http://www.tours4fun.com/hoover-dam-upgrade-tour.

html
 1. Control floods
 2. Store water for farmland
 3. Provide energy

 Herbert Hoover
 One of the largest in the world. It has
been declared a national historic
monument and qualified by the
American Society of civil engineers
as one of the seven wonders of the
modern Civil Engineering of the
United States.
 The Hoover Dam is a concrete dam of gravity, in the course of the Colorado River,
on the border between the States of Arizona and Nevada (USA). It is located 48
km southeast of Las Vegas.
Before the construction of the dam, the Colorado River basin is overflowing when
melted snow from the Rocky Mountains.
To divert the flow of the river around the construction site, four diversion tunnels were
built by the walls of the Canyon, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side.
These tunnels had 17 m in diameter. Their combined length was almost 4880 m.
 Before construction could begin, the
loose rock had to be removed from
the walls of the Canyon. The men
responsible for the work should
lower Canyon walls tied to ropes
and worked to remove loose rock
with jackhammers and dynamite.
 One of the problems that the designers faced was the retraction of the concrete in
the dam.
 The dam was built as a series of trapezoidal brackets to allow to dissipate the
massive heat produced by the curing of the concrete.
 Engineers calculated that if the dam was built in a single block, the concrete would
have needed 125 years to cool to room temperature. The resulting tensions would
have cracked the dam and this would have destroyed.
 It was not enough to put small amounts of concrete in individual columns. To
accelerate the cooling of concrete so that the next layer could be poured, one-inch
steel pipes were inserted.
 When the concrete was poured, the river water was circulating these tubes. Once
the concrete had received a first initial cooling, they cooled the water in a plant's
cooling on the lower cofferdam and ASG it again through the tubes to finish
cooling. When each block had cooled down properly, tubes were cut and injected
them grout pressure.
Water from behind the dam flows through an
entrance and pushes against blades of a
turbine, which makes them move. Turbine
spins a generator to produce electricity.
 The generators at the power plant of the
dam began transmitting electricity from
the Colorado River a distance of 364 km
to Los Angeles, California in 1936.

 Additional generating units were added

until 1961. The water flowing from Lake
Mead to the power plant reaches a speed
of approximately 135 kilometers per
hour when it reaches the turbines.

 Seventeen major turbine generators in

this central power generated a maximum
of 2074 megawatts of hydroelectric
power.
 Construction period: April 20, 1931, on March 1,
1936
 Construction cost: 49 million dollars (835 million
with inflation adjustment).
 Deaths: 96
 Height: 221,4 m.
 Length: 379, 2 m.
200 thick at its base, 15 m at the coronation.
 Concrete: 3.33 million m³.
 Power: 2074 megawatts.
 Accidents during construction: 107.
 Traffic on the dam: between 13,000 and 16,000
people per day.
 The regulated Lake area: 639 km².
 Regulated volume: 35.3 km³.