The Role of Geological Investigations for Dam Siting: Mosul Dam a Case Study

Dams are engineering structures constructed for different purposes. They are of different sizes, shapes and types. In all cases, many essential studies should be carried out before deciding the location, type and size of the dam. Among those studies is the geological investigations which should be c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geotechnical and geological engineering 2020-04, Vol.38 (2), p.2085-2096
Main Authors: Sissakian, Varoujan K., Adamo, Nasrat, Al-Ansari, Nadhir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
Construction materials
Consultancies
Contractors
Damsites
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Foundations
Geological hazards
Geological investigations
Geology
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Geoteknik
Grouting
Gypsum
Hydrogeology
Karstification
Limestone
Mosul Dam
Original Paper
Soil Mechanics
Terrestrial Pollution
Waste Management/Waste Technology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Dams are engineering structures constructed for different purposes. They are of different sizes, shapes and types. In all cases, many essential studies should be carried out before deciding the location, type and size of the dam. Among those studies is the geological investigations which should be carried out to deduce the geological conditions in the most relevant site, depth of the foundations and their types, cut-off depth, type of the available construction materials, and type of the expected geological hazards. Without proper geological investigations, the siting of a dam will cause serious hazards during construction and during commissioning of the dam. In this study, Mosul Dam case is considered as the consequences of inadequate geological investigations which were carried out by the contractor and supervised by Swiss Consultant. The location of the dam site and its foundations are built over a highly karstified area, where gypsum and limestone beds are exposed and exist deep under the ground surface, and even deeper than the foundations. Accordingly, grouting treatment was carried out and still on going, but all the attempts to have a safe and relevant dam were in vain. In this study we have provided the essential studies which should be included during the geological investigation to have a safe and sound dam.
ISSN:0960-3182
1573-1529
1573-1529
DOI:10.1007/s10706-019-01150-2