Selected project examples
General Overhaul of the Weida Dam, Germany
Since 1955, the Weida dam, together with the Zeulenroda dam, has ensured water supply, flood protection and minimum water flow in eastern Thuringia. For the design and supervision of its general overhaul in accordance with the principles of monument conservation, Fichtner Water & Transportation were charged to manage a joint venture. In addition to the general overhaul, the raw water pumping station at the foot of the dam had to be transformed into a hydroelectric power plant allowing the use of the dam’s hydropower potential. All structures had been built with slag sulphate cement which is absolutely incompatible with all construction materials based on Portland cement. This required the customised planning of materials procurement, standardisation/approval procedure and quality assurance.
Fichtner services
- Co-ordination of the topographic survey as-built
- Examination of the state of construction
- Study of the potential for hydropower use
- Planning of all parts of the plant (service phase baseline investigations to service phase follow-up during warranty period
- Sediment mapping and analysis
- Co-ordination of the hydraulic model tests for the stilling basin of the bottom outlets and for the spillway
- Planning and co-ordination of the procurement of customised construction materials, standardisation and approval in individual cases and quality assurance
- Co-ordination of expert reports on ecology (fish stock, otters, amphibians and reptiles, registration of breeding birds, bats)
- Preliminary environmental impact assessment
- Landscape conservation plan
Technical data
- Maximum storage capacity 9.737 million m³; catchment area = 163 km²
- 2 gravity dams with curved axes (main and side dam)
- Crest length: 169 m (main dam/MD); 225 m (side dam/SD); height above valley bottom: 24.5 m (MD); 12.8 m (SD); crest width: 3.5 m (MD); 3.0 m (SD)
- 2 bottom outlets DN 1,000
- Dam category 1, seismic zone IV
