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Kariba Dam

  • RAZEL-BEC
  • Water
  • Water

Stabilisation of the catchment basin of the Kariba dam on the Zambezi river, the natural frontier between Zambia and Zimbabwe, by the teams of Razel-Bec. 

THE STABILITY OF THE DAM IN DANGER


Since completion of the dam in 1961, the energy produced by the head of water on the discharge from the dam has resulted in erosion at the foot of the dam to a depth of 80 metres, threatening the stability of the dam in the long term and consequently its destruction. The solution adopted by the technical experts of the Main Contractor to halt that phenomenon and ensure the stability of the dam was to create a basin to dissipate the energy in the area of erosion.

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300 000 m3 removal of rock

THE UNIQUE EXPERTISE OF RAZEL-BEC


That requires blasting the gneiss, loading and removing 300,000 cubic metres of rock in order to build the energy dissipation basin. Before undertaking such delicate tasks, it is planned to start by building a temporary coffer dam made of sunken concrete piles with the insertion of steel stop gates between them to remove all the water from the work area, a structure within the structure as part of the project.