Stages of progress in the organization of hydraulic construction

Abstract

The development of water-power construction in the USSR can be divided into several periods: the first --realization of the plan proposed by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia; the second --the prewar period, which saw the exploitation of the Dnepr and Volga rivers and the Caucasian and Kola peninsulas, and the initial explltatlon of the rivers of Central Asia; the third --the post-war period, which saw the rapid completion of the exploitation of the Volga and Dnepr and Trans-Caucasla and the start of construction on hydroelectric plants in Siberia; the fourth --the systematic exploitation of the Angara and Enisei and the start of construction on the first hlgh-head hydraulic facilities; the modern period --the construction of hlgh-head hydro projects in the alpine and foothill regions of Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia, Northern Caucasia, and Trans-Caucasia.In the initial period, water power was based on fundamental studies of prominent Russian scientists of the prerevolutlonary period, and on foreign experience and techniques in practical matters. Later, the development of water-power construction in the USSR took a course that differred markedly from foreign experience. This was determined by the need for the rapid solution of the most complex problems on which the developed capitalist countries had a considerable head start and by the natural construction conditions, which differred from those in the European countries. All this served to create the Soviet school of water-power construction, which had captured substantial international authority. The services rendered by the journal G~otekhn~cheskoe Stz, oitel'stvo, which since its establishment, has taken a leading position in shedin8 light on problems associated with water-power construction, and, particularly, in problems involving the organization and production of work, have been important to the creation of the school. Since the first years, the Journal has been an aid to Soviet, and, recently, to foreign specialists.The journal has exposed and promulgated basic ideas concerning the improvement of such trends in water-power construction as: the overall organization of construction; the closure of river channels and the organization of the concrete, rock-crushing, gravel-screenlng and other establishments required for the building of hydraulic structures; the mechanization of concrete and earthwork, and mechanism for the production of these operations; the compositions of concrete mixes; study of the thermal-stressed state of dams; tunneling, dewaterlng, and consolidation operations; and, the assembly of metallic hydraulic designs and hydraulic equipment and other trends in the organization and production of work.