A note on Rubber Dam

A. Rubber dams are flexible air filled or water filled

membranes attached to the concrete foundation to hold
back the water Inflatable Rubber dams are cylindrical
rubber fabrics placed across channels, streams and dam
crests to raise the upstream water level when inflated. The
membrane is a multi- layer fabric made of synthetic fibre
and rubberized on one or both sides. The fabric is quite
flexible
and
yet
exhibits
good
wear-resistance
characteristics.
B. This technology is comparatively recent and has been
tried on many small structures in western countries,
Southeast Asia and Japan. CWC has also considered this
modern alternative at some sites but could not opt for it
being not considered suitable to Indian conditions as well
as on cost consideration.
C. Studies had been carried out in CWC for installation of
Rubber Dam for the following projects:
i. Gumani Barrage Project, Jharkhand
ii.
Vamsadhara Project, Andhra Pradesh
iii. Rubber Dams across River Girna, Maharashtra
D. The conclusion drawn from the studies are as follows:
1. Normal life a weir/barrage is generally considered as
100 years. In case of rubber dams no specific life span
is available. During interaction with some renowned
rubber dam manufacturers, it was informally indicated
by them that life is considered as 25 years. This has to
be viewed against the social and maintenance cultures
prevailing in our country. It would be appropriate to
assume that life of rubber dams in India would be
around 15 to 20 years. Replacement at such short
intervals will be inconvenient and also would depend
on the supplier's monopoly. This assumes significance
due to the fact that India has no facility of
manufacture of such items.
2. Actual slit load at the proposed site is required to be
considered and it has to be ensured that the type of
rubber dam fabric is able to withstand the silt and
boulders. Modalities of replacement and likely cost

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thereof are required to be carefully worked out in case

of damages.
A conventional barrage is also accompanied with a
thorough fare between the banks whereas for a rubber
dam separate provision involving additional cost is to
be made.
The Rubber Dam is susceptible to tampering and
constant watch and ward is required elaborate round
the clock security is required to ensure their
soundness as rubber dams are relatively weak
compared to steel gates and are prove to vandalism.
The operation of Rubber Dam across a major river's
high flood discharge may pose problems as the width
of the river is also high.
Rubber dam needs to anchored in concrete foundation
and may not be suitable for alluvial beds having high
scour depth.
Operation of gates of Barrage during floods is easier
compared to definition of Rubber Dam during floods.
Any failure/delay in deflation of Rubber Dam may
cause serious submersion.
It is informed that Rubber Dam has following
disadvantages compared to conventional steel gates
in general:
a. It can be damaged easily.
b. It has lesser life.
c. It has limited height and therefore not suitable
for large dams.
d. Being a propriety item and monopoly of a limited
number of suppliers, its initial cost and services
are comparatively higher.
e. In absence of technology transfer and being a
propriety item, long term maintenance of rubber
dam might be a problem because of dependency
on single agency.
f. In case of steel gates, damaged part can be
repaired/replaced whereas in rubber dam, repair
to a damaged part is a problem so replacement
of the whole unit is the only solution.