Original name
Shannon hydroelectric scheme, Ardnacrusha Power Station
Original use
Industry/power plant
Current use
Industry/power plant
Engineers
Siemens Schuckertwerke, Thomas Aloysius McLaughlin
Concrete by reinforcement
Therefore, it performs well in compression, but its ability to withstand tensile stresses will be very limited.
Construction method
In this case, the concrete can be made by mixing the components directly on site, or it may be transported from a production plant in concrete-mixer trucks.
This method has the disadvantage of leaving the concrete exposed to the elements while it is setting. Whereas, with other methods, the environmental conditions can be controlled during setting, providing greater control over the outcome, with cast-in-place concrete a series of tests and protocols are necessary to verify its final strength.
Architectural concrete
- textured walls
- wooden formwork finish
- stamped concrete
- exposed aggregate concrete, colored concrete, etc.
Structural types
Mass concrete structures include large slabs and foundation elements, dams, and other concrete structures in which the minimum dimension is larger than three meters.
State of Conservation
Description
Ardnacrusha is one of the key elements in the Shannon Scheme: the infrastructure system that enables using the Shannon River for the production of electrical energy. This construction effort was one of the first undertaken by the Irish government after Ireland’s independence, in the 1920s, and it provided for the creation of an electricity distribution network for the whole island. The immense cost and the ambitious scope of the project helped the newly created state to demonstrate its management capabilities and build confidence both inside and outside the country.
Despite the government’s broad involvement and the participation of a team of Irish engineers leading the project, the company chosen to carry out the construction was the German firm Siemens-Schuckert. At the height of activity, as many as 5,200 workers were involved. The need to create new communication networks, encompassing rail lines, roads and shipping docks, to handle the construction logistics ended up mobilizing, directly or indirectly, a large part of the country.
The Shannon Scheme, of which the Ardnacrusha dam is still the most emblematic element, included bridges, temporary canals to divert water, and other permanent and navigable canals that functioned as a bypass to get around the new dams. In total, 9 million cubic meters of earth were moved during the construction, making this one of the largest civil engineering projects in the world at the time.
In the Ardnacrusha dam, the engineering use of concrete is combined with the architecture of the turbine hall, which recalls the traditional constructions of the area, although translated onto a colossal scale.
Ireland
Headrace Canal
Clare P94P+6V Ballykeelaun
Commission
1925
Completion
1930
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