Compression testing ensure dam stabilitiy

A Tinius Olsen 1000kN Super L tension compression testing machine was used throughout the construction of the Tarbela HEP dam, which started in 1974.

In May 2008 the Tinius Olsen team visited the Tarbela HEP dam on the Indus River in Pakistan.

The dam is located approximately 50km northwest of Islamabad, with a volume of 142,000,000m3.

It stands 147m above the Indus riverbed and its reservoir occupies an area of 250km.

The dam is 143m high and 2743m wide at its crest making the Tarbela Dam the largest earth and rock fill dam in the world.

A Tinius Olsen 1000kN Super L tension compression testing machine was used throughout the construction of the dam, which started in 1974.

This machine was used to test rock samples and concrete compression specimens to ensure that the materials to be used in the dam met requirements guaranteeing its structural integrity.

The Tinius Olsen machine is still in use today in the laboratory operated by the Pakistan Earthquake Rehabilitation Research Association (ERRA).

Tarbela Dam is part of the Indus Basin Project, which resulted from a water treaty signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan.

This treaty guaranteed Pakistan water supplies, independent of upstream control by India.

Designed primarily for water storage rather than power generation, the dam was completed in 1977 and was designed to store water from the Indus River for irrigation and flood control and for the generation of hydro-electric power.

The Indus River basin extends from the Himalaya Mountains that form the northeastern boundary of Pakistan to the alluvial plains of Sindh near the Arabian Sea coastline.

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