Dams and reservoirs need a way to control their water level, and for many, that’s managed using spillway gates. In this video, Grady from Practical Engineering introduces several types of Keep reading
Tag: infrastructure
When Reservoirs Run Dry
With the ongoing megadrought in the U.S. Southwest, more and more reservoirs are reaching historic low water levels. So it’s worth asking: what happens when a reservoir runs dry? And Keep reading
How Canal Locks Work
For thousands of years, boats have been a critical component of trade, efficiently enabling transport of goods over large distances. But water’s self-leveling creates challenges when moving up and downstream Keep reading
The Engineering of Culverts
Manmade infrastructure often interferes with natural waterways, which is one reason civil engineers turn to culverts, those pipes and concrete tunnels you often see beneath roadways. As simple as they Keep reading
How Spillways Work
Human infrastructure like dams have the challenge of standing up to whatever nature can throw at them. It’s expensive, if not outright impossible, to build to every single contingency, so Keep reading