15 dam sites has been carried out.Fi-
As the key project for harnessing and developing nally, Sandouping Dam site in Meirentuo area is select-
the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Project ( TGP) ed through comparison of hydraulic layout, construction
possesses comprehensive benefits such as flood control, diversion, construction site, access road, engineering
power generation and navigation with the flood control quantity and investment.
storage of 221.5 ×10 m , which can effectively con- Due to huge flood flow at dam site of TGP, the max-
8 3

trol the flood from upper reaches.The flood control ca- imum design flood flow speed reaches 124 300 m / s with

pacity of the lower Jingjiang River will be enhanced the corresponding discharge speed of 102 500 m / s.Ac-

from less than 10- year return period to 100- year return cording to the engineering tasks and the requirements of
period, and the flood safety of Jingjiang reach can be flood regulation by reservoir, the maximum flood dis-
ensured even if encountering a flood of 1 000- year re- charge capacity will be 56 700 m / s at the flood control

turn period with cooperation of the flood diversion and limit level 145 m,about 70 000 m / s at the reservoir level

storage work in the lower reaches.The installed capac- 166. 9 m,and around 100 000 m / s at check flood level.

ity of 22 500 MW and the average annual power gener- In addition, the special needs of silt- releasing, water
ation of 880 ×10 kW· h will play an important role in level lowering in an emergency, construction diversion

national economic development and energy saving & and initial operation shall be satisfied.Therefore, many
emission reduction.Furthermore, with the obvious im- kinds and large amount of equipments for flood discharge
provement of navigation channel in Chuanjiang River of are needed for TGP.As a result, the concrete gravity
600 km long, a 10 000- tonnage fleet can directly sail to dam suitable for the arrangement of flood discharge and
Chongqing and the navigation conditions of mid- lower energy dissipation structures is selected.The general lay-
Yangtze River in dry season will be improved greatly out selected is as follows: spillway block is arranged in
while the navigation cost is reduced, making the Yan- the middle of riverbed; left and right powerhouse blocks
gtze River a golden waterway. and non- over flow block are arranged at both sides; for
In selection of dam site, flood discharge and ener- powerhouses of hydropower station, the blocks of power-
gy dissipation, project layout and dam type, a long- houses at dam toe are arranged at the left and right
term and repeated demonstration has been performed. banks, with the underground powerhouse arranged in the
Since 1950s, for Nanjinguan reach of limestone right bank and the underground power source station in
dam area and Meirentuo reach of igneous rock dam area the left bank; the navigation structures are arranged at
the left bank.The dam layout is shown in Fig. 1.

