Changuinola I Dam, is located in district of
Changuinola
Changuinola is a city in the Bocas del Toro Province of Panama and seat city of the Changuinola District. The city attracts tourists as a popular gateway to Bocas Town and nearby cities Almirante and Chiriqui Grande.
Changuinola is surrounded ...
, in the Province of Bocas del Toro, in the western part of Panama. It is the largest
roller-compacted concrete
Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for po ...
arch-gravity dam in the World.
Technical features
The design of the dam was conducted by Malcolm Dunstan & Associates engineering and construction company.
[Erlendsson G., Cameron-Ellis D., Shaw Q., Dunstan M., The Development of the Design of Changuinola 1 Dam, Roller Compacted Concrete Dams, Symposium, Zaragoza, October 2012]
The construction of the dam started on October 25, 2007 and its first generator was operational on November 19, 2011. The
roller-compacted concrete
Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for po ...
arch-gravity dam has a maximum height of and length of . The upstream vertical face arch radius is . The induced joints are spaced at intervals, with inducers installed in every second layer after compaction. The downstream face slope varies form 0.5:1 (H:V) in the center and 0.7:1 (H:V) on the flanks.
The RCC mix strength requirements were determined by a target direct tensile strength of . The composition of the high-paste RCC mix included:
*
Portland Cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in th ...
- 70 kg/m
3
*
Fly Ash
Coal combustion products (CCPs), also called coal combustion wastes (CCWs) or coal combustion residuals (CCRs), are byproducts of burning coal. They are categorized in four groups, each based on physical and chemical forms derived from coal combust ...
- 145 kg/m
3
*
Water
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
- 119 kg/m
3
*
Coarse Aggregate - 1282 kg/m
3
*
Fine Aggregate - 888 kg/m
3
*
Retarder - 3.44 kg/m
3
See also
*
List of power stations in Panama
References
Dams completed in 2011
Energy infrastructure completed in 2011
Dams in Panama
Hydroelectric power stations in Panama
Arch–gravity dams
Buildings and structures in Bocas del Toro Province
Roller-compacted concrete dams
{{dam-stub