Concrete Technology Tests

Background

The maintenance of high-pressure hydroelectric plants in remote, difficult-to-access mountainous regions poses enornous challenges. These result especially from hydro-abrasive wear, which puts major durability-relevant strain on hydro-engineering plants and can significantly impair their operational safety.

To develop suitable measures for the model overhaul of the Seo Ho Hydroelectric Plant, locally available construction materials and the construction typical of the locale were analysed in detail. The high proportion of material and machine costs combined with low labour costs and low level of training are deciding factors affecting construction. Therefore, the main challenge involved modifying existing concrete construction methods in such a manner that durability can be increased at competitive costs using locally available raw materials.

Joint concreting work in the project region (left) and project meeting on concrete development (right)

Objective

The wear protection capsule conceptualized in the KaWaTech collaborative project shall be transferred into a demonstrator and implemented in the project region. This is intended to permanently protect the machinery required for pumping water from very strong bed load transport.

Furthermore, customized concrete types, which enable the construction of jointless gravity channels (e.g. as drainage pipes), shall be developed Increased durability against root penetration and/or crack formation must be achieved to prevent water losses in the pumping route.