Analysing The Design Process Of The Hoover Dam

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. If you are unsure as to whether your chosen project has sufficient depth/detail, consult with your tutor. You will also have the opportunity to work on the assignment in the tutorials for the unit. Every group must do a different project. Also, projects from previous years can not be reused.

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.

Conceptual Design of Hoover Dam

This paper presents the analysis of the design process of the hoover dam, located in  Nevada/ Arizona, and united stated focusing on the conceptual design phase of the dam. The conceptual design of the dam normally considers the analysis requirement of the dam during the construction, functional analysis, a requirement so f systems operation, measurement of the performance, system planning, identification, maintenance and support concept. Hoover dam is the concrete dam of gravity arch in the black canyon river of Colorado on the border of the Arizona and the U.S states of Nevada. It was built between nineteen thirty-one and nineteen thirty-six during the high despair and its construction was because of the huge strength concerning the many workers and cost many lives too.

Black Canyon had been evaluated for their perspective to upkeep the dam that would help in controlling the floods, provide water for irrigation, and also help in the production of hydroelectric power. The winning tender to construct the dam was succumbed by the 6 corporations which started the building in 1931. At the time of its construction, the hoover dam was unprecedented and was being constructed in the desolate region without the facilities of transportation, no quarters for the living, and no workforces. The success of this venture is very clear today, regulating and controlling the previously untamed Colorado River, releasing and storing water for the crops, industries, cities, and the production of power and energy. The Hoover dam produces 4 billion kWh of the clean, and non-polluted electric energy every year, giving power to 1.3 million of persons in Arizona, California and Nevada. The dam also produces 1 billion economic benefits and more than half a million people visited the dam every year.

This section analyses the life cycle of the. The conceptual design of the Dartmouth Dam basically consider the requirement analysis of the dam during its construction, system planning, functional activities on the hoover dam with the aim of committing ,predetermining and getting the schedule for development analysis, system operation requirements, performance measurement, feasibility study, maintenance and support concept, and also needs identification (A, 2016).

After the authorization of the canyon project, that construction problem was placed before the reclamation engineers squarely. To achieve the purpose set in the legislation, the valleys of the southern California and Arizona of low lying areas had to be protected from the problem of floods and the annual runoff in spring was needed to be stored for the use in future. The dams would be very large to store more quantity of sediments carried downstream by the river annually (Borrowman, 2013). And the power plant which is very large to use the complete movement of the rivers economically, serve to provide the power and energy to markets in the southwest. To harness the rivers effectively and get the required objectives, a big dam more than 700 feet high will be constructed. The agency of the recovery has sighted the kind of the dam that should be built and bureaucrats decide on the huge concrete arch-gravity dam. A monumental dam that would be concentrated at the bottom and tinny close to the topmost and would give the face of convex the water beyond the dam. The arch that curve would convey the force of water into the abutment (Corona, 2010).

Construction of Hoover Dam

Before the building of the Hoover dam begins, all the aspects for the living and working in the desert had to be built after the planning. It was the responsibilities of the contractors and reclamation engineers to plan for the project so that nothing can be overlooked. After studying the condition of the soil and climate in that area, the reclamation engineers choose site 7 miles southwards of the dam site. The general plan for building Hoover dam was to drive the tunnels through the walls of the canyon around the site of dam and divert Colorado through the tunnels. After the river was routed around the dam site, workers were able to excavate the site and build the dam and the power plant (E, 2015). The narrowness of the canyon spread the work down and up the river and the large fluctuation of the flow of river made the job of river diversion very difficult.

The engineers drove four diversion tunnels, two on every side of the river and around the site of the dam and these four tunnels would serve other work when they are no longer required as the tunnels for diversion.  The two outer tunnels would be the outlets of the large spillways. Large pipes would be installed in the inner tunnel to carry the water from the intake tower to the power plant of valves outlets below the dam. The removal of the projecting loose rocks from the canyon walls continued (Hiltzik, 2010).

The time reached to install the penstock in the dam and are very large pipes of water that can carry water for the reservoir to the power plant through the walls of the canyon, the penstock was built 3-inch plate steel pipe. Special equipment was needed for transporting and fabrication the finished section of the pipe to the dam site. Rollers, pressers, planers, equipment for welding, and the X-ray materials for examining the welds were installed in the plant. While the penstock pipes were being installed, the placement of the concrete for the dam was being carried out too (Interior, 2014).

To guard the site of construction and to felicitate the diversion of the river, 2 cofferdams were built. The cofferdams were constructed to guard alongside the flooding prospect of the river.  The period when the cofferdams were in good condition and the suite of the building was exhausted of ester, the diggings for the base of the dam started. For the dam to have a strong foundation on the strong rock, it was important to eliminate the aggregated loss soil until the bedrock sound reached (Interior, 2014). The empty primary foundation’s rock of the site of the dam was armoured with the grout known as the plaster curtain. Holes were made in the wall and the canyon and any cavity got were to be occupied with the grout. This was carried out to make the rock stable and also the prevent water from seeping through the canyon rock past the demand also to reduce the rising pressure from water seeping under the dam. 

