Students of Civil Engineering Department of Dronacharya College of Engineering visited “Sardar Sarovar Dam” at Vadodara, Gujarat from 1st - 5th April, 2015 to enhance practical and technical knowledge. The “Sardar Sarovar Dam” is a gravity dam on the Narmada River near Navagam, Gujarat in India. It is the largest dam and part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi - purpose dams on the Narmada river. The project took form in 1979 as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.

Trip to “Sardar Sarovar Dam” covered studies in following five areas ie; Hydro Power, Surface water and Irrigation, Soil mechanics and Geotech, Geology and Project Management. The visit covered three parts, planning part, under construction part and complete project.

Under planning part , student visited the site of “Statue of Unity” for investigation purpose where samples of were taken from bore hole to determine the strength of sedimentary rocks present in rock bed. Electrical Resistivity Test was conducted to know the rock strata, moisture content and water table below the surface. The Statue of Unity is an under construction monument dedicated to Indian independence movement leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Students also visited the model room of “Sardar Sarovar Dam project” which reflect the macro view of the project. Here model of the whole dam area, Dam scale model and hydro power tunnel model is kept for viewing . In “Sadar Sarovar Dam” the spillway gate is under construction which is being constructed by JP Groups. A spillway gate is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed.

Under construction project, student visited the hydro power tunnel which was 350 ft below the rock surface. There are two power houses viz. River Bed Power House and Canal Head Power House with an installed capacity of 1200 MW and 250 MW respectively. With help of penstock of 7m diameter, water with great pressure fill the casing which results in rotation of Francis turbine. The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward - flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. It is a term that has been inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. The power would be shared by three states - Madhya Pradesh - 57%, Maharashtra - 27% and Gujarat 16%.

The students then visited the “Sardar Sarovar Dam” which is 1210m in length and 163m height(from the deepest foundation) made of concrete gravity dam across the main Narmada river. They students visited the Narmada main canal which is contour canal. It is biggest line irrigation canal in the world about 458km (approx.) up to Gujarat-Rajasthan border. Narmada main canal head regulator is also known as “Lifeline of Gujarat”. This canal consisted of 5 gates of size 12.2mx13.5m. The discharge velocity of canal is 1.689m/s. it is huge hydraulic structure which is be understood only by actual site visit.

This Educational trip to “Sardar Sarovar Dam” provided the clear image of components and construction of dam in reality .Through this trip they realized how the life of civil engineers contributed towards the development of country worldwide.