Received 22 July 2011

9 No.
Vol. 3,Sept.
2011 57
Fig.
1 Layout of Three Gorges Project Dam(elevation unit:m)
No. 1 and No. 3 blocks at each side with the leading
2  Layout of dam edge length of 19 m respectively.
2. 1 Geological and topographic conditions The leading edges of left and right powerhouse
  The river reach of TGP dam site is 9 km long; the blocks are 581.5 m and 509 m long respectively.The
Yangtze River flows through dam site from N 320 °W lengths of No.1 ~No.13 left powerhouse blocks and
and gradually turns to N 70 °E in Sandouping, forming No. 15 ~No. 25 right powerhouse blocks are 38. 3 m sepa-
a prominently large arc towards south.The dam- site ar- rately, while No. 14 left powerhouse block is 45. 3 m and
ea is characterized by gentle topography and broad river No. 26 right powerhouse block is 49. 4 m.Each block is
valley, with valley bottom width of about 1 100 m and divided into two; the left is penstock block and the right
valley width of more than 2 300 m at the dam crest ele- is solid block.Each penstock block is 25 m long, and
vation of 185 m. each solid block is 13. 3 m except No. 14 left powerhouse
The foundation rock of dam site belongs to presin- block of 20. 3 m long and No. 26 right powerhouse block
ian crystalline rocks, mainly composed of porphyritic of 24. 4 m long.Between No. 6 and No. 7 left powerhouse
granite with uniform lithology and high strength, which blocks and between No. 20 and No. 21 right powerhouse
is beneficial for high dam construction.The basic seis- blocks, an installation III dam block of 38. 3 m long is ar-
mic intensity of dam- site area is VI degree and dam ranged respectively, and each installation III dam block
seismic fortification intensity is VII degree. is divided into two independent blocks.
2. 2 General layout The leading edge of left guide wall block and left
  Concrete gravity dam is adopted in TGP with the guide wall is 32 m in length.The leading edge of spillway
crest elevation of 185 m and the maximum dam height block is 483 m long and composed of 23 blocks, with
of 181 m.The leading edge of dam crest is 2 309. 5 m each of 21 m long.In order to meet the demand of river
long.From left to right, the dam consists of non- over closure and flood diversion in stage III, 22 cross- joint di-
flow block of left bank, powerhouse block of left bank, version outlets are arranged at the bottom of dam body.
spillway block, powerhouse block of right bank and The leading edge of longitudinal cofferdam block is 68 m
non- over flow block of right bank. long and it is divided into 2 blocks, with No. 1 right lon-
The non- over flow block of left bank is divided into gitudinal cofferdam block of 32 m and the No. 2 of 36 m
19 blocks totaling 370. 89 m long, including its connec- in length.The leading edge of non- overflow block of right
tion block to No.7 block, No. 8 block, and No. 9 bank is 140 m long and composed of 7 blocks, with each
~No. 18 block.The upper lock head of ship lift is ar- of 20 m long.
ranged between No. 7 and No. 8 blocks, with the leading
edge length of 62 m, while the temporary ship- lock
3 Design of flood discharge structures
block for navigation during construction is arranged be- The TGP is characterized by large flood discharge
tween No.8 and No.9 blocks, with the leading edge capacity, low flood control limit level, large flow of stage
length of 62 m and composed of 3 dam blocks, No.2 diversion during construction period, as well as great in-
block in the middle with the leading edge length of 24 m, stalled capacity, a large number of units, high operating

58 Engineering Sciences
head and big variation level of hydropower station.So the charge outlet between every 2 blocks and a bottom diver-
leading edges of spillway and intake are needed to be lon- sion outlet just below the surface outlet, totaling 22 sur-
ger.In order to make full use of riverbed width, decrease face outlets, 23 deep outlets and 22 bottom diversion out-
the rock excavation of both banks, and reduce project in- lets.In addition, for the purpose of floating debris treat-
vestment, the surface, deep and bottom outlets are ar- ment in flood season, a floating debris gate is arranged in
ranged alternatively in spillway block to shorten the the left guide wall of spillway block and the leading edge
length of overflow leading edge.The spillway block is of right longitudinal cofferdam respectively.Flood dis-
composed of 23 blocks, a deep flood discharge outlet in charge structures of the Three Gorges Dam are shown in
the middle of each block, a cross- joint surface flood dis- Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

2 Upstream elevation view of spillway block (unit: m)


Fig.

   The features of spillway block are as follows: a the short pressure pipes of hoisting equipment are con-
large number of big- sized outlets, flood discharge e- nected with free- flow discharge chute,with intake eleva-
quipment with a lot of gate shafts and complicated tion of 90 m,orifice dimension of 7 m × 9 m, design
structures; bottom diversion outlets and deep outlets head of 85 m, single outlet design discharge capacity of
with large discharge, high flow speed, long- term oper- 2 117 m / s, unit discharge of 302 m / s and exit ve-
3 3

ation in flood season and high demands of erosion- abra- locity of 35 m / s.The ski- jump energy dissipation is
sion resistance; single dam block length of 21 m, the used with flip bucket elevation of 79. 92 m.
maximum dam bottom width of 126.7 m and high re- The bottom diversion outlet is 6 m wide, with orifice
quirements of structure jointing and concrete tempera- elevation of 56 m or 57 m, operation reservoir water level
ture control in dam block.Therefore, in the design of of 67 ~140 m, the maximum operation water head of
spillway block, the emphasis shall be laid on hydraulic 84 m, the maximum single outlet discharge capacity of
design, large opening design, structure jointing of dam 1 688 m / s and the maximum unit discharge of

body and its concrete temperature control. 281 m / s.