Life Cycle of Hoover Dam

                                                    Figure 1: Design depth of the original grout program (Borrowman, 2013)

The concrete was poured on the dam and since it, contract and heat as it cures, the impending of unequal cooling and the concrete contraction caused a severe problem. The engineer premeditated that when the dam was constructed in the single uninterrupted pour, the concrete would take around 125days to cool and the strain can cause the dam to crumble and crack. As an alternative, the ground where the dam rise was given marks with the blocks and rectangles of concrete in the Column was poured. River water that is cool was poured over the pipes and then the ice cold water from the plant of cooling (Lyman, 2010). Grout also filed the spaced of hairline between the columns and was pleased to raise the joins’ strength. Hoover dams’ concrete has gained the strength slowly continuously and the dam has tough concrete having strength beyond the range normally gotten in the usual mass concrete (McBride, 2012).

Overtopping of the dam is prevented by the two spillways. The entrance of the spillway is placed every behind every dam support, running to the walls of canyon parallel (Woollett, 2015). Gates are elevated and depressed dependent on the intensities of water in the lake and the circumstances of flooding. Water flowing over the spillway falls into the spillway subways before it connects to the outer tunnel of alteration and returning the main channel underneath the dam (McSharry, 2011).

Digging for the powerhouse was done instantaneously with the diggings for the footing and the abutment of the dam (Zuehlke, 2014). The excavation of the U structured dam situated at the toe downstream of the dam was finished and the concrete placed. For the roof of the powerhouse to be bomb-resistant, it was made of the concrete, steel and rock with 3.5 feet thickness topped with the tar and sand layers. In the half of 1936, the water level in Lake Mead was high amount to allow the generation of power. Generators stated working and power plant of this dam was the largest facility of hydroelectricity in the world. Before water from Lake Mead stretches the turbines, it enters the tower of intake and then narrows into penstocks which funnel the water down towards the house of power. The intake gives the highest water pressure as it reaches the speed of 140km/hour (Milner, 2014).

Technical Performance Measure

The Hoover dam produces 4 billion kWh of the clean, and non-polluted electric energy every year, giving power to 1.3 million of people in Arizona, California and Nevada. The dam also produces 1 billion economic benefits and more than half a million people visited the dam every year (Roza, 2010).  Regulator of water was the main objective of the constructing the dam. Generation of power has enables the project of the dam to be self-sustaining and power is generated in step with and only produce water in response to the demand of water downstream. The dam helped in the control of floods that may occur at any time and also high runoff that occurs early summer and spring (Vilander, 2011). Hoover dam also provided enough water supply and reliable supply of water for the downstream agriculture users hence reduced the drought and food shortages.

The reservoir uplift reached its highest level in 1938 September. At that time, the decision was made to drill many BX core size in the foundation beneath the dam. The drilling shows that the curtain grout was shallow on the faulted abutment since six zones of sheared rocks were feeding the water into the foundation and much crisscrossing manganese gouge seams were perching the under seepage resulting to pores of high pressure to develop (W, 2017). The dams’ curtain grout was extended deepened between 1938 and 1947. The holes were extended to the depth of around 300 feet beneath the foundation of the dam, then pumped under the high pressure of full head reservoir (Wilbur, 2013).

Conclusion

This paper assesses the analysis of the design of the Hoover dam by focusing on its conceptual design. Hoover dam is the concrete dam of gravity arch in the black canyon river of Colorado on the border of the Arizona and the U.S states of Nevada. It was built between nineteen thirty-one and nineteen thirty-six during the high despair and its construction was because of the huge strength concerning the many workers and cost many lives too. The dam helped in the control of floods that may occur at any time and also high runoff that occurs early summer and spring. Hoover dam also provided enough water supply and reliable supply of water for the downstream agriculture users hence reduced the drought and food shortages. The Hoover dam produces 4 billion kWh of the clean, and non-polluted electric energy every year, giving power to 1.3 million of people in Arizona, Nevada and California. The dam also produces 1 billion economic benefits and more than half a million people visited the dam every year.

Reference

A, L. (2016). The Hoover Dam. Toledo: Twenty-First Century Books.

Borrowman, J. (2013). Hoover Dam. Canyon: Black Canyon Press.

Corona, R. (2010). Hoover Dam. Colorado: Arcadia Publishing.

Joseph, E. (2015). Hoover Dam. Perth: University of Oklahoma Press.

Hiltzik, M. (2010). Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century. Colorado: Simon and Schuster.

Interior, U. S. (2014). The Hoover dam power and water contracts and related data. Michigan: U.S. G.P.O.

Lyman, R. (2010). The Hoover Dam Documents. Michigan: U.S. Government Printing Office.

McBride, D. (2012). Building Hoover Dam. Colorado: University of Nevada Press.

McSharry, P. (2011). The Hoover Dam. Toledo: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Milner, K. (2014). The Story of the Hoover Dam. Michigan: Cherry Lake.

Roza, G. (2010). The Hoover Dam: Applying Problem-Solving Strategies. Melbourne: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Vilander, B. (2011). Hoover Dam. Toledo: University of Arizona Press.

W, P. (2017). Boulder City. New York: Arcadia Publishing.

Wilbur, L. (2013). The construction of Hoover Dam. Colorado: U.S. Govt. print. off.

Woollett, W. (2015). Hoover Dam: drawings, etchings, lithographs. Colorado: Hennessey & Ingalls.

Zuehlke, J. (2014). The Hoover Dam. Melbourne: Lerner Publications.