The Arkun Dam hydropower facility on Turkey’s Çoruh River (Turkey) would have been considerably more expensive if conventional concrete walls were used along the edges of the power station. In this video, NAUE Geosynthetics profiles the project and how the use of a reinforced soil structure realized 40% savings on cost for this portion of the project.
It also greatly reduced the carbon footprint of the construction.
HYDROPOWER SAVINGS WITH GEOSYNTHETIC REINFORCEMENT
Heavy truck traffic is a major contributor to the carbon footprint of infrastructure works. For the Arkun Dam site, approximately 700 trucks of special concrete would have been needed to develop the complex foundation without geosynthetic reinforcement.
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By choosing a reinforced soil design with a shotcrete facing, the project improved its environmental rating, dramatically lowered costs, and decreased the overall time for construction.
Highlights of the hydropower facility:
- Provides power to 360,000 homes
- Water flow: 475,200 m3/h
- Output: 880 GWh/a
- Elevation difference between dam and power station: 192m
- Power station base edges originally proposed with concrete retaining walls
- A geogrid baseed geosynthetic-reinforced earth design, saved 40% on the cost of the hydropower facility’s construction in the geosynthetic-supported zones
- Heavy truck traffic to the site was greatly reduced by using geosynthetics
- Shotcrete facing applied
The design utilizes one of the m3 reinforcement systems from NAUE with geogrid, nonwoven geotextile, and a metal mesh skin.