3. 1 Layout of flood discharge orifices The TGP is a controlling project undertaking the
  The surface flood discharge outlet is 8 m wide with flood control of the mid- lower Yangtze River.When en-
weir crest elevation of 158 m.The ski- jump energy countering a flood less than 1 000- year return period,
dissipation is used with flip bucket elevation of 110 m the flood regulation and storage are born by deep outlet
and bucket angle of 10 ° . mainly. Due to the frequent operation and long duration,
For the arrangement of deep flood discharge out- in addition to sediment concentrating in flood season,
lets, the radial gate is arranged inside the dam body and the safe operation of deep outlet is the key affecting the

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Vol. 3,Sept.
2011 59
joint seal of dam orifice is changed from 1 m away from
the dam surface to the emergency gate groove and bulk-
head gate groove of deep outlet to balance the pressure
between lateral water pressure of transverse joint and wa-
ter pressure inside pressure outlet; in order to increase
the lateral stiffness of dam body, improve the stress con-
ditions of orifice under unbalanced lateral water pressure
when maintaining the bottom outlet and increase the safe-
ty margin of dam stress, joint grouting is carried out for
the dam joints below El. 110 m.
3. 3 Dam structure joint and its temperature
control design
  The spillway block is 21 m long with the maximum
dam height of 181 m and the maximum bottom width of
126. 7 m.Considering the structural characteristics and
requirements of spillway block, according to the con-
struction conditions as dam concrete placement ability
and dam site temperature and based on the project con-
struction experience at home and abroad, the
longitudinal construction joint is arranged in spillway
3 Profile of spillway block (unit: m)
Fig. block, and the scheme of columnar block placement
normal exertion of flood control benefit.Therefore, a mature in technology beneficial to temperature control
large amount of scientific experimental researches on the and capable to prevent penetrating cracks is selected at
design of deep outlet type have been performed and the last.Through analysis on the temperature field and
scheme of vertical drop aeration is selected finally. stress field of dam body, the design scheme of two lon-
Meanwhile, in order to solve the problems of erosion- gitudinal construction joints and three columnar blocks
abrasion resistance and cavitation resistance of flow placement is chosen.
surface.R 28 450 erosion- abrasion resistance concrete is With three layers of orifices in spillway block, in-
adopted for flow surface; steel lining is used for gate fluenced by the arrangement of bottom outlet emergency
groove and gate sill, and the orifice type and flow sur- gate and its groove, as well as limited by the layout of
face smoothness are controlled strictly. deep outlet radial gate, the location of longitudinal
The bottom outlet undertakes the tasks of diversion joint I shall be arranged between the emergency gate
during construction period and flood discharge during ini- and deep outlet radial gate.After comparison, joint I
tial operation period.In order to reduce weakening of is arranged 25 m away from dam axis and the gallery is
dam body due to the layout of three layers of orifices, be designed at the surface outlet pier wall and joint mer-
convenient for gate installation, prevent abrasion by sand ging is performed, while longitudinal joint II is 69. 7m
and gravel and improve cavitation resistance capacity, in or 64 m away from dam axis.
the design of bottom outlet, long pressure pipes are used
4 Design of powerhouse block
to lower the flow velocity inside outlet;1 m thick R28 400
erosion-abrasion resistance concrete crossing- joint slab is The characteristics of powerhouse block include:
arranged for bottom flow surface, and the orifice type and large diameter of penstocks, weakening the dam body;
flow surface smoothness are controlled strictly. high elevation of No. 1 ~No. 5 dam block foundation,
3. 2 Design of large orifice structure low elevation of powerhouse foundation, high excavated
  The surface outlet, deep outlet and bottom outlet are slope behind dam, relatively developed low dip fis-
arranged in spillway block.There are two gates for sur- sure, and the problem of stability against deep sliding
face outlet, three for deep outlet and four for bottom out- existing in dam foundation.Therefore, the emphasis
let, which result in a large number of orifices and tun- shall be laid on the layout and structural type of pen-
nels, a lot of gate grooves, complicated structure types, stocks, as well as the stability against deep sliding in
as well as large stress on deep outlet orifice.So the meas- the design.
ures of transverse joint sealing for pressure balance and 4. 1 Design of penstocks in power station
transverse joint grouting are taken.The concrete design 4. 1. 1 Selection of intake type
schemes are as follows: the arrangement of transverse The big single unit capacity, large variation of oper-

