Monday, August 31, 2009

Atatürk Dam


The Atatürk Dam (Turkish: Atatürk Barajı), originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Built both to generate electricity and to irrigate the plains in the region, it is later renamed after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic, to honor him with its very large scale. The construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1990. The dam and the hydroelectric power plant (HEPP), which went into service after the upfilling of reservoir was accomplished in 1992, are operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). The reservoir created behind the dam, called Lake Atatürk Dam (Turkish: Atatürk Baraj Gölü), is the third largest in Turkey.
The dam is situated at 24 km (15 mi) northwest to Bozova town of Şanlıurfa Province on the state road D.875 to Adıyaman. Centerpiece of the 22 dams on the Euphrates and the Tigris, which all form the integrated, multi-sector regional development project of Southeastern Anatolia Project, known as GAP, it is one of the world's largest dams. The Atatürk Dam, one of the five operational dams on the Euphrates as of 2008, is preceded by Keban and Karakaya dams upstream and followed by Birecik and the Karkamış dams downstream. Two more dams on the river are under construction.
The dam embankment is 169 m (550 ft) high and 1,820 m (6,000 ft) long. The hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) has a total installed power capacity of 2,400 MW generating 8,900 GWh electricity annually. The total cost of the dam project amounted about US$ 1.25 billion.
The dam was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish one million lira banknotes of 1995-2005 and of the 1 new lira banknote of 2005-2009.

Dam
The initial development project for the southeastern region of Turkey was presented in 1970. As the objectives for regional development have changed significantly and the ambitions have grown in the 1970s, the original plan underwent major modifications. The most important change in the project was abandoning the Middle Karababa Dam design, and adopting the design of the Atatürk Dam to increase the storage and power generation capacities of the dam.
Dolsar Engineering and ATA Construction, two prominent Turkish companies, signed for the building of the dam. The construction of the cofferdam began in 1985 and was completed in 1987. The fill work for the main dam lasted from 1987 to 1990. The Atatürk Dam, listed in international construction publications as the world's largest construction site, was completed in a world record time of around 50 months.
The rock-fill dam undergoes deformations that are regularly and systematically monitored since 1990 with different types of sensors. It is estimated that the central portion of the dam crest has settled by around 7 m since the end of the construction. Settlement of the dam crest up to 4.3 m has been measured since the start of the detailed geodetic monitoring in 1992. The maximum horizontal (radial) deformation measured is about 2.9 m.
The permeation grouting work was carried out by subcontractor Solétanche Bachy and the rehabilitation work for the post-tensioning of the dam crest with ground anchors by Vorspann System Losinger International (VSL).

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