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PLAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 405 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PLAN ar. C .A0.8 TVater See also:

Face. of 450 ft. of the See also:dam, out of a See also:total length of 17o6 ft., slipped upon its See also:foundation of soft See also:sandstone, and became slightly curved in plan as shown at a, b, fig. 19, the maximum See also:movement from the See also:original straight See also:line being about 1 ft. Further sliding on the See also:base was pre-vented by the construction of the See also:cross-lined portions in the See also:section (fig. 18). These precautions were perfectly effective in securing the safety of the dam up to the height to which the See also:counterfort was carried. As a consequence of this See also:horizontal bending of the dam the See also:vertical cracks shown in fig. 19 appeared and were repaired. Eleven See Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. cxxvi. pp.

91-95. See also:

deed, entirely beyond the portion overturned, which consisted of the See also:mass 570 ft. See also:long by 37 ft. in See also:depth, and weighing about 20,000 tons, shown in See also:elevation in fig. 19. The line of pressures as generally given for this dam with the See also:reservoir full, on the See also:hypothesis that the See also:density of the See also:masonry was a little over 2, is shown by long and See also:short dots in fig. 18. Materials actu- ally collected from the dam indicate that the mean densit . did not exceed 1.85 when dry and 2•o7 when saturated, whic would bring the line of pressures even closex to the See also:outer face at the See also:top of the counterfort. In any event it must have approached well within 31 ft. of the outer face, and was more nearly five-sixths than two-thirds of the width of the dam distant from the See also:water face; there must, therefore, have been considerable vertical tension at the water face, variously com- puted according to the density assumed at from i i to If ton per square See also:foot. This, if the dam had been thoroughly well constructed, either with See also:hydraulic See also:lime or See also:Portland See also:cement See also:mortar, would have been easily See also:borne. The materials, however, were poor, and it is probable that rupture by tension in a roughly horizontal See also:plane took See also:place. Directly this occurred, the front See also:part of the See also:wall was sub- ject to an additional overturning pressure of about 35 ft of water acting upwards, See also:equivalent to about a ton per rim, square foot, which would certainly, if it occurred through-out any considerable length of the dam, have immediately overturned it. But, as a See also:matter of fact, the dam actually stood for about fifteen years. Of this circumstance there are two possible explanations.

It is known that more or less leakage took place through the dam, and to moderate this the water face was from See also:

time to time coated and repaired with cement. Any cracks were thus, no doubt, temporarily closed; and as the structure of the See also:rest of the darn was porous, no opportunity was given for the percolating water to accumulate in the horizontal fissures to anything like the See also:head in the reservoir. But in reservoir See also:work such coatings are not to be trusted, and a single horizontal crack might admit sufficient water to cause an uplift. Then, again, it must be remembered that although the full consequences of the facts. described might arise in a section of the dam I ft. thick (if that section were entirely isolated), they could not arise throughout the length unless the adjoining sections were subject to like conditions. Any horizontal fissure in a weak place would, in the nature of things, strike somewhere a stronger place, and the final failure would be deferred. Time would then become an See also:element. By See also:reason of the constantly changing temperatures and the frequent filling and emptying of the reservoir, expansion and contraction, which are always at work tending to produce relative movements wherever one portion of a structure is weaker than another, must have assisted the water-pressure in the See also:extension of the horizontal cracks, which, growing slowly during the fifteen years, provided at last the See also:area required to enable the intrusive water to overbalance the little remaining stability of the dam. RESERVOIRS From very See also:ancient times in See also:India, See also:Ceylon and elsewhere, reservoirs of See also:great area, but generally of small depth, have been built and used for the purposes of See also:irrigation; and in See also:modern times, especially in India and See also:America, comparatively shallow reservoirs have been constructed of much greater area, and in some cases of greater capacity, than any in the See also:United See also:Kingdom. Yet the hilly parts of the last-named See also:country are See also:rich in magni- Reservoirs unsafe from this cause still exist in the United Kingdom. ficent sites at sufficient altitudes for the See also:supply of any parts by See also:gravitation, and capable, if properly laid out, of affording a See also:volume of water, throughout the driest seasons, far in excess of the probable demand for a long future. Many of the great towns had already secured such sites within moderate distances, and had constructed reservoirs of considerable See also:size, when, in 1899, 1880 and 1892 respectively, See also:Manchester, See also:Liverpool and See also:Birmingham obtained statutory See also:powers to draw water from relatively great distances, viz. from Thirlmere in See also:Cumberland, in the See also:case of Manchester; from the See also:river See also:Vyrnwy, See also:Montgomery-See also:shire, a tributary of the See also:Severn, in the case of Liverpool; and from the See also:rivers Elan and Claerwen in See also:Radnorshire, tributaries of the Wye, in the case of Birmingham. See also:Lake Vyrnwy, completed in 1889, includes a reservoir which is still by far the largest in See also:Europe. This reservoir is situated in a true Glacial lake-See also:basin, and having therefore all the See also:appearance of a natural lake, is commonly known Lake as Lake Vyrnwy.

