Gordon Dam: Australia's Tallest Arch Dam And Hydroelectric Power Station, Essay.

In this group assessment, you are required to write a report which critically analyses the conceptual design phase of a systems engineering project. Projects might include designing a bridge, a dam, an environmentally-conscious building or a mechatronic system.

You might not have been involved in the project personally, but some connection with the project would make the analysis more meaningful. Choose your project carefully because in assignment 2, your group will need to analyse the preliminary design and detailed design phases of the project.

The report is to analyse the following phases of the 

The report is to analyse the following phases of the project:

• Needs definition

• Conceptual system design

To demonstrate your research skills and understanding, the report must draw upon relevant sources like journals, books or reputable trade publications in analysing the project. You must also present the case study in terms of the above two lifecycle phases and evaluate the proposed conceptual design against the identified needs / requirements. 

Construction of Gordon Dam

The Gordon dam the main double concrete curving arch dam with the spillway that is controlled across the river Gordon. It is situated in south west of Tasmania in Australia and the confiscated reservoir is known as river Gordon. The site is deep narrow gorge where the river Gordon on the path of west to Macquarie harbor, has cut via north south oriented range mountain dividing it into Hamilton range to the north and the range Wilmot to the south.  The dam was built in 1974 by the corporation of hydroelectricity for the main objective of producing hydroelectric power through the conventional power station of Gordon located beneath the wall of the dam. The Gordon dam is known tourist attraction destination. From the center of the visitors above the dam there is photograph view and spectacular of gorge, the lake and the dam, and the dam depth and dam’s double curvature is readily apparent.

The Gordon dam is the highest arch dam constructed in Australia, it is the best example of the economy achieved by shape of double curvature to reduce the stress in dangerous areas. The facility of having the HEC stress arch dam analysis program helped the designers to reduce the volume of concrete while keeping the stress within the limit that is allowed. The valuated stresses.

Major requirement; the main objective of construction of Gordon dam by the hydro electric corporation was to generate hydroelectric power through the convectional power station.

Minor requirement; the Gordon dam was constructed to provide water for domestic use, agriculture, reduce the food shortage and also drought.  

This section describe the activities on the Gordon dam with the aim of establishing the dam’s function and its products. The conceptual design of the Gordon dam considers the analyses of the requirement of the Gordon dam during its construction, functional analysis, system planning, and study of the feasibility. Operation, maintenance and performance.

This section analyses the system architecture, feasibility study and analysis, operation requirement, maintenance, technical performance measures (TPM), and functional analysis and allocation of the Gordon dam.

The Gordon dam wall built with one hundred and fifty thousand cubic meters of the concrete, is one hundred and ninety eight long and one hundred and forty meter in height allowing it to be the tallest dam in Tasmania and the 5th highest in Australia. At the 100% capacity the walls of the dam hold back 12,359,040 megalitres of water making the lake Gordon the largest lake in the whole Australia (Allan, 2010). The area at surface of the lake is 69,000 acres and the area of catchment is 2014 kilometer square. The controlled single spillway is capable of giving out 175 meter cubic per seconds. Around 48 arch dams are constructed in Australia and only 9 have the double curvature.

Lake Gordon is the major reservoir for the Gordon dam the reservoir was formed in early 1970s as a result of the construction by commission of hydroelectricity in the Tasmania in order to create the storage for Gordon power station .from the catchment area of 1280km2. The lake Gordon with surface area of 278km2 with the storage capacity of 12,359,049 ML (Association, 2010). Gordon power station is also a major architecture of the Gordon dam. The Gordon power station is the largest hydroelectric power in the Tasmania located in the south west site of the state. It is situated on the river Gordon and water from the river descends 183 meters into the power stations underground (Books, 2013).

Design and Functionality

The Gordon power station consist of 144 megawatt turbines that combined the production capacity of 4312 megawatt of electricity covering around 133% of the electricity wanted in Tasmania. The power station is powered with water from the lake and water from the lake peddler is drawn too into Gordon Lake via the canal of McPartlans pass (Coper, 2011).

In 1963, the government of Australia provides an A$5 million to construct the road of Gordon river from maydena into the Gordon areas in the region of wilderness of southwest. Building was started by around 1964 and within three years parliament approved the development of Gordon river power and the operation of power started in 1978 and the third generator was brought in 1988. The finished dam of river Gordon was the only dam constructed along that river, despite the maintenance of Politician of Tasmania. The building of the dam, caused the flooding on the associated peddler of the lake as planned (Daly, 2015).

The Gordon dam is being managed by the hydroelectric commission which is the government business enterprise that is the predominant generator of electricity in the Australia Tasmania state. They normally make sure that that dam is well maintained and also the turbines and generators are all in good positions (Dams, 2014).

The operation of the Gordon dam requires the river Gordon and also power station. The Gordon power station is the largest hydroelectric power in the Tasmania located in the south west site of the state. It is situated on the river Gordon and water from the river descends 183 meters into the power stations underground. The Gordon power station consist of 144 megawatt turbines that combined the production capacity of 4312 megawatt of electricity covering around 133% of the electricity wanted in Tasmania. Lake Gordon is the major reservoir for the Gordon dam the reservoir was formed in early 1970s as a result of the construction by commission of hydroelectricity in the Tasmania in order to create the storage for gordo0n power station .from the catchment area of 1280km2 (Fell, 2014).

