Inflatable rubber dams are cylindrical rubber fabrics placed across channels, and streams and act as a weir or dam to raise the upstream water level when inflated. The membrane is a multi-layer fabric made of synthetic fibre (usually nylon) and rubberised on one or both sides. The fabric is flexible and yet exhibits good wear-resistance characteristics. A layer of stainless steel mesh or ceramic chips can be embedded in the surface layer to reduce or prevent vandal damage.
The inflatable flexible membrane dams (IFMD, rubber dams, tiger dam [1] ) were developed in the 1950s by Norman M. Imbertson of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and were originally called fabridams. [2] They are installed in stream and river beds, generally being bolted into a concrete foundation. They are used to divert water for irrigation, temporarily raise existing dams, flood control, water retention for aquifer recharge, reduce or prevent salt water intrusion into fresh water areas, protect low-lying coastal areas from tidal flooding, enable fish passage past diversion works, by deflation, and for sewage retention/separation during flood events. [3]
Inflatable dams can be filled with water, air or both. They typically span about 100 m, with dam heights usually less than 5 m. The membrane is usually deflated for large overflows, but it is common to have a small nappe over the inflated dam. [4]
The Capay Diversion Dam across Cache Creek in Yolo County, California, was originally built as a concrete structure in 1914. In 1994, an inflatable rubber component was added to the original dam and was recognized as the "longest single bladder dam in the world" at that time.
The Capay Diversion Dam is located approximately two miles above the town of Capay on Cache Creek. This dam was built by the Yolo Water & Power Company and serves as the headworks for the canal system. Here, the water released from Clear Lake and Indian Valley Reservoir is diverted into the West Adams and the Winters canals, feeding the entire canal system. The dam belongs to the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. [5]
The balgstuw near Ramspol is a series of three inflatable rubber dams used for storm surge protection. It is situated between the Ketelmeer and the Zwarte Water in the Netherlands. The flexible rubber membranes of the 240 m span dam are inflated by air and water. The balgstuw is built to protect the villages against the rising water of the Ketelmeer. [6] [7]
The Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam (formerly known as the Sunbury Fabridam) was constructed in 1966 and was known as the world's longest inflatable dam, [8] but has since been supplanted by the Xiaobudong rubber dam in China. [9] The dam is located just below the confluence of the Western and Main Branches of the Susquehanna, between the towns of Shamokin Dam and Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
The dam is 2,100 feet (640 m) long and is made of seven dam bags. [10] When it is raised in the summer time, it creates the 3,000 acre (12 km2) Lake Augusta, which is used for recreation. [11] The dam and lake are part of Shikellamy State Park.
Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and white.
A dry suit or drysuit provides the wearer with environmental protection by way of thermal insulation and exclusion of water, and is worn by divers, boaters, water sports enthusiasts, and others who work or play in or near cold or contaminated water. A dry suit normally protects the whole body except the head, hands, and possibly the feet. In hazmat configurations, however, all of these are covered as well.
An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since inflatables depend on the presence of a gas to maintain their size and shape. Function fulfillment per mass used compared with non-inflatable strategies is a key advantage. Stadium cushions, impact guards, vehicle wheel inner tubes, emergency air bags, and inflatable space habitats employ the inflatable principle. Inflation occurs through several strategies: pumps, ram-air, blowing, and suction.
A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. There are many weir designs, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level. There is no single definition as to what constitutes a weir.
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon, is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movements of potamodromous species. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps into the waters on the other side. The velocity of water falling over the steps has to be great enough to attract the fish to the ladder, but it cannot be so great that it washes fish back downstream or exhausts them to the point of inability to continue their journey upriver.
Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the movement of the fluids. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the design of bridges, dams, channels, canals, and levees, and to both sanitary and environmental engineering.
A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's current. It is a strong tide that pushes up the river, against the current.
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 that water does not damage parts of the structure not designed to convey water.
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom, the word can also be used for a longer artificially buried watercourse.
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out or drained. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or repair of permanent dams, oil platforms, bridge piers, etc., built within water. They also form an integral part of naval architecture.
Pneumatic tires are manufactured according to relatively standardized processes and machinery, in around 455 tire factories in the world. With over 1 billion tires manufactured worldwide annually, the tire industry is a major consumer of natural rubber. Tire factories start with bulk raw materials such as synthetic rubber, carbon black, and chemicals and produce numerous specialized components that are assembled and cured.
Cache Creek is an 87-mile-long (140 km) stream in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, California.
An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and a dense, impervious core. This makes the dam impervious to surface or seepage erosion. Such a dam is composed of fragmented independent material particles. The friction and interaction of particles binds the particles together into a stable mass rather than by the use of a cementing substance.
In hydraulic engineering, a nappe is a sheet or curtain of water that flows over a weir or dam. The upper and lower water surface have well-defined characteristics that are created by the crest of a dam or weir. Both structures have different features that characterize how a nappe might flow through or over impervious concrete structures. Hydraulic engineers distinguish these two water structures in characterizing and calculating the formation of a nappe. Engineers account for the bathymetry of standing bodies or moving bodies of water. An appropriate crest is built for the dam or weir so that dam failure is not caused by nappe vibration or air cavitation from free-overall structures.
A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of structural failure characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide.
Hubert Chanson is a professional engineer and academic in hydraulic engineering and environmental fluid mechanics. Since 1990 he has worked at the University of Queensland.
A stepped spillway is a spillway with steps on the spillway chute to assist in the dissipation of the kinetic energy of the descending water. This eliminates or reduces the need for an additional energy dissipator, such as a body of water, at the end of the spillway downstream.
The Riverside Diversion Dam was a diversion dam on the Rio Grande to the southeast of El Paso, Texas. The dam was owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and diverted water into the Riverside Canal for use in irrigation in the El Paso Valley. The dam became obsolete with completion of a cement-lined canal carrying water from the upstream American Diversion Dam to the head of the canal. It was partially removed in 2003.
Red Bluff Diversion Dam is a disused irrigation diversion dam on the Sacramento River in Tehama County, California, United States, southeast of the city of Red Bluff. Until 2013, the dam provided irrigation water for two canals that serve 150,000 acres (61,000 ha) of farmland on the west side of the Sacramento Valley. The dam and canals are part of the Sacramento Canals Unit of the Central Valley Project, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. In 2013, the dam was decommissioned and the river allowed to flow freely through the site in order to protect migrating fish. A pumping plant constructed a short distance upstream now supplies water to the canal system.
ZJA is a Dutch architectural studio located in Amsterdam and founded in 1990 by Rein Jansma (1959-2023) and Moshé Zwarts (1937-2019). To date, the studio has approximately 50 staff and the partners are Ralph Kieft, Reinald Top and Rob Torsing.