In 2003, before the first tentative storage of 135 meters of , the Three Gorges Dam, , which had been hard and hard for ten years, there were rumors that there had been cracks of varying degrees on the dam body. At that time, the Supervision Department of the Three Gorges Dam publicly admitted that the dam body had cracked as early as 2000. What was going on? Why did this dam, which cost hundreds of billions of yuan, have cracks? Could it be the same as the Italian Wayon Dam ? How do Chinese engineers remedy these problems? After many years, how much has the Three Gorges Dam earned back now after the investment back then? How long can it last? What will happen after the demolition? With these questions in mind, follow the editor to approach this legendary building - the Three Gorges Dam to explore the truth behind the matter. Before the topic begins, friends who have not followed the Eye of History, remember to follow us, so that you will not miss the exciting content of each issue. Thank you for your attention.
For many reservoirs and rivers, many times, river dam is needed to build. dams are also popular in various countries. They can not only eliminate floods but also store energy and electricity. Speaking of China's most famous river dam, the Three Gorges Dam. As a very great project in China, it is the largest hydropower project in the world, , which has brought many benefits to people since its completion. Even just looking at the appearance of the Three Gorges Dam is extremely shocking, which shows how much hard work people put into building it. However, this dam, which consumed countless manpower and material resources, found cracks on the dam during construction. The construction of a large-scale facility will inevitably have some impact on the surrounding natural environment, so many people have complained about it at the beginning of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. While people are impressed with its grand appearance, some are also skeptical, after all, there are the lessons of the Italian Waion Dam. The Wayon Dam in Italy can be said to be the tallest dam in the past. In terms of intensity, it is a very successful situation that it has not collapsed so far, but in the result, five villages were submerged and two thousand people died of floods, which is definitely a failure. So what's going on? Since it has not collapsed, why would such serious consequences have been caused?
After the end of World War II , Italy had just escaped from the haze of war and began to enter a period of rapid economic development. At the same time, the country's industrial development needs electricity to increase day by day, so they focused on clean energy hydropower generation. The unique geographical conditions of Wayon Canyon can obtain a large amount of power resources by building a dam. They thought so and did the same, and the Italian president at the time approved the decision against the opposition. The height of the Wayon Dam determined at the time of design was about 230 meters. This height was unique in the 1950s. Although it uses the hyperbolic arch structure , which is also the unique feature of this dam. At that time, the designer of the dam claimed that the dam could bear more than eleven times the design value. However, just one year after it started construction, it decided to convert the dam into an pumped storage power station , which serves the supporting service of the nuclear power plant, and the height increased by more than 30 meters, which increased the difficulty of the construction of this dam. It was obviously a problem to be encountered in the construction of the dam in the previous way. As expected, just before construction was completed, the engineers found that the shoulder slope of the left dam was very unstable, and the geological structure of the Wayon Valley was special. If it continued to be built, the possibility of landslides would occur. However, the designer at that time was stubborn and did not believe that his design would have problems, so he insisted on continuing construction. But even he knew the common sense of building a dam, which was to consider flood control. After all, a dam is filled with water, and if it breaks, it may bring a devastating blow to the people downstream.
In the 1950s, it seemed that every country had experienced a period of impetuousness when it was developing, and the Vaion Dam was the product of the impetuousness period of Italian economic development.However, conceiting will cost you. In the fall of 1959, the Wayon Dam was completed and the first attempt to store water was in February of the following year. This attempt to store water caused an indelible tragedy. At the beginning of water storage, the dam was relatively stable, but slowly the relatively stable rock formation began to seep out water under huge water pressure. After clay deep in the rock formation absorbed water, the structure became extremely unstable. In October of the same year, a crack about 1,800 meters long appeared on the ground on the left bank of the dam, and then a landslide of 700,000 square meters occurred. All this seems to have not ended. Just four years later, in order to allow the dam to be successfully accepted, the progress of the test water storage was accelerated, but all this was changing silently. Strange sounds often came from the valley, the water in the reservoir became turbid, and the road at the foot of the mountain also moved up to half a meter. All of this seemed to indicate the beginning of the disaster. In 1963, on a clear night after rain, the Way'an Valley seemed to fall asleep in the dark. landslide , the sound of water roared, and even from a distance, you could hear the sound of water like a roar. Many panic-hearted villagers intended to escape from this terrible place, but it was too late. After storing a total of 50 million cubic meters of water, it boiled in an instant, and a fountain as high as 250 meters gushed out. The previously designed flood control facilities were like a mantis arm rushing into a car in the face of the huge flood, vulnerable! In less than seven minutes, five villages were flooded and more than 2,000 people died in this flood. The only thing that survived the flood was this super dam, which consumed a lot of manpower and material resources.
has the lessons of the Wayon Dam, so when I learned that there were cracks on the Three Gorges Dam, it would cause such a big response. No one would be willing to let that century disaster repeat. The editor also mentioned at the beginning of the article that some people questioned the Three Gorges Dam at the beginning of its establishment, but no matter how it was, the Three Gorges Dam was finally completed. There are certain dangers and irreversibility in building a dam, so why is the Three Gorges Dam still built? In fact, we can find out from the truth in the past. In more than two thousand years, there have been more than two hundred major floods in the Yangtze River. On average, it happens once every ten years. The inevitable floods are casualties and property losses. In addition, , Sanxia has a superior geographical location, and it is always a pity that the water energy generated for a long time is wasted. It is precisely because of various factors that the Three Gorges Dam has been built. Since its completion, the Three Gorges Dam has become a major contributor to flood control and water quality improvement in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. But such a great project is regarded by some people with a strange perspective, and some people even doubt its quality. This has to talk about the crack incident in the dam body mentioned above in 2003.
In fact, this is just because of the weather. More than 80 tiny surface cracks appeared on the left bank dam, and the width was only between 0.1-0.2 mm, which would not have any impact at all. In addition, the dam body has been grouted by chemical materials, so there will definitely be no water leakage, and quality problems do not exist directly. But cracks are inevitable in dams around the world. Protective measures have been taken on the dam body of the Three Gorges Dam, and the safety is absolutely guaranteed. Our conventional solution to the physical cracking of the dam body is to resolve the hydration heat phenomenon of concrete. Generally, there are two ways to solve this problem. One is to physical cooling, which is to stir the concrete in a relatively cold season or time, but this method obviously does not work in large fortifications. Another method is to change the material ratio of concrete. At this time, we need to mention a new material, that is, fly ash . Adding this material to concrete will change the ratio of cement, thereby reducing the occurrence of hydration and heat. In the construction of dams, the existence of cracks is inevitable. Even if there are thousands of small cracks in the Three Gorges Dam, it will not cause damage to the dam body.
In fact, in general, the Three Gorges Dam is the most solid in the world in terms of construction materials and structure. Moreover, the special cement used at the beginning is cement that can be resisted by even the American temperature-pressure bomb , so its service life is at least 100 years. And if the Three Gorges Dam is demolished, we don’t need to worry. Even if we are in the wrong direction, if the Three Gorges Dam has to be demolished one day, people will have a way to deal with it. When the funds for repairing an aging reservoir exceed the price of a rebuilt dam, it is better to build another one. Therefore, instead of disturbing others, it is better to contribute your own efforts to the country. Cheer for the country!
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