It is 825 ft. above the See also:

sea, has an Lake area of 1121 acres, an available capacity exceeding 12,000 vyrawy. million gallons, and a length of nearly 5 m. Its position in See also:North See also:Wales is shown in See also:black in fig. 20, and the two views on See also:Plate I. show respectively the portion of the valley visible from the dam before impounding began, and the same portion as a lake on the completion of the work. Before the valves in the dam were closed, the See also:village of Llanwddyn, the See also:parish See also:church, and many farmsteads were demolished. The church was rebuilt outside the See also:watershed, and the remains from the old See also:churchyard were removed to a new See also:cemetery adjoining it. The fact that this valley is a See also:post-Glacial lake-basin was attested by the borings and excavations made for the See also:foundations of the dam. The See also:trench in which the masonry was founded covered an area 120 ft. wide at the bottom, and extending for 1172 ft. across the valley. Its site had been determined by about 190 borings, probings and shafts, which, following upon the indications afforded by the rocks above ground, proved that the See also:rock See also:bed See also:crossing the valley was higher at this point than elsewhere. Here then, buried in See also:alluvium at a depth of 50 to 6o ft. from the See also:surface, was found the rock See also:bar of the post-Glacial lake; at points farther up the valley, borings nearly too ft. deep had failed to reach the rock. The Glacial striae, and the dislocated rocks—moved a few inches or feet from their places, and others, at greater distances, turned over, and beginning to assume the sub-angular See also:form of Glacial boulders—were found precisely as the See also:glacier, receding from the bar, and giving place to the ancient lake, had See also:left them, covered and preserved by See also:sand and See also:gravel washed from the terminal morain. Later came the alluvial silting-up. Slowly, but surely, the deltas of the tributary streams advanced into the lake, floods deposited their burdens of detritus in the deeper places, the lake shallowed and shrank and in its turn yielded to the winding river of an alluvial strath, covered with See also:peat, reeds and alders, and still liable to floods.

It is interesting to See also:

record that during the construction of the See also:works the implements of See also:Neolithic See also:man were found, near the margin of the modern lake, below the peat, and above the alluvial See also:clay on which it rested. Several of the reservoir sites in Wales, shown by shaded lines in fig. 20, are in all See also:probability similar post-Glacial lake-basins, and in the course of time some of them may contain still greater reservoirs. They are provided with well-proportioned watersheds and rainfall, and being nearly all more than 500 ft. above the sea, may be made available for the supply of pure water by gravitation to any part of See also:England. In 1892 the See also:Corporation of Birmingham obtained powers for the construction of six reservoirs on the rivers Elan and Claerwen, also shown in fig. 20, but the sites of these reservoirs are long narrow valleys, not lake-basins. The three reservoirs on the Elan were completed in 1904. Their See also:joint capacity is 11,320 million gallons, and this will be increased to about 18,000 millions when the remaining three are built. Of natural lakes in Great See also:Britain raised above their See also:ordinary levels that the upper portions may be utilized as reservoirs, See also:Loch See also:Katrine supplying See also:Glasgow is well known. See also:Whitehaven is similarly supplied from Ennerdale, and in the See also:year 1894 Thirlmere in Cumberland was brought into use, as already mentioned, for the supply of Manchester. The corporation have statutory See also:power to raise the lake 5o ft., at which level it will have an available capacity of about 8000 million gallons; to secure this a masonry dam has been constructed, though the lake is at See also:present worked at a See also:lower level. It is obvious that the water of a reservoir must never be allowed to rise above a certain prescribed height at which the works will be overflew. perfectly safe.

In all reservoirs impounding the natural flow of a stream, this involves the use of an overflow. Where the dam is of masonry it may be used as a See also:

weir; but where earthwork is employed, the overflow, commonly known in such a case as the " bye-See also:wash," should be an entirely See also:independent work, consisting of a See also:low weir of sufficient length to prevent an unsafe rite of the water level, and of a narrow channel capable of easily carrying away any water that passes over the weir. The See also:absence ofoneor both of these conditions has led to the failure of many dams. Where the contributory drainage area exceeds 5000 acres, the See also:discharge, even allowing for so-called " See also:cloud-bursts," rarely or never exceeds the See also:rate of about 300 cub. ft. per second per moo acres, or 1500 times the minimum dry See also:weather flow, taken as one-fifth of a cubic foot; and if we provide against such an occasional discharge, with a possible maximum of 400 cub. ft. at much more distant intervals, a proper See also:factor of safety will be allowed. But when a reservoir is placed upon a smaller area the conditions are materially changed. The rainfall which produces, as the See also:average of all the tributaries in the larger area, 300 cub. ft. per second per woo acres, is made up of See also:groups of rainfall of very varying intensity, falling upon different portions of that area, so that upon any section of it the intensity of discharge may be much greater. The height to which the water is permitted to rise above the See also:sill of the overflow depends upon the height of the See also:embankment above that level (in the United Kingdom commonly 6 or 7 ft.), and this again should be governed by the height of possible waves. In open places that height is seldom more than about one and a See also:half times the square See also:root of the " fetch " or greatest distance in nautical See also:miles from which the See also:wave'has travelled to the point in question; but in narrow reaches or lakes it is relatively higher. In lengths not exceeding about 2 m., twice this height may be reached, giving for a 2-mile " fetch " about 31 ft., or 1; ft. above the mean level. Above this again, the height of the wave should be allowed for " wash," making the embankment in such a case not less than 51 ft. above the highest water-level. If, then, we determine that the depth of over-flow shall not exceed 12 ft., we arrive at 64 ft. as sufficient for the height of the embankment above the sill of the overflow. Obviously we may shorten the sill at the cost of extra height of embankment, but it is rarely See also:wise to do so.

