THE LONG TIME EFFECTS OF ERTAN ARCH DAM

摘要

Ertan Hydropower Plant, located in Panzhihua City of Sichuan province in China, is the fourth cascade of the five projects being developed in the lower reaches of the Yalong River. With an installed capacity of 3,300 MW, Ertan was the largest hydropower project in China completed in the 20th century. The project is large in scale and complicated in technology, with a number of technical indicators leading the industry in the world. The 240m high double-curvature arch dam was the highest in China and the third highest in the world at that time among the same type of dams. Since the first filling of the reservoir in 1998, the arch dam has been in safe operation for 10 years. Several measures adopted to ensure the long time effects of the dam are summarized. In addition, the details of operating conditions of the past 10 years and operational characteristics based on the long-time monitoring data are presented in this paper. It is believed that the experiences accumulated in the design, construction and operation of Ertan dam may be of help to other arch dam projects.