Hoover Dam Research

Hoover Dam
Introduction
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black
Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona.
It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on
September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a
massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was
controversially named after President Herbert Hoover.
Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for
their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and
produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to
build the dam was submitted by a consortium called Six Companies, Inc., which began
construction on the dam in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built
before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of
facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned over the
dam to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume. The
dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers
on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's
generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. The
heavily travelled U.S. 93 ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam
Bypass opened.
Purpose
Irrigation
Before the dam was built, the southwest had several areas where farming was impossible due
to the lack of water. The Imperial Canal project, begun in 1900, took water from the Colorado
south towards the Mexican border and showed that irrigation made settlement possible. By
1905, about 67,000 acres of land could be cultivated due to the canal's irrigation, allowing the
towns of Calexico, Imperial and Mexicali to be established. In all, about 12,000 people lived
on the irrigated land. Today, the dam irrigates more than one million acres in the United
States and a further half million acres in Mexico, enabling those areas to produce fruit, cotton
and grain.
Water Supply
The authorities also hoped the dam could provide a more reliable supply of water for towns
and cities than had been possible before its construction. The resultant water enabled the
development of Las Vegas and other planned communities in southern Nevada, including
Green Valley and Summerlin. Today the dam provides water for communities in Nevada,
California and Arizona, including Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego, supporting an
estimated 18 million people.
Flood Control
Damming the Colorado removed the danger of flooding from the area below the dam. In the
early years of the 20th century, flooding was a regular hazard for local farmers and flooding
in the Imperial Valley between 1903 and 1907 led to extensive crop losses, disastrous for
individual farmers and for the local community. With the dam in place, authorities could
control the flow of the river downstream and prevent floods.
Hydroelectric Power
Hydroelectric power was not part of the original plan for the dam but between 1939 and 1949
a power plant was inserted into the structure. When it was installed, the plant was the largest
of its kind in the world. The design features 17 turbines located at the base of the dam,
generating more than 4 billion kilowatt hours annually. The majority of this energy -- 56
percent -- goes to customers in southern California, with 25 percent going to Nevada.
Lay out and Location
Hoover Dam is located in Clark County, Nevada /Mohave County, Arizona, U.S.
Dimension
Structural Height
726.4 ft
Hydraulic Height (Normal

576 ft
Operating Depth at Dam)
Top Parapet (Elevation)
1236.0 ft
Spillway Crest Elevation
1205.4 ft
Crest Elevation
1232.0 ft
Crest Length
1,244 ft
Crest Width
45 ft
Base Width
660 ft
Volume of Dam
Construction Materials
4,400,000 cu-yds
Streambed at Dam Axis
640 ft
Top of Exclusive Flood

Control Pool (Elevation)
1229 ft
Top of Joint Use Pool

(Elevation)
1219.6
Top of Inactive
Conservation Pool
(Elevation)
1050 ft
Top of Dead Storage Pool

(Elevation)
895 ft
Component of Dam
Hoover Dam Body

Construction of the dam took
3.2 million cubic yards of
concrete. The concrete was
poured as 60-foot square
interlocking blocks with 528
feet of 1 inch steel pipe
running through the 215
concrete blocks. The dam is
660 feet wide at the base and
726 feet high.
Diversion Tunnels
Four diversion tunnels, two
on each side of the dam,
were built to divert the
Colorado River around the
dam construction. Totaling 3
miles long, today these
tunnels are partially plugged
and connect the intake
towers in the reservoir to the
Hoover Powerplant and to
the canyon wall outlets.
Intake Towers
The four intake towers rise
above the lake and dam.
Made of reinforced
concrete, the towers are 395
feet tall and 63 feet wide at
the top. Attached to the top
of the dam by walkways,
there are two towers on each
upstream side of the dam.
Gates in the towers control
the flow of water into the
penstocks.
Penstocks
Thirty-foot wide steel pipes

called penstocks direct
water from the intake
towers to the dam's power
plant. The huge penstocks
transport 90,000 gallons of
water per second down to
the power plant. The energy
created by the water
descending from the
surface and passing through
turbines located toward the
bottom of the dam creates
hydroelectric power.
Hoover Powerplant
Located in the U-shaped concrete
structure at the base of the dam, the
Hoover Powerplant produces
electricity for Arizona (19 percent),
Nevada (23 percent) and California
(58 percent). According to the
Bureau of Reclamation, this power
plant produces an average of 4
billion kilowatt hours annually. This
equals enough power for 1.3 million
people each year. The concrete
housing is 650 feet long and 299
feet tall.
Generators
Turbines, which are giant wheels

with blades, are part of the power
plant's 17 massive generators.
Water moving through the turbines
turns an attached shaft.
Electromagnets are attached to the
shaft and, in turn, these are
surrounded by copper coils. As the
shafts and magnets spin, this
displaces electrons in the copper
coils thus producing electricity. As
the water flows past the turbines it
is discharged back into the river.
Spillways and Outlets

Attached on either side of Hoover
Dam near the top are spillways.
More than 650 feet long and 170
feet wide and lined with concrete,
the spillways function to divert
water around the dam, especially
when the lake level is high. Other
outlet pipes divert water from the
base of the penstocks away from
the power plant.
Reference
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/purpose-hoover-dam-62077.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam
https://www.trails.com/list_32652_what-parts-hoover-dam.html
http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/
http://www.history.com/topics/hoover-dam
http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/pao/brochures/hoover.html
http://www.softschools.com/facts/us_national_landmarks/hoover_dam_facts/495/
http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Facility.jsp?
fac_Name=Hoover+Dam&groupName=Dimensions

Hoover Dam Research

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Hoover Dam Research

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Hoover Dam

Lay out and Location

Hydraulic Height (Normal

Spillway Crest Elevation

Streambed at Dam Axis

Top of Exclusive Flood

Top of Joint Use Pool

Top of Dead Storage Pool

Hoover Dam Body

Thirty-foot wide steel pipes

Turbines, which are giant wheels

Spillways and Outlets

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