CIVIL ENGINEERING

Civil engineering work includes:

• dams

• embankments

• motorways

• bridges

• buildings

• cuttings

• quarries

• tunnels

• mines

All these need to take into account:

1. Geological factors

2. Geological rock properties

• rock type

• fracture/joints

• weathering

• dip of rocks

• folding/faulting

• cleavage

• water table depth

• porosity/permeability

• rock strength

Geological factors

Rock properties

Dams

&

Reservoirs

Water supplyPower generation

Irrigation

Flood control

Dams & reservoirs are constructed for a wide range of uses:

Gravity Dams

Types of Dams

There are many different designs of dam, which include two principal types:

Arch Dams

Gravity Dam

Arch Dam

When building dams & reservoirs geologists must take into account:

• geological structures

• rock properties

Valley width & depth

Geological structures & rock properties

affecting dams & reservoirs

Reservoir surface area

Valley long profile

Rock permeability

Slope & depth of water table Faults, joints & fracture density

Dip of rock strata

Weathering

Hydraulic gradient

Rock strength

Earthquakes

Gravity Dams

Types of Dams Across Constricted Valleys

Arch Dams

•These rely on their weight to hold them in position and thereby impound the water. They are usually made from reinforced earth, masonry or concrete.

•The arch squeezes together as the water pushes against it. The stress of the impounded water is also transmitted horizontally into the rock of the valley sides. These are made from thin concrete walls.

•Dam construction across a valley

•Construction of banks completely enclosing an area of flat-lying terrain

•Excavation of depressions and underground caverns

•Enclosing estuary mouths with dams

Reservoirs may be constructed in a variety of ways:

However, the most efficient and cost-effective method is the construction of dams across constricted valley sections.

•Valley shape and rock structure

•Foundation strength

•Porosity and permeability

•Zones of structural weakness and high permeability

In building major structures like arch dams and gravity dams geological factors and geological rock properties must be taken into account. These include:

Narrow, deep and steep-sided valleys are the key characteristics looked for in valley shape. This is due to:

Valley constriction minimises dam length reducing costs

Narrow width of dam makes it structurally stronger

Deep valleys maximise water storage

1. Valley Shape:

Ideally, above a chosen dam site a valley should widen and remain as flat as possible

The rock structure surrounding the reservoir has to be looked at carefully:

•Synclinally folded rocks dip towards the reservoir, reducing possible leakage but increasing their liability to slip into the reservoir. Anticlines increase leakage but are less prone to slip.

•Other zones of weakness include fault zones which must be avoided. Also fault zones may have associated earthquakes.

2. Rock Structure:

•The rocks of the valley sides must not be liable to slippage because as the reservoir fills, the water table rises to lubricate zones of weakness.

Gravity Dams

3. Foundation Strength:

Obviously good foundations are highly desirable because the force of the dam must not exceed the strength of the ground. Or it will fail!

•Beds which dip up away from the dam provide the strongest foundations.

•As do unweathered igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Where they are questionable or poor, the location of a dam site becomes an exercise in locating areas where either the rocks and soils can best be improved or the dam designed to compensate for the deficiencies of the ground:•Weak rocks in the foundations, such as those composed of sediments, compressible and weathered strata are either strengthened or removed.

Gravity Dams

•Where foundations are weak (clays and mudstones) gravity dams made out of earth are used, in order to spread the weight.

•On firmer foundations (igneous and metamorphic rocks) gravity dams made out of concrete and masonry are used.

•The foundations for gravity dams should show limited compaction when loaded with the weight of the dam. Consequently deeply weathered sites or poorly consolidated glacial deposits are avoided.

•Existing fractures or bedding should be minimal, and should dip upstream.

Arch Dams •The construction of arch dams relies on the rock mass strength of the valley sides.

•Where there is sufficient strength, thin arch dams, which are cheap and economical to build, may be adequate.

•However, since the stresses imposed in such situations are horizontal instead of vertical, an absence of fractures parallel to the valley sides is essential.•In general, only rocks with very high rock mass strength are suitable for building arch dams, and in all cases uniformity of the rock body is desirable.

Gravity Dams

4. Porosity & Permeability:

The porosity and permeability of the rocks surrounding the reservoir and the dam indicate sources of potential leakage. Such as:

•Permeable soils •Aquifers •Faults •Joints

A dam should not be built on a permeable base because leakage under a dam generates pressure which lifts the dam and may cause it to fail.

•Beds dipping away from the reservoir e.g. anticlines

Rocks with calcite cement may become more permeable as the calcite dissolves away.

Geological Factors Rock Properties

Hydrogeology

• Rock type• Weathering• Structural weaknesses

(bedding, joints, faults & cleavage)

• Depth to rockhead

• Rock strength• Porosity• Permeability

• Depth to water table