The Three Gorges Dam spans the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, China. It is the world's largest power station by installed capacity at 22,500 MW. Construction started in 1994 and was fully operational by 2012. The dam is 2,335 meters long, 115 meters wide at the base, and 181 meters tall. It displaced over 1.3 million people and flooded more than 600 square kilometers of land. The dam provides flood control, hydroelectric power, and improved shipping access while also causing environmental issues like disrupted ecosystems and increased landslide risks.

1. VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
PRESENTATION SUBMITTED BY
MOHAMMED NOMAAN
USN 1HK15CV057
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
PROF & HOD
Dr SYED ABU SAYEED MOHAMMED
1

2. Topic of presentation:
THE THREE GORGES DAM
2

3. Introduction:
The gorges Dam(Gravity dam).
It spans through Yangtze River in Hubei
province China.
It is the world largest power station in
terms of installed Capacity is 22,500 MW.
The gorges Dam was started on 14th
December in 1994 and it was fully
operational in may 2012.
3

4. Location of Dam:
The three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River
between Chongqing and Wuhan in East China.
The Dam is 2,335 meters long and 115 meters
wide. The Region that the Dam is in is called
sandoupong.
4

5. 5

6. Satellite View of Three Gorges Dam
6

7. Reasons To Built the Dam:
Improve navigation along the Yangtze River.
Major Highway for movement of coal, other
goods and people
Prevent seasonal flooding which used to cause
loss of life and property along river.
Provide hydroelectric power desperately
needed energy for growing population
Reduce dependence on coal with
environmental and health and safety issues
7

8. Construction of dam:
Project started in 1994 and was to be
completed in 18 years.
Construction consisted of three Phases
according to plan.
Phase I (1994-1997) river dammed.
Phase II (1998-2003) begin water store.
Phase III (2004-2012) Completion of whole
project.
8

9. 9

10. 10

11. Size and Dimensions:
The height of the dam wall is 181 meter(594 ft )
Length of the dam is 2335 meters ( 7661 ft)
Width (crest) of the dam is 40 meter ( 131 ft)
Width (base) of the dam is 115 meter (377 ft)
11

12. 12

13. 13

14. Material Used In Construction:
The Three GORGES Dam is a prime example of a
massive amount of material used.
The main material used in the project were
concrete and steel
The project used 27.2 million cubic meters of
concrete mainly for the Dam wall.
About 510000 tones of steel was used in the
project.
14

15. ADVANTAGES OF
THE THREE GORGES DAM
15

16. Advantages:
Flood Control
An important function of the dam is to control
flooding, which is a major problem for the seasonal
river of the Yangtze
The reservoir's flood storage capacity will reduce
the frequency of major flooding from once every ten
years to once every 100 year
The dam discharges its reservoir during the dry
season between December and March every year.
16

17. 17

18. ADVANTAGES:
Power Generation
The three gorges dam is the world largest
capacity hydroelectric Power station with 32
Generators.
32 main generators each with capacity of
700MW
 Making a total capacity of 22500 MW
18

19. Among these 32 generators:
14 generators are installed in the north side
of the dam
12 on the south side of the dam
The remaining 6 are underground
The main generator weight 6000 tones
One turbine generator costs 50 million
dollars.
19

20. 20

21. 21

22. 22

23. Advantages:
Ships Navigation
i) Ship Locks
The installation of ship locks is intended to
increase river shipping from ten million to
100 million tonnes annually
There are two series of ship locks installed near
the dam.
Each of them is made up of five stages, with
transit time at around four hours.
The locks are 280 m long, 35 m wide.
23

24. 24

25. Advantages:
Ships Navigation
ii. Ship Lift
In addition to the canal locks, there is a ship lift,
a kind of elevator
The ship lift can lift ships of up to 3,000 tons
The vertical distance traveled is 113 meters
The ship lift takes 30 to 40 minutes to transit
25

26. 26

27. DISADVANTAGES OF
THE THREE GORGES DAM
27

28. Disadvantages:
Migration problems
Migration problem was the biggest difficult
point of the Three Gorges Dam Project.
The fund for migration covers 45% of the
total investment.
28

29. 29

30. Disadvantages:
Migration problems
After the water storage, about 129 cities
and towns were flooded.
China relocated 1.3 million people during
the 18 years it took to complete the Three
Gorges dam.
30

31. Disadvantages:
Environmental Problems
i. Landslides
•Erosion in the reservoir causes frequent major
landslides that have led to noticeable
disturbance in the surrounding area.
ii. Sea Life
•300 species of fishes in the Yangtze river were
effected because of the barrier these species will
not cross the river.
31

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. Surprising Facts About
THE THREE GORGES DAM
35

36. FACTS
World’s currently largest Power Generating
Dam.
Yangtze is the 3rd longest river in the Asia
and is 6211 km long running from Tibet into
East China sea.
Steel used in the construction was enough
to build 63 Eiffel towers (510000 tons of
steel)
Over 100 towns and 1000 historical places
were submerged.
36

37. FACTS
Although this Dam can withstand a massive
earthquake of magnitude 7.0 but if it ever
collapse about 360 million people would be
in danger.
The Dam will Actually slow down the
rotation of planet Earth by 0.66
microseconds.
40000 workers were on site out of which
40% were Women.
37

38. FACTS
Official cost 25 billion dollars whereas real
cost was 75 billion dollars.
Total weight of water in the dam is 85
trillion pounds.
Power generated by this Dam is equivalent
to burning 25 million tons of crude oil OR
50 million tons of Coal.
38