arch dam

American  

noun

1. a dam resisting the pressure of impounded water by an arch principle, especially a dam having in plan the form of a single arch abutted by natural rock formations.

---

arch dam British  

noun

1. a dam that is curved in the horizontal plane and usually built of concrete, in which the horizontal thrust is taken by abutments in the sides of a valley. Arch dams must be built on solid rock, as a yielding material would cause a failure

---

Example Sentences

A relaxing cruise through Lake Powell features views of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second-highest concrete arch dam in the United States, as well as the impressive Navajo Canyon, whose 600-foot-high rock walls are covered in desert varnish.

From Washington Post

The water collects behind the Gebidem arch dam, built 50 years ago.

From New York Times

Residents near Boulder are pressing their concerns about construction to enlarge the reservoir, which would require raising the current 340-foot high concrete gravity arch dam another 125 feet.

From Washington Times

This video sequence from “Watermark” shows the enormous scale of the Xiluodu dam, the largest arch dam in the world, situated on the Jinsha River in China.

From New York Times

Andr� Coyne, 69, French engineer and developer of the revolutionary thin-walled arch dam, whose designs have been used on five continents, include Rhodesia's giant new Kariba project and France's ill-fated Malpasset dam which gave way last December taking 421 lives, a disaster that French investigators attribute to a landslide rather than faulty design; following surgery; in Paris.

From Time Magazine Archive