Development of hydraulic-fill dam construction in the Soviet Union

Abstract

The main purpose of hydraullc-fill dam construction in the Soviet Union is to build coreless dams or dams with thin cores consisting of sand and gravel soils [1].

Substantiation of the selection of the designs of a hydraulic-fill dam for the upper reservoirs of pumped-storage stations

“…The seepage discharge through such dams is close to zero, about 90-95% of the head is reduced on the diaphragm, below the diaphragm the line of seepage stays at the lower pool level. We note that subsequently construction of a diaphragm in hydrauliclfill sand dams was rejected as too costly and sand dams were constructed without watertight elements, increased seepage losses from the reservoirs being allowed in this case [2,3]. Watertight elements in the form of diaphragm walls have presently become widespread in dam construction in the USSR and abroad, the requirements imposed on the soils for preparing the wall material have been developed, the construction technology has been mastered, and there are mechanisms for performing such works [4J.…”

“…In hydrotechnical construction in the Soviet Union mainly homogeneous sand dams of fine and medium sands, deposits of which are most often waterlogged and located within floodplains on wide flatland rivers, are constructed by hydraulicking [2]. The hydraulic-fill method is used considerably more rarely for constructing dams with special watertight elements and core dams (Table i, which gives a list of hydraulic-filldams with watertight elements and a core constructed in the USSR).…”