Causeway

A dam is an artificially erected wall of a sloped earth or rock fill, typologically a very elongated, solid buildings with upwardly tapering cross -section and often landscape -shaping effect.

Dam as a traffic

The purpose of a dam can be of different nature. On the one hand there are dams, run on which roads. The embankment serves as a base for the tracks in rail traffic. The corduroy is a fortified wooden plank road, which leads through a marsh or swamp. A fortified, slightly elevated road is also called pavement.

Dam for channeling water

On the other hand, serve dams for targeted sewer water. In rivers in flat tracts of land flood dams are built often on both sides of the river bed. These dams border the natural river bed and cut off the water supply to the adjacent floodplain. Some heavily sedimenting flows - for example, the Hwang Ho - form damm similar buffer lines in a natural way (see Damm shore flow). However, in a dam failure is the risk due to the low-lying surrounding area larger than that of engineering structures.

Since the 19th century many river regulation were combined with dams. By straightening and the concomitant increase in the outflow velocity downstream increases the likelihood of floods. Since the great floods on the Elbe and March you may seek of partial renaturation of the river beds.

Frequently serve flood dams not only the sewers of water, but also as a communication. So you will often find so-called causeways.

With dams comparable structures for protection against flooding along the coast is called dike. To change the existing flow and the protection of certain riparian areas from erosion, so-called training dykes are built.

Dam to accumulation of water

Furthermore, build dikes to stasis of rivers. The so-called dams exist in contrast to the dam essentially of a soil or rock fill.

Components

A dam consists of the following parts:

• Dam sole - A bedding surface of the dam
• Dammfuß - transition from dam on site
• Dam crest - top of the dam between the slopes
• Dammauflager - underground below the dam sole
• Dam shoulder - the dam area on the upper part of the slope

Phrase

From the paved road, the driveway, the phrase did not originate on the dam be, which means as much as be sick. Also help someone back to the dam is due to the fact that progress is just better on the road.