Founded in 1958, the Hydraulic Concrete Laboratory is specialized in academic research, and engineering and technological research on concrete materials for water conservancy and hydropower engineering, and it is in the leading position in several areas, such as high-performance concrete techniques, concrete durability, and testing techniques and so on. Its business areas cover scientific research, technical development, testing techniques, training and popularizing, engineering consulting and compilation of standard specifications. In recent years, the representative works in application research and consultancy are: Three Gorges Project, Xiaolangdi Water Control Project, high arch dams such as Xiaowan, Jinping I, Xiluodu, Laxiwa, and so on, high RCC dams such as Longtan, Guangzhao,Shapai and so on, high concrete-faced rock-fill dams such as Shuibuya, Hongjiadu, Malaysian Bakun, etc., and the South-North Water Transfer project, and so on.
Research fields
·Academic research and technological research on high performance concrete
·Concrete durability design and service life prediction
·Behaviors and properties dam concrete with all aggregates
·RCC dam construction technology
·Techniques of concrete used in extreme climate and corrosive environment
·Concrete admixtures and supplementary cementitious materials
Representative researches
·Research Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Study on freezing-and-thawing resistance of dam concrete with all aggregates (50579075, 2006)
·Research Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Application basis and key issues research for high-performance dam concrete (50579096, 2006)
·Research Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Study on abrasion-resistant concrete for 300m high arch dam (50539060-, 2006)
·Research Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Study on mechanism of GEVC and optimization of grout materials (50379059, 2004)
·Research Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China: Test study on high performance mass concrete of high arch dam (59909008, 2000)
·Tenth Five-Year National Key Technologies R&D Program, task level: Development and application of dam concrete with high crack resistance and frost resistance (2001 BA307B02-03)
·Ninth Five-Year National Key Technologies R&D Program, task level: Study on frost resistance of concrete (96-535-2-1)
·Ninth Five-Year National Key Technologies R&D Program, sub-task level: Study on corrosion-proofing of concrete (96-535-2-3-3)
·Ninth Five-Year National Key Technologies R&D Program, task level: Study on crack resistance and durability of concrete facing of 200m high concrete-faced rock-fill dam (96-221-02-04)
·Ninth Five-Year National Key Technologies R&D Program, sub-task level: Study on repeated grouting of RCC dam (96-220-02-01-04)
·Key Project of State Power Company: The research, development and application of new abrasion resistant materials under high-speed water flow (SP11-2001-03-42)
Typical projects
·Three Gorges Project Dam: the concrete mix proportions of Three Gorges Project were optimized by the concept of the high-performance concrete, 40 kg/m3 to 50 kg/m3 of cementitious material was saved, the adiabatic temperature rise and drying shrinkage of dam concrete were reduced, and the crack resistance and durability were improved, and more than 200 million Yuan has been saved, and the achievements have reached the advanced level both at home and abroad.
·Jinghong RCC Gravity Dam: during the construction of Jinghong RCC dam, a new type of supplementary mineral fines for RCC, the combination of limestone powder and granulated slag , were developed and used, which successfully resolved the problem of construction of RCC dams in the places lack of fly ash resources, and established the concept of using limestone powder as supplementary mineral fines to replace fly ash, which has greatly enlarged the application space for RCC dam construction technology. This achievement was identified in international leading level by the Science and Technology Committee of Yunnan Province.
·Shapai RCC Arch Dam: during the design and construction of Shapai RCC arch Dam, we successfully developed a repeated-joint grouting technique for induced transverse joints of arch dam, which has been used in nearly 20 concrete arch dam projects. This system was awarded the 1st prize of China Power Science and Technology in 2004 and the 2nd prize of the state.
·Xiaowan Hydropower Station Arch Dam: the lab undertook the "Concrete mix proportion and tests of the concrete properties for Xiaowan Hydropower Station Arch Dam", and "Tests on properties of dam concrete with all aggregates ", and so on. The optimized concrete proportion meet the design requirements, and has characteristics of high-strength, low adiabatic temperature rise, high tensile extensibility , low elastic modulus, high durability, none of autogenous shrinkage, and so on. The proposed mix proportions and the techniques has been adopted by the project, which have given valuable guidance for the quality control, temperature control and crack prevention, as well as the actual behavior analysis of dam concrete of Xiaowan project.
·Longtan RCC Dam: during the construction period of Longtan RCC Dam, the Lab were involved in engineering researches and technical consulting services, including the RCC material selecting, quality control, mix proportion optimization, and so on, which provided scientific and effective supports for the quality control such as cement, fly ash, admixture and crushed aggregates, as well as the construction mix proportion optimizing and the durability improving of the RCC of Longtan Project.
·South-North Water Transfer Project: According to relatively common alkali activities of aggregates in the areas of Taihang Mountain and Yanshan Mountain in North China, as well as the concrete properties of South-to-North Water Diversion Project, a technical specification of concrete AAR prevention for Middle Route Scheme of South-to-North Water Diversion Project were drafted out and issued. Through the admixture selection and mixing proportion optimizing, construction problems of C50 concrete for Caohe River aqueduct and C60 concrete for PCCP pipes of Beijing section were successively solved.
Drafting of Standard specifications
·Test code for hydraulic concrete SL352-2006
·Technical specification for application of fly ash in concrete GBJ 146
·Test code for aggregates of hydraulic concrete DL/T5151-2001
·Technical specification of fly ash for use in hydraulic concrete DL/T5055-1996
·Calibrating and testing methods for hydraulic concrete testing devices SL123 ~ 138-95
·Testing standard of roller compacted concrete in hydraulic structures SL48-94
·Participated in the compilation of Specifications for maintenance and repair of concrete dam SL230-98
Publications
·Roller-Compacted Concrete Dams, State of the art and Case histories(translation of bulletin 126), China Water Power Press, 2006
·Research and Application of the Durability of Hydraulic Concrete, China Electric Power Press, 2004
·Repair Techniques and its Application in Hydraulic Concrete Structures, China Water Power Press, 1999
·Silica Fume Concrete and its Application, China Railway Publishing House, 1995
·Application of Fly Ash in Hydraulic Concrete, China Water Power Press, 1992
·Roller-Compacted Concrete, China Railway Publishing House, 1991
·Mechanical Properties of Concrete and Testing, China Railway Publishing House, 1991
·Creep of Concrete, China Railway Publishing House, 1990
·Concrete Shrinkage, China Railway Publishing House, 1991
·Mass Concrete, China Water Power Press, 1990
Awards
·"Key technique research and application of concrete durability" won 2nd-place award of National S&T Advancement Prize in 2002;
·"Study on RCC dam construction technology in Shapai RCC Arch Dam" won 1st-place award of China Power Science and Technology in 2004;
·"Research and practice of water filling, shipping, and power generation technologies of the second stage work of Three Gorges project," won top prize of Hubei Provincial People's Government in 2004;
·"Study on the standards of stress control for arch dam and seismic structural engineering measures" won1st prize of Yunnan Provincial People's Government in 2003;
·"Study on new construction technologies for Puding RCC Arch Dam" won 1st-place award of National S&T Advancement Prize in 1998.