Before the Gordon river power station was approved by parliament in 1967, there were no roads in the Tasmania to the south. The 80km road was constructed form maydena to the site of dam to construct the scheme. The rout transverse timbered country, rugged ranges of mountains and the open plains of button grass. While the roads were being constructed, access to the camp of investigation was the helicopter (Golzé, 2009). The strathgordon village was made to provide the shelter to the staff and workface to the building development. Even though the village was having most facilities, it was the period before the individual became accustomed to the high rainfall annually and the long drive to Hobart. The eventual sealing of the road made the journey easy.

The rock geology forming the gorge is complex and the dam had to be sited carefully to avoid faults on the abutment. The main excavation was needed on the left abutment, and there are many tunnels at many levels in all abutment for the purpose of drainage and grouting the foundation. By the time the Gordon was being constructed the mathematical computation was needed to determine the faults in the concrete under the gravity and water loading could be done by the computer. Many analysis were made and thickness and curved shape were adjusted to reduce the quantity of concrete and keep the faults within the limit that is allowed (Henry, 2013).

System Architecture and Feasibility

The outcome was arch shell with the thickness on 17.7 meter at the bottom and 2.75 meter at the top and the volume of the concrete of 154,000m3. The faults were calculated by loading the model scale of the dam in laboratory and later by element analysis. In the vertical direction the dam and upstream near the base and downstream over the top 2/3 of its height. The curvature of the horizon varies and thickness is raised near the abutment. The control of the pressure of water in the abutment by system of drainage is a property of this Gordon dam (Hanna, 2012). The horizontal tunnels were excavated at many levels and every abutment and the verticals holes for drainage were constructed from one tunnel to one below to form the curtain of drainage.

The drains collected every seepage passing through the curtain of grout farther upstream, and prevented the development of the pressures pores which could reduce the dams’ stability (Hideki, 2013).Another property is the system of instrumentation which relies on embedded piezometer to measure the pressure of the pores in the abutment on the realistic measurement of deflection to verify the dam’s behavior over some period. Measurement of deflection are made by the mekometer sighting on targets on the downstream dam face, supplemented by the lines of plumb situated inside the dam (Huett, 2012).  

Historical value; the first road and the first village in the Tasmania to the south west were constructed for the building of the dam and the development of power. The study of the flora, fauna. Geology and the history of exploration added the knowledge of the undeveloped quarter of the island (Huett, 2012).

Social value; the power development of the Gordon River added to the electricity of the Tasmania generation system, taking care if growing demand and the new and upcoming industries that are upcoming (Jordan, 2014).

Landscape value; the Gordon dam can be visited and look down the spectacular view encompassing the deed rugged gorge, the extensive lake and the majestic dam that is curved. The striking view is more snapped and normally remembered by the people who visits (Krogh, 2015).

Table 1: TPM

There are some of the alternative that can be recommended for the construction of the dam. Like in the Gordon dam, the controlled spillway was used and hence uncontrolled one can be recommended.  Spillway is the structure that provide the release of water flow from the dam into the area of downstream. Spillways enabled the water to flow well without damaging the dam (Tasmania, 2010). The uncontrolled spillway that is recommended does not have the gates, when the water is raised above the crest of the spillway it starts to release form the reservoir. The discharge rate is controlled by the depth of the water only above the spillway of reservoir. The volume of the storage in the reservoir above the crest of spillway can be used for the storage of floodwater that is temporary  and it can’t be used as storage that supply water since sometimes its normally empty. Examples are bell mouth spillway, siphon spillway (Allan, 2010).

Another different design that can be used is the multiple arch dam which is the different from arch dam excluding the assemblies repeated or arches that slope about 45 degree to the horizontal with the arches being passed on a parallel wall of buttress. Its advantage is that it’s typically lightweight and need less materials to build hence less cheaply compared to the arch dam. Also the foundation of the multiple arch dam does not have to be solid as compared to the arch dam and the design is also suitable for the wide range of the types of canyon (Books, 2013).

Conclusion

This research paper analyses the conceptual design of the Gordon dam in Australia which was built majorly to generate electricity. The dam was built in 1974 by the corporation of hydroelectricity for the main objective of producing hydroelectric power through the conservative power station of Gordon situated beneath the wall of the dam. The Gordon dam is known tourist attraction destination. From the center of the visitors above the dam there is photograph view and spectacular of gorge, the lake and the dam. The Gordon dam is the highest arch dam constructed in Australia, it is the best example of the economy achieved by shape of double curvature to reduce the stress in dangerous areas.

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Books, G., 2013. Reservoirs and Dams in Australia. Tasmania: General Books.

Conrad, D., 2012. The History of Large Federal Dams. Perth: Government Printing .

Coper, M., 2011. The Tasmanian Dam. Tasmania: Federation Press.

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