The required strength of a dam is determined by the water behind the dam. Does one need to account for the water in the river that feeds the dam in determining the strength required? Justify.

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osprey · Answer

Here's a knee jerk answer to a potentially very important question/idea. YES. Rivers are flowing, until something stops them. That's presumably why they're rivers and not elongated puddles. OK, they can be made to flow into very big puddles, or lakes, to spread the load on a dam. But, i the rivers go into "flood flow" - heavy rain, then does the dam' have the "capacity", whatever that actually means in hydrodynamics to "deal" - ie withstand the load ? Yes sluice gates could be opened to relieve the "water traffic" through the dam, but you'd have to anticipate the water traffic, presumably caused by the river. As one of the most important questions I've seen here, this ranks at the very top. Aswan dam is a big thing. Numerous other connections. Bon chance, bon voyage, and thank you for posting this question. Excellent question. http://perendis.webs.com