Kárahnjúkar Dam gains international recognition
The Kárahnjúkar Dam was recognised as a milestone project at the first international conference on rockfill dams, which was held in Chengdu in China on 18th–20th October last year.
At the 1st International Symposium on Rockfill Dams, held in Chengdu, China, 18-20 October 2009, the Karahnjukar dam received an award as an International Rockfill Dam Milestone Project. A Landsvirkjun representative went to Chengdu to accept this recognition and made use of the occasion to describe Kárahnjúkar Dam's design and construction to 450 conference guests from about 30 countries.
A total of thirteen dams were recognised in this way, including five concrete face rockfill dams, like Kárahnjúkar Dam, but this is the first time such dams have been recognised through an award. The dams were selected by experts in the field from various countries, but the final decision was in the hands of the organisers of the conference, the Chinese and Brazilian committees on large dams (CHINCOLD and CBDB), supported by the International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD).
The photograph shows Landsvirkjun's representative engineer Björn Stefánsson accepting the award, along with Gianni Porta from Impregilo. Also in the photograph are the ICOLD vice-president for Africa and a CHINCOL representative.
The design and construction of the 198 metres high Kárahnjúkar Dam is deemed to have been exceptionally successful, especially given that three high concrete face rockfill dams during 1998–2004 suffered damage during the initial filling of their reservoirs. Kárahnjúkar Dam differs mainly in two important respects from the three dams which were damaged, namely, in an even granular distribution and good compaction of the fill material, which reduces settlement, and in the flexible joint fill material capable of absorbing changes in form.
Kárahnjúkar Dam is considered a milestone project because, among other things, some of its design factors have been copied in other dams which are now under construction, including the Bakun Dam in Malaysia, which is now in the final stage of construction, and the Nam Ngum 2 Dam (182 metres high) in Laos, whose construction is also well advanced. Additionally, the design of various high dams now in the preparation stage in China and elsewhere takes into account the experience at Kárahnjúkar.
The Kárahnjúkar Dam is one of the highest dams of its kind in the world, and the highest in Europe. Dams of the same type that are higher are as follows:
- Campos Novos in Brazil, 202 metres high, construction completed in 2004.
- Shuibuya in China, 233 metres high, the highest in the world, construction completed in 2007.
- Bakun in Malaysia, 205 metres high, construction completed, reservoir still to be filled.
- La Yesca in Mexico, 205 metres high, under construction.