The overflow sill or weir should be a masonry structure of rounded vertical section raised a foot or more above the See also:

waste-water course, in which case for a depth of 12 ft. it will discharge, over every foot of length, about 6 cub. ft. per second. Thus, if the drainage area exceeds 5000 acres, and we provide for the passage of 300 cub. ft. per second per moo acres, 'such a weir will be 50 ft. long for every woo acres. But, as smaller areas are approached, the excessive See also:local rainfalls of short duration must be provided for, and beyond these there are extraordinarily heavy discharges generally over and gone before any exact records can be made; hence we know very little of them beyond the See also:bare fact that from moo acres the discharge may rise to two or three times 300 cub. ft. per second per moo acres. In the writer's experience at least one case has occurred where, from a See also:mountain area of 1300 acres, the rate per moo was for a short time certainly not less than moo cub. ft. per second. Nothing but long observation and experience can help the hydraulic engineer to See also:judge of the configuration of the ground favourable to such phenomena. It is only necessary, however, to provide for these exceptional discharges during very short periods, so that the rise in the water-level of the reservoir may be taken into See also:consideration; but subject to this, See also:provision wust be made at the bye-wash for preventing such a See also:flood, however rare, from filling the reservoir to a dangerous height. From the overflow sill the bye-wash channel may be gradually narrowed as the See also:crest of the embankment is passed, the water being prevented from attaining undue velocity by steps of heavy masonry, or, where the gradient is not very steep, by irregularly set masonry. See also:PURIFICATION When surface See also:waters began to be used for potable purposes, some mode of arresting suspended matter, whether living or dead, became necessary. In many cases See also:gauze strainers were at first employed, and, as an improve- sand ment upon or addition to these, the water was caused lntration. to pass through a bed of gravel or sand, which, like the gauze, was regarded merely as a strainer. As such strainers were further improved, by sorting the sand and gravel, and using the See also:fine sand only at the surface, better clarification of the water was obtained; but chemical See also:analysis indicated, or was at the time thought to indicate, that that improvement was practically confined to clarification, as the dissolved impurities in the water were certainly very little changed. Hence such See also:filter beds, as they were even then called, were regarded as a luxury rather than as a See also:necessity, and it was never suspected that, notwithstanding the absence of chemical improvement in the water, changes did take place of a most important See also:kind.

Following upon Dr See also:

Koch's See also:discovery of a method of isolating bacteria, and of making approximate determinations of their number in any volume of water, a most remarkable diminution in the number of microbes contained in sand-filtered water was observed; and it is now well known that when a properly constructed sand-filter bed is in its best See also:condition, and is worked in the best-known manner. nearly the whole of the microbes PURIFICATION] existing in the crude water will be arrested. The sand, which is nominally the filter, has interstices about See also:thirty times as wide as the largest dimensions of the larger microbes; and the reason why these, and, still more, why organisms which were individually invisible under any magnifying power, and could only be detected as colonies, were arrested, was not understood. In See also:process of time it became clear, however; that the worse the condition of a filter bed, in the then See also:general acceptation of the See also:term, the better it was as a microbe filter; that is to say, it was not until a fine film of mud and microbes had formed upon the surface of the sand that the best results were obtained. Even yet medical See also:science has not determined the effect upon the human See also:system of water highly charged with bacteria which are not known to be individually pathogenic. In the case of the bacilli of typhoid and See also:cholera, we know the See also:direct effect; but apart altogether from the presence of such specific poisons, polluted water is undoubtedly injurious. Where, therefore, there is See also:animal pollution of any kind, more especially where there is human pollution, generally indicated by the presence of bacillus coli communis, purification is of supreme importance, and no process has yet been devised which, except at extravagant cost, supersedes for public supplies that of properly-conducted sand filtration. Yet it cannot be too constantly urged that such filtration depends for its See also:comparative perfection upon the surface film; that this surface film is not present when the filter is new, or when its materials have been recently washed; that it may be, and very often is, punctured by the actual working of the filters, or for the purpose of increasing their discharge; and that at the best it must be regarded as an exceedingly thin line of See also:defence, not to be depended upon as a safeguard against highly polluted waters, if a purer source of supply can possibly be found. Such filters are not, and in the nature of things cannot be, worked with the precision and continuity of a laboratory experiment. In fig. 21 a section is shown of an efficient sand-filter bed. The thick- ness of sand is 3 ft. 6 in.

In the older filters it was usual to support this sand upon small gravel resting upon larger gravel, tD j t I ] t t ] t ] and so on until the material w ' t t t ' [ I , I was sufficiently open to pass _ L 1_ I t [ r the water laterally to under- : drains.

End of Article: PLAN

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