Olef Dam

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Oleftalsperre (15).JPG

View from the south. Left rear: the dam
Location Euskirchen
Coordinates 50°29′42″N6°25′17″E / 50.4950°N 6.4215°E / 50.4950; 6.4215 Coordinates: 50°29′42″N6°25′17″E / 50.4950°N 6.4215°E / 50.4950; 6.4215
Construction began 1954–1959
Dam and spillways
Impounds Olef
Height (foundation) 59 m
Height (thalweg) 54.6 m
Length 282 m
Elevation at crest 466.9 m
Width (crest) 5.7 m
Dam volume 123,000 m3
Reservoir
Total capacity 20,3 Mm3
Active capacity 19.3 Mm3
Catchment area 47.92 km2
Surface area 1.1 km2
Normal elevation 465.5 m

The Olef Dam (German : Oleftalsperre) is located in the vicinity of the Eifel National Park near Hellenthal within the High Fens-Eifel Nature Park in the county of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Its reservoir stores around 20 million cubic metres and is fed by the River Olef.

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

Eifel National Park national park in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The Eifel National Park is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Hellenthal Place in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Hellenthal is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, near the border with Belgium, approx. 30 km south-west of Euskirchen and 40 km south-east of Aachen.

Contents

Description

The Olef Dam was built between 1954 and 1959 for two purposes: to protect the surrounding municipalities from floods; and to supply drinking water. In 1965 the valley was completely filled with water for the first time and the dam officially opened. There were two subsequent construction phases to reinforce it: 1962–1965 and 1982–1986. The dam is made of concrete and is of the buttress type and is unique in Germany. [1]

Dam A barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface or underground streams

A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of 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, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC.

Buttress dam dam with a solid, water-tight upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream side by a series of buttresses or supports

A buttress dam or hollow dam is a dam with a solid, water-tight upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream side by a series of buttresses or supports. The dam wall may be straight or curved. Most buttress dams are made of reinforced concrete and are heavy, pushing the dam into the ground. Water pushes against the dam, but the buttresses are inflexible and prevent the dam from falling over.The Buttress dam does however, run into certain problems that are not as prevalent in other dams. Even though they tend to be more economical they run the risk of not reaching the proper height required to become effective. An example would be as follows with a slope of 50 degrees the crown of each arch will have to be 0.84 feet farther forward at the crest than at the base for each foot of height. This defect will demand that the dam is either much taller than calculated or a lot wider to accommodate for it problem. Another issue is that the dam has to have a proper foundation of bedrock or other suitable material. If the buttresses for the dam are not properly seated the dam runs the chances of a possible collapse. Some problems that might occur during the construction of a buttress dam is cracks along the convex side near the cresting of the dam due to thermal stresses and the dam not being ‘loaded’. Once the dam has been reinforced if cracks continue to occur the cracks will close once the force of the water is against it.

Other uses of the dam are to raise low water levels, industrial water processing and hydropower generation. The power station capacity is 3 MW, its annual energy production is 2.6 GWh. The storage power station is operated by RWE Innogy.

The dam belongs to the Wasserverband Eifel-Rur. Because of its proximity to the Belgian border, its western half is within the safety template of the Elsenborn Training Area in the Belgian municipality of Bütgenbach.

Bütgenbach Municipality in German-speaking Community, Belgium

Bütgenbach is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Bütgenbach had a total population of 5,574. The total area is 97.31 km² which gives a population density of 57 inhabitants per km². As part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the official language in this municipality is German.

The dam had to be reinforced twice because large variations in temperature and shrinkage of the concrete produced greater internal stresses than were foreseen, leading to cracks. The initially open downstream side was sealed in order to limit the temperature variations.

The shortest circular route around the reservoir is 13 km long. It runs along the lakeshore and is open to cyclists. Its northern side is largely tarmacked.

In early April 2007 the downstream face of the dam was decorated by artist, Klaus Dauven, with high pressure cleaners as part of Project Wildwechsel. It portrays forest and river animals from the area. [2]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ There is only one other buttress dam in Germany, the Linach Dam, but it is a subgroup of the Gewölbereihenstaumauer type.
  2. ↑ "Oleftalsperre - Hellenthal, Deutschland | Kärcher". kaercher.de. Retrieved 2017-11-29.

Literature

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