Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Dams and reservoirs - Some aspects of investigation and design
- In
- Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne
- Imprint
- Institution of Engineers Australia, Sydney, Mar 1953, pp. 146-169
- Description
The author is Chief Designing Engineer, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria.
[This paper was awarded the Warren Memorial Prize 1953.]
- Abstract
The conservation of water is a dominating factor in human experience and the measure of the welfare and happiness of a people is in direct proportion to the degree of intelligent planning for its conservation and distribution. The natural subdivision of a country is by river basins, and as settlement has advanced progressively along the river valley from generation to generation, the pattern of agricultural development and, to some extent, the character of the country itself, has been determined by the use made of natural waters.
Early in the history of Australian pioneering the uncertainty of stream flow, here and there diverted for irrigation by small weirs led to disaster, and in the course of time the necessity for the control of the rivers by the creation of reservoirs was recognised, because, in addition to agriculture, the development of most of the natural resources called for reliable water supplies, and the art of dam building assumed a place of no little importance.
With the demand for greater storages there arose the need for a more scientific approach to the planning of dams, a greater comprehension of the climatic conditions, and a more accurate assessment of the water resources of the country. The dam
of today, whether it be of earth or concrete, is the product of the analysis of the causes of early failures, patient study in the processes of design, continued research into the behaviour of materials of construction, and unprecedented development in field equipment. This paper describes some of the problems associated with conservation of water - the most valuable of all our natural resources.
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- Burns, F. L., 'Dams and reservoirs - some aspects of investigation and design. Appendix 7 - Estimation of flood flow', in Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne (Sydney: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1953), pp. 166-168.. Details
- Chamberlain, N. G., 'Dams and reservoirs - some aspects of investigation and design. Appendix 6 - Geophysical methods in geology', in Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne (Sydney: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1953), p. 166.. Details
- MacNeil Turnbull, J., 'Dams and reservoirs - some aspects of investigation and design. Appendix 1 - Reason for the superiority of the direct shear over the triaxial compression test method for the determination of the shearing resistance of soils', in Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne (Sydney: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1953), pp. 160-161.. Details
- Pavel, Dorin; Molnar, Louis, 'Dams and reservoirs - some aspects of investigation and design. Appendix 3 - Spillway design : The flow of air emulsified water, in steep graded spillway-chutes and channels', in Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne (Sydney: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1953).. Details
isPartOf
- Proceedings of the Engineering Conference, 1953, Melbourne (Sydney: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1953), 169 pp. Details