Liuxihe Dam


The Liuxihe Dam is an arch dam on the Liuxihe River near Conghua, in Guangdong Province, China. The main purpose of the project is hydroelectric power generation with additional purposes of flood control and irrigation. The dam is tall and was constructed between 1956 and 1958.

Construction

In September 1955, planning for dams in the Luixihe River basin began and by January 1956, plans for the Liuxihe Dam were complete. In August 1956, construction on the dam began and excavation commenced the next month and continued until April 1957, removing of rock and material. The same month that excavation was complete, concrete placement began and continued until September 1958. Earlier in August, the first generator was placed online and the rest were operational by the end of 1958. Originally, the dam support 4 x 10.5 MW generators but in 1993, they were upgraded to 12 MW each.

Design

The dam is a long and high double-curvature arch dam with a crest width of and base width of. The dam is composed of of concrete and contains seven openings on its surface to discharge water downstream. Each opening is wide and high with a discharge capacity of each. A long discharge tunnel with a maximum capacity of is also built on the dam's right bank.
An axillary dam was built in conjunction with the project in order to protect low-lying areas from the reservoir. It is located about northwest of the main dam and is an embankment type. The dam is tall and long while having a structural volume of. After the completion of the Huanglongdai Dam in June 1975, the downstream side of the auxiliary dam is now the Huanglongdai Reservoir in which it now serves to regulate both.