Engineering Feat: Hoover Dam
One of the largest dams in the world, the hoover dam provides hydroelectric power thanks to the Colorado River and forms Lake Mead. This dam was completed in 1935 and has the world’s largest reservoir of water. This dam is an engineering feat due to its ability to control the Colorado River’s flooding problem, contain such high quantities of water, and provides water and electricity to Los Angeles and Southern California. This project also resulted in a new kind of concrete admixture.
Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States.1 Construction of Hoover Dam began in 1931, and the last concrete was poured in 1935 - 2 years ahead of schedule.2 Hoover Dam's authorized purposes are: …show more content…
Those who were hired eventually moved to Boulder City, a community specifically built six miles from the work site to house its employees. Meanwhile, the U.S. government set about finding a contractor to build the proposed 60-story arch dam. The contract was awarded in March 1931 to Six Companies, a group of construction firms that had pooled its resources to meet the steep $5 million performance bond.4 The first difficult step of construction involved blasting the canyon walls to create four diversion tunnels for the water. Facing strict time deadlines, workers toiled in 140-degree tunnels choked with carbon monoxide and dust, conditions that prompted a six-day strike in August 1931. When two of the tunnels were complete, the excavated rock was used to form a temporary coffer dam that successfully rechanneled the river’s path in November 1932.5 The second step of involved the clearing of the walls that would contain the …show more content…
The resulting concrete arch-gravity design, allowing the water load to be dispersed by both the gravity and horizontal arch action, was the winning solution. It would take a lot of concrete to make this work. In fact, even with this design, the dam would need to resist the water pressure more than 45,000 lb per square foot at the base of the dam.8 To make the concrete durable, strong and increasing its overall performance, the engineers specified a new innovation in concrete admixtures: Pozzolith water-reducing admixtures, invented in 1932 by Master Builders, now a BASF brand. Later, Watson Bowman Acme, a BASF company, provided Jeene expansion joint systems and slider plate assemblies, adding corrosion and structural protection, while accommodating thermal and seismic movements, vehicle impact and structural
One of the largest dams in the world, the hoover dam provides hydroelectric power thanks to the Colorado River and forms Lake Mead. This dam was completed in 1935 and has the world’s largest reservoir of water. This dam is an engineering feat due to its ability to control the Colorado River’s flooding problem, contain such high quantities of water, and provides water and electricity to Los Angeles and Southern California. This project also resulted in a new kind of concrete admixture.
Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States.1 Construction of Hoover Dam began in 1931, and the last concrete was poured in 1935 - 2 years ahead of schedule.2 Hoover Dam's authorized purposes are: …show more content…
Those who were hired eventually moved to Boulder City, a community specifically built six miles from the work site to house its employees. Meanwhile, the U.S. government set about finding a contractor to build the proposed 60-story arch dam. The contract was awarded in March 1931 to Six Companies, a group of construction firms that had pooled its resources to meet the steep $5 million performance bond.4 The first difficult step of construction involved blasting the canyon walls to create four diversion tunnels for the water. Facing strict time deadlines, workers toiled in 140-degree tunnels choked with carbon monoxide and dust, conditions that prompted a six-day strike in August 1931. When two of the tunnels were complete, the excavated rock was used to form a temporary coffer dam that successfully rechanneled the river’s path in November 1932.5 The second step of involved the clearing of the walls that would contain the …show more content…
The resulting concrete arch-gravity design, allowing the water load to be dispersed by both the gravity and horizontal arch action, was the winning solution. It would take a lot of concrete to make this work. In fact, even with this design, the dam would need to resist the water pressure more than 45,000 lb per square foot at the base of the dam.8 To make the concrete durable, strong and increasing its overall performance, the engineers specified a new innovation in concrete admixtures: Pozzolith water-reducing admixtures, invented in 1932 by Master Builders, now a BASF brand. Later, Watson Bowman Acme, a BASF company, provided Jeene expansion joint systems and slider plate assemblies, adding corrosion and structural protection, while accommodating thermal and seismic movements, vehicle impact and structural