During this technical webinar, a proposal for a hollow core RCC dam named “Bubbled RCC dam” will be presented. The hypothesis of this research concludes that it possible to reduce the amount of RCC, and accelerate the construction using a system of precast units to minimise the amount of cast-in-situ RCC.
The aim of this research is to rationalise the amount of material throughout the constructions of the dam, by creating inner voids, in the shape of bubbles. It is important to ensure that the bubbles introduced do not affect the stability of the dam. The proposed dam would reduce the required volume of concrete by about 12%. Different construction methods are studied, and the best alternative was is the use of precast hollow boxes – this decreases the in-situ RCC required for the dam construction by 32.5%. The objective is to speed up the construction process, and minimise the risks of heat of hydration.
