CE 111

Hydraulic Engineering

DAMS

Cornelio Q. Dizon
Assistant Professor
Institute of Civil Engineering
University of the Philippines
Arch Dams
• An arch dam is curved in plan and carries most of the water load
horizontally to the abutments by arch action.
• The thrust thus developed makes it essential that the sidewalls of
the canyon be capable of resisting the arch forces.
•Relatively few arch dams have failed, in comparison with the
more numerous failures of other types of dams.
• Arch dams offer great savings in volume of concrete up to about
80% of that necessary for an equivalent gravity dam.
Design and Types of Arch Dams:
• Structural analysis of arch dams is complex and the computations
are lengthy.
• In principle an arch dam is visualized as consisting of a series of
horizontal arches transmitting thrust to the abutments or a series of
vertical cantilevers fixed at the foundation.
• The horizontal component of the water load is resisted jointly by
the arch and cantilever action.
• The concepts of overturning and sliding stability applicable to
gravity dams have little relevance to arch dams.
• Arch dam design is centered largely upon stress analysis and to
define an arch geometry to avoid tensile stresses and excessive
compressive stresses.
Design and Types of Arch Dams:

• The distribution of the load between the arches and the

cantilevers is usually determined by the trial-load method, which
begins with an assumption as to the load distribution.
• Near the bottom of the dam most of the load is carried by the
cantilevers, while near the top of the arches take more of the load.
• After assuming a division of the load, the resulting deflections of
the arches and the cantilevers are computed.
• The deflection of the arch at any point should equal the deflection
on the cantilever at the same point.
• If computed deflections are not equal, new loads are assumed
until a distribution is found that produces equal arch and cantilever
deflections at all points.
• Stresses in the dam and foundation can then be computed on the
basis of this load distribution.
• Sophisticated analyses of arch dams that consider the effect of
seismic loads are available.
• There are two main types of arch dams which are the constant-
center and variable-center.
 Arch Dam

I. Constant radius arch dams

for U-shaped valleys
have vertical US face
constant extrados radii for U-shaped valley
suitable to install gates at the US face

II. Constant angle arch dams

for V-shaped valleys
have curved US face
no possibility for gate installment
Arch Dam
Section
• The constant-center arch dam, also known as the constant-radius
dam, usually has a vertical upstream face, although some batter
may be provided near the base of large dams.
• The variable-center arch dam, also known as the variable radius
or constant-angle arch dam, is one with decreasing extrados radii
from top to bottom so that the included angle is nearly constant to
secure maximum arch efficiency at all elevations.
• This design often results in an overhang of the upstream face
near the abutments and sometimes of the downstream face, near
the crown of the arch.
• The variable-center dam is best adapted to V-shaped canyons
since arch action can be depended on at all elevations.
• The constant-center dam is sometimes preferred for U-shaped
canyons as cantilever action will carry a large portion of the load at
the lower levels.
• The formwork for a constant-center dam is much simpler to
construct but the increasing arch efficiency of the variable-center
dam usually results in a saving of concrete.
Arch Dam
Simplified Design of Arch Dams:

• The same forces that act on gravity dams also act on arch dams,
but their relative importance is different.
• Because of the narrow base width of arch dams, uplift pressures
are less important than for gravity dams.
•However, stress caused by ice pressure and temperature changes
may become quite important in arch-dam design.
• The simplest approach to arch analysis is to assume that the
horizontal water load is carried by arch action alone. Most early arch
dams were designed on this basis.
• Since the intensity of the hydrostatic pressure is p = g h, the total
downstream component of hydrostatic force on a rib of unit height
is:

H h  gh2r sin
2

• This force is balanced by the upstream component of the

abutment reaction Ry = 2R sin /2.
• Summation of forces along y-axis,

 
2 R sin  2ghr sin R  ghr
2 2
• If the thickness t of the arch rib is small as compared with r, there
is little difference between the average and maximum compressive
stress in the rib and s ~ R/t. The required thickness of the rib is:
ghr sw is the allowable working stress for
t
sw concrete in compression
• Therefore the thickness of the ribs should increase linearly with
distance below the water surface and that for a given water
pressure the required thickness is proportional to the radius of
curvature.

• In practice the central angles of arch dams vary from 100o to 140o.
• The base width of arch dams is usually between 0.1 and 0.5 the
height.
• Deflection of arch ribs is caused mainly by the water load but is
also greatly affected by temperature changes.
Sample Problem: (Simple Arch Dam Design)

On the basis of “arch-rib” analysis, design an arch dam 380 ft high

to span a 600-ft wide U-shaped canyon. Use 650 psi as the
allowable compressive stress in the concrete.

Solution:
Use a constant-center dam with a vertical upstream face and
a central angle of 133 o 30’. From trigonometry,

300  
 cos   cos  90  
r  2
 cos 23015'=0.919
300
r=  326.4 ft
0.919
Solving for the thickness:
ghr 62.4(h)(326 .4)
t   0.217 h
s allow 650 (144 )
For h=0 t=0
For h=380 t=82.8 ft

r
θ

300’
α α
600’

82.8’
Construction of Arch Dams:

• The foundation of an arch dam must be stripped to solid rock and

the abutments should be stripped and excavated at approximately
right angles to the line of thrust to prevent sliding of the dam.
• Seams and pockets in the foundation and abutment are grouted in
the usual manner.
• Since the cross section of an arch dam is relatively thin, care must
be taken in the mixing, pouring, and curing of the concrete in order
to secure adequate resistance to seepage and weathering.
• Concrete is placed in a manner similar to that for gravity dams
usually in 10 ft (3-m) lifts, although 20-ft (6-m) lifts are not
uncommon at the upper levels, where the section is quite thin.
• A layer of mortar is usually placed between lifts to ensure better
bond.
•Small arch dam have radial and horizontal construction joints,
while large arch dams have circumferential joints as well.
• All joints must have keyways, and water stops must be provide to
prevent leakage. To minimize temperature stresses, the closing
section of the dam is poured only after the heat of setting in the
other sections is largely dissipated.