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ation water level and high head of the Three Gorges Power 40 mm are adopted.After optimum design, the total
Station lead to large scale of intake, low intake sill and safety factor of design is 2. 0, and the separate bearing
big aperture in dam.In the design of intake, the size of safety factor of steel liner and reinforced bar is more
aperture shall be reduced as small as possible to decrease than 1. 0 under the action of design pressure.
the weakening of dam body and the head loss.After the 4. 2 Stability against deep sliding of No. 1 ~No. 5
study on large and small intakes, single and double in- powerhouse block of left bank
takes, as well as horizontal aperture and inclined aper-   In special technical design, the original dam foun-
ture, the small inclined single aperture intake type with dation excavation elevation of No. 1 ~No. 5 left power-
fewer apertures, simple intake flow boundary, less head house block is 98. 0 m and the foundation elevation of
loss and better seismic performance is selected to reduce powerhouse is 22. 2 m, forming a high- steep temporary
the weakening of dam body by intake. slope with a height difference of 70 m.There are a
4. 1. 2 Design of penstocks in power station plenty of long and large low dip fissures in dam founda-
For the layout of penstocks in Three Gorges Power tion, among which, the connectivity rate of generaliza-
Station , the types of embedded penstocks in dam, pen- tion by project of No.3 dam block reaches 83.2 %,
stocks on downstream dam face and reservation groove which is unfavorable for the dam stability against deep
are studied. The reservation groove is divided into sliding.The dam stability against deep sliding is one of
complete reservation groove ( the top surface of pen- the key engineering problems of the TGP.After a large
stocks and the upper dam face are flush) and half res- amount of geological investigations, the spatial distri-
ervation groove ( the part of penstocks is inside the low- bution and characteristics of low dip fissures are clari-
er dam face) .For the scheme of embedded penstock fied and the more safe generalization mode of determin-
in dam, the penstock is short with small head loss, but istic sliding is put forward.The stability analysis of
the construction interference exists,and the weakening sliding mode is carried out by use of limit equilibrium
of dam body is big and the stress is complicated.The method for rigid block first and also other analysis
scheme of penstock on downstream dam face is benefi- methods.Taking dam, bedrock and powerhouse as a
cial for the stress of dam body, but the penstock is whole, the safety factor of stability against sliding is
lengthened; the distance between powerhouse and dam calculated.The calculation results show that the stabil-
become farther and the excavation quantities increase. ity against sliding of No. 1 ~No. 5 dam blocks is stable
The type of reservation groove on dam face integrates in general and the stability of dam and rock foundation
the advantages of embedded penstocks in dam and pen- can be ensured after following structural measures are
stocks on downstream dam face schemes.For the lay- taken.The stability against sliding is shown in Fig. 4.
out of complete reservation groove, the dam body will 1) Lowering the dam foundation elevation to 90 m
be weakened to a relatively great degree.The concrete and arranging cutoff trench in upstream;
wall of both sides of grooves is 4. 3 m thick and 16. 4m 2) Widening the dam base towards the upper
high respectively and the stress is complicated.The reach and the drainage curtain moves forward;
type of half reservation groove integrates the advantages 3 ) Arranging contact grouting system between
of complete reservation groove and penstock on down- powerhouse and dam rock slopes to perform contact
stream dam face schemes.Through comparative com- grouting, so as to ensure the better binding between
parison, the type of half reservation groove is selected. powerhouse concrete and rock slope;
According to the type of reservation groove, the 4) Arranging key groove for the transverse joints
comparison of exposed penstock and steel lined rein- in No. 1 ~No. 5 blocks of left powerhouse to strengthen
forced concrete penstock is performed.The steel lined the integrity among the dam blocks, and conducting
reinforced concrete penstock, characterized by short consolidation grouting with a certain range of power sta-
construction period, lower cost and relatively higher tion tailrace tunnel to ensure the function of resistance
safety, have been successfully used in Former Soviet block in the lower reach;
and China, and they are selected after comprehensive 5 ) Enclosed pumping and drainage system ar-
comparison. The surrounding concrete of penstock is 2 m ranged in dam and powerhouse foundation;
thick and the concrete strength is R 28 250.The material 6) Adopting controlled blasting technique to en-
of steel liner in embedded penstock block, upper bend sure the integrity of foundation rock mass;
block and inclined straight block is 16MnR; the thick- 7) Anchorage support for slope;
ness is 26, 28, 30 ~34 mm respectively.60 N / mm 8) Strengthening consolidation grouting;

steel plate of 34 mm thick is used for lining of lower 9) Arranging galley in dam in advance to provide con-
bend block; 3 layers of III- grade reinforced bar 矱36 ~ ditions for the probable prestressed anchor reinforcement;

9 No.
Vol. 3,Sept.
2011 61
10) Adding prestressed anchor for the long and large low dip fissures from the downstream slope of dam.

