China

Three Gorges Dam

One of the biggest dams in the world accomplished by means of luffing cable crane systems.

  • The Three Gorges Dam was constructed by means of luffing cable crane systems of the company “Thyssenkrupp AG” in 1997. In 2020 LCS took over the technology of cable crane systems for the construction of dams and distributes them exclusively worldwide.

    The luffing systems for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China were one of the biggest and most complex cable crane systems in the world. The 150 m high towers could be luffed by approx. 12° with multiple reeved luffing ropes driven by winches, which made a rectangular working area possible. For these systems luffing ropes with a diameter of 48 mm and a total length of 16.8 km were required. Only a completely new assembly concept made it possible to assemble the four towers, each 150 m high, on an available area of only 20 x 65 m and at a height of 80 m above the accessible terrain, without significantly disturbing the construction site located 115 m below the installed cable crane systems.

Customer

China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Co.

Project owner

Three Gