The Wendefurth Dam () near

Wendefurth Wendefurth is a hamlet in central Germany that, since 1 July 2009, has been part of the borough of Thale district of Landkreis Harz, Harz. Previously it belonged to the municipality of Altenbrak which was incorporated into Thale. Geographical loc ...

in the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...

is one of the dams downstream of the

Rappbode Dam The Rappbode Dam () is the largest dam in the Harz region as well as the highest dam in Germany. Together with several other dams and retention basins, it forms the flood protection system for the eastern Harz. The individual dams ;Königshüt ...

, that provides

flood protection Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

as well as impounding the

River Bode The Bode () is a river in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, a left tributary of the Saale. It rises in the Harz mountains and drains them in a northerly direction. After it discharges into the Saale at Nienburg. The river is named after a leg ...

to provide the lower reservoir for the

Wendefurth Power Station Wendefurth Power Station () is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station on the reservoir of the Wendefurth Dam near Wendefurth in the Harz mountains of central Germany. The power station has an upper reservoir on the mountain top which stores ...

. In addition it is a bathing

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

and also supports

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

Dam wall

The actual

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

is a high

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

made of 16 segments that is above the valley floor and wide at the crest. The individual segments of the dam are sealed on the upstream side with

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

sheets set into the

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

. In addition the joints are sealed with

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

and

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

. The

flexure A flexure is a flexible element (or combination of elements) engineered to be compliant in specific degrees of freedom (mechanics), degrees of freedom. Flexures are a design feature used by design engineers (usually mechanical engineers) for prov ...

of the individual segments under water pressure is constantly monitored. By means of

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

s suspended on the dam wall the degree of flex can be measures. The movement of segments relative to one another is also under constant observation. The wall has several galleries for inspection purposes. Two bottom outlets have been installed at the base. The huge annular piston valves can deliver up to of water. It is currently being investigated whether the water outflow can be used for energy purposes. The bedrock consists of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

that is not particularly watertight. So that the dam wall is not lifted up from underneath by water pressure at the base, the pressure at the foot is relieved by over 40 bubble caps (''Glocken'') with drainage pipes (''Steigleitungen''). The building water pressure is measured at intervals. By means of the observation well, the long term condition of the mountain is investigated. The operator, the Saxony-Anhalt Dam Company (''Talsperrenbetrieb Sachsen-Anhalt''), has made the Wendefurth Dam accessible to visitors. In an adjacent engineering park, old dam components are given a final use. There is a good viewing point over the dam and reservoir at ''Talsperrenblick'' on the hillside beyond the eastern end of the reservoir, accessible on footpaths from Wendefurth. It is checkpoint 62 in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...

hiking system.

Sources

* ''Talsperren in Sachsen-Anhalt.'' Talsperrenmeisterei des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, 1994

External links

Wendefurth Dam at en.structurae.de

Saxony-Anhalt Dam Company

{{Authority control Dams in Saxony-Anhalt Dams in the Harz Buildings and structures in Harz (district) Dams completed in 1966

Dam wall

See also

Sources

External links