Fig.
4 Diagram of anti- 1 ~No.
sliding stability of No. 5 powerhouse blocks on the left bank

porary ship- lock block by stop log gate, besides the


5 Reconstruction design of temporary
upstream water pressure and dam foundation uplift
ship-
lock pressure, No.1 and No.3 blocks will also bear water
  No. 2 block of temporary ship- lock is reserved for flow thrust produced by stop log gate, transverse force
navigation channel of temporary ship- lock during con- by contraction of stop log gate, unbalanced water pres-
struction period and then it is built after temporary sure caused by different water stop positions and lateral
ship-lock is disused and water is retained by stop log seepage water pressure between transverse joints; the
gate.The construction of No. 1 and No. 3 blocks is car- stress conditions are very complicated. The design
ried out by two stages.At the initial stage, the con- head of stop log gate is 73. 5 m with net span of 24 m.
crete placement of the blocks reaches El. 143 m before The maximum design linear load transferring to No.1
navigation of temporary ship- lock, and at the later and No. 3 blocks by stop log gate is 9.81 ×900 kN / m.
stage, after the concrete placement of No. 2 block rea- The great thrust will produce extremely unfavorable im-
ches the same elevation, all of them rise to the crest el- pacts on the initial stability of No.1 and No. 3 blocks,
evation of 185 m. the stress of dam foundation surface and local stress of
During the period of water retaining of No. 2 tem- gate groove.Therefore, how to solve the above prob-

62 Engineering Sciences
lems and ensure the smooth closure and safe construc- Through stress analysis of dam body and dam foun-
tion of No.2 block, as well as achieve power genera- dation surface by use of material mechanics method and
tion by water- retaining of cofferdam are the key of de- 3D FEM(finite element method), for dam foundation sur-
sign. faces of No.1and No. 3 blocks, large transverse stress and
The foundation of No. 1 and No.3 blocks along dam principal tensile stress exist, and the principal tensile
axis is excavated into step-shape.The lower platform ele- stress will not appear on the cross block above
vation is 61.5 m with the length of 8 m, while the top El. 87.0 m.Therefore, the following engineering meas-
platform elevation is 79. 5 m with the length of 3.8 m, ures are taken (Fig. 5).
and they are connected by lateral slope of 1∶0.4.

Fig.
5 Structure and lateral reinforcement of temporary ship-
lock blocks

  1) In the 67 d of water retaining to the level of gate and No.I block, and thermal insulation materials
135 m by lower stop log gate, the concrete placement are used behind gate at El. 90 ~140 m.
of No.1 block on No.2 dam block will directly reach 3) Trapezoid keyways are arranged in the transverse
El. 90. 0 m after closure of stop log gate and bind with joints below El.95 m, and transverse joint grouting is
the transverse joins between No.1 and No.3 blocks needed after No. 2 block reaches stable temperature to en-
with slightly expansive concrete within the range of sure the tight binding of transverse joints in No.1 and
1. 5 m of stop log gate ( upstream of dam axis) to play No. 3 blocks and reduce the deformation of stop log gate.
a supporting role. 4 ) Additional drainage holes are drilled in the
2) The concrete placement of upstream side below transverse foundation gallery of No. 1 and No. 3 blocks
El. 72 m shall be bond with gate; the cushion with cer- to reduce the uplift pressure on foundation surface of
tain thickness is arranged at El.72 ~90 m to isolate the steep slope.

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2011 63
5) Prestressed cable of 300 t, L =20 ~30 m and main physical and mechanical indexes are very different
with interval of 2 m is arranged in the transverse access from those of slightly weathered rock mass, so it is inap-
gallery of No. 1 and No. 3 blocks, crossing from trans- propriate to be used as dam foundation.The lower part of
verse access gallery at El.84.5 m to the platform of weakly weathered rock is mainly composed of hard rock
construction foundation surface of No.1 and No.3 including small amount of semi- hard and semi- loose rock,
blocks at El. 79. 5 m. with better rock integrity, RQD value of 70 % ~90 % in
6) Before water retaining by stop log gate, in addi- general, slight permeability, small dispersion range of
tion to analyzing the existing data observed by embedded test parameters, deformation modulus of 20 ~30 GPa and
instruments, borehole coring is needed to understand the average longitudinal wave speed of 5 040 m /s, which
binding situations of foundation surface between concrete means that the lower part of weak weathered rock is
and bedrock; in case of bad binding, borehole grouting weathered weakly;the rock mass is complete; the deform-
shall be performed to achieve tight binding of concrete ation is more homogeneous;the physical and mechanical
and bedrock of steep slope of No. 1 and No. 3 blocks. properties are similar to those of slightly weathered rock;
7) In order to ensure the quality of concrete only the permeability is stronger than that of slightly
placement, the measures are taken in advance to re- weathered rock and the rock quality is equivalent to
duce leakage of stop log gate, and longitudinal drain- slightly weathered sub- block- structure.Therefore, its me-
age pipes and diversion pipes are preserved before con- chanical strength and deformation characteristics, as well
crete placement for pumping. as stability and reliability can meet the rock quality re-
After the above measures are taken, the smooth quirements of dam foundation.
closure of temporary ship- lock, the reservoir storage For the dam foundation of TGP, the lower part of
and the construction of extension project are ensured. weakly weathered rock mass is mainly used for the
beach on both banks and hillside;for the other parts,
6 Dam foundation treatment the slightly weathered fresh rock is adopted.
6. 1 Utilization of foundation rock 6. 2 Seepage control design of dam foundation
  The fully and strong weathered rock mass of plagio-   In order to reduce the uplift pressure of dam founda-
clase granite and pladopite with low strength in dam site tion, decrease the foundation seepage and enhance the
can not be taken as dam foundation.The hard and com- long- term stability of soft fillings in structural belt of bed-
plete slightly weathered rock mass with high mechanical rock, the seepage of dam foundation needs to be con-
strength can fully satisfy the demands of foundation for trolled.As the foundation surface of the Three Gorges
concrete gravity dam.Therefore, in order to use the ex- Dam, the slightly weathered fresh rock is used mainly and
cellent geological conditions of dam site, select the dam the weakly weathered rock is adopted only in local part.
foundation surface economically and reasonably.A lot of The bedrock belongs to fractured rock with weak permea-
investigations and design researches have been carried bility and little seepage, but the influence of seepage
out, especially the use of weakly weathered rock mass of pressure on the stability of dam foundation is great and
dam foundation and the optimization of bedrock surface. difficult to eliminate.To this end, the basic thought for
To meet the requirements of dam foundation stability seepage control of “ seepage control first and drainage
against sliding and dam foundation deformation, various later, taking drainage first with the combination of seep-
control indexes of the weakly weathered rock mass are de- age control and drainage”, and the seepage control meas-
termined comprehensively: a.the average value of RQD ures of anti- seepage curtain or cutoff wall and drainage
(rock quality designation) is greater than 70 %; b.the system are taken.
average value of P- wave velocity ( VP ) reaches 6. 2. 1 Anti- seepage curtain
5 000 m / s; c.there is no flat and loose debris interlayer A main anti- seepage grouting curtain is arranged in
more than 5 cm thick within the range of 5 m below foun- the dam foundation, No. 1 lock head of permanent ship-
dation surface. lock and upstream foundation gallery of retaining dam
The various test parameters of the upper part rock foundation; an enclosed grouting curtain is arranged in
mass in weakly weathered zone are highly dispersed, the side of pumping- drainage area and the downstream
with the deformation modulus of intact rock of 43 GPa, foundation gallery ( including the foundation gallery of
while the deformation modulus of loose material is only No. 1 ~No. 6 unit block of left powerhouse and No. 21 ~
2. 65 GPa and P- wave velocity is 2 600 ~ 5 100 m / s No.26 unit block of right powerhouse ).The seepage
with an average of 3 770 m /s, which indicates that the standard of foundation curtain is fixed as permeable rate
physical and mechanical properties of upper part rock of bedrock water pressure test after grouting, q ≤ 1Lu; it
mass in weakly weathered zone are non- uniform.The is q ≤ 3Lu for the part above the abutment elevation of

64 Engineering Sciences
160 m and q ≤ 1Lu for the part below it.A row of grout sure and improve its stability.After comprehensive analy-
holes are arranged in general locations wiht additional 1 ~ sis, it is determined that the block from No. 17 left non-
o-
2 rows in fault structural zone, medium or more serious ver flow block to No. 1 right non- over flow block is taken
permeable area and the location with high stability de- as enclosed drainage area.Within the range of en-
mand on dam foundation.The distance between holes of closed pumping and drainage, a row of divisional
main curtain is 2. 0 m, and 2. 5 m for enclosed curtain drainage curtain is arranged in No.7 left powerhouse
hole.The curtain depth is controlled according to the fol- block and No. 18 spillway block respectively according
lowing principles: a.penetrating into relatively imperme- to the features of structures and the elevation difference
able layer of bedrock of 5 m; b.meeting the requirement of foundation surface to divide the enclosed drainage
of H≥1 / 3h +c, where h is the depth in front of curtain area into three enclosed units.Meanwhile, a row of
(it is the downstream water depth for enclosed curtain), longitudinal auxiliary drainage curtain is arranged re-
c valuing 5 ~ 8 m ; c.the main anti- seepage curtain spectively in the upper- middle and lower- middle parts
penetrating into 10 ~20 m below the foundation excava- of dam foundation, and a row of horizontal auxiliary
tion elevation of downstream corresponding structures; drainage curtain is arranged with an interval of 2 ~4
d.for double curtain parts, the second row not less than dam blocks ( about 70 ~90 m) along dam axis, form-
1/ 2 ~2 /3 of design depth of curtain. ing a square- formed pumping and drainage system.
6. 2. 2 Enclosed pumping and drainage
The foundation surface elevation of the Three Gorges
7 Conclusion
Dam,especially of the river bed dam block is low, with For the design of the Three Gorges Dam, lots of en-
the minimum of 4 m and less than 40 m in general, the gineering experience at home and abroad has been drawn
maximum depth of the downstream tail water up to 70 m, on and a large amount of experimental researches on de-
and the uplift pressure on dam foundation is rather great. sign have been made.As a result, the technical problems
To reduce the uplift pressure on dam foundation, de- such as large flood discharge, high downstream tail water
crease cross- section of dam and reduce concrete quantity, level of the dam, deep tail water, large uplift pressure of
the measures of seepage drainage for pressure reduction dam foundation, big orifice and its great weakening
by enclosed drainage system are taken.The bedrock con- effects to dam body, dam concrete placement, especially
ditions of the Three Gorges Dam are good and the uplift mass concrete placement and temperature control have
pressure of foundation can be effectively reduced by full been solved successfully.Meanwhile the unit of large ca-
use of foundation drainage.Compared with the scheme of pacity and large quotative discharge with small- hole in-
conventional curtain drainage, the uplift pressure on dam take is also a major technology breakthrough in the design
foundation can be decreased by about 1 /3 for the of power intake structure in China.
scheme of enclosure curtain drainage, so enclosed curtain Since the initial impoundment of the Three Gorges
drainage scheme is adopted in the downstream river bed Reservoir in June 2003, the benefits of flood control,
block in deep water.In addition, the construction foun- power generation and navigation have been gradually ex-
dation rock mass of No.1 ~ No.5 blocks of left erted.The dam project has been completed in late 2008
powerhouse and No.24 ~No.26 blocks of right power- and the trial impoundment started.The impoundment at
house are located in the fissure developing zone.Due to 175 m was achieved successfully in 2010, which marked
the need of powerhouse excavation, the downstream side the comprehensive benefits had been brought into full
of dam foundation is a high free surface, which is ex- play.After several years of operation test, the monitoring
tremely unfavorable for the stability against sliding; there- data shows that the dam deformation, seepage and struc-
fore, although the foundation surface is high, the drain- ture stress are within the range of design allowance and
age measures are taken in the bedrock and extended to the dam operation is in a safe state.
powerhouse foundation surface to reduce the uplift pres-

Author
Wang Xiaomao, male, was born in Kunshan City of Jiangsu Province in 1963.He is a senior engineer of pro-
fessor rank.He is engaged in the design of water resources and hydropower projects.He can be reached by
E- mail:wangxiaomao@cjwsjy.com.cn

9 No.
Vol. 3,Sept.
2011 65

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