The Fengtan Dam is an

arch-gravity dam An arch-gravity dam or arched dam is a dam with the characteristics of both an arch dam and a gravity dam. It is a dam that curves upstream in a narrowing curve that directs most of the water pressure against the canyon rock walls, providing the ...

on the

You River In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

, located southeast of

Zhangjiajie Zhangjiajie (), also known in Tujia language as ''Zhangx jif avlar'' /dzaŋ˩ ji˥ a˩.la˥/, is a prefecture-level city in the northwestern part of Hunan Province, China. It comprises the district of Yongding, Wulingyuan and counties of Cili ...

Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiang ...

, China. The purpose of the multi-purpose dam is flood control, irrigation, power generation and

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

. The dam has a power station with an installed capacity of 800 MW and provides water for the irrigation of . Construction on the dam began in 1970 and the first generator was operational in 1978. All four of the original generators were operational by 1979. A power plant expansion project began in 2001 and in 2004 two additional 200 MW generators were commissioned.

Design

The Fengtan is a tall and long (at the crest) arch-gravity dam. Its base arch length is and the dam has a curve radius of . The base width of the dam is . The crest sits at an elevation of above sea level while normal reservoir elevation is . The dam sits at the head of a

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people ar ...

and withholds a reservoir with a capacity of . The dam's

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure t ...

is located on its downstream face and consists of 13 chutes controlled by

radial gate The Tainter gate is a type of radial arm floodgate used in dams and canal locks to control water flow. It is named for Wisconsin structural engineer Jeremiah Burnham Tainter. A side view of a Tainter gate resembles a slice of pie with the c ...

s. Six of the chutes have their flip buckets mid-way on the face of the dam while the seven others are on the lower portion. The original power house is located within the left side of the dam near the abutment and contains four 100 MW Francis turbine-generators. The turbines are afforded a rated

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22. It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...

of and are each supplied water via a diameter

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. ...

. On the dam's right bank, there is a 50-ton

boat lift A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like ...

which is also used to move lumber as well.

References

{{reflist Dams in China Hydroelectric power stations in Hunan Arch-gravity dams Dams completed in 1978

Design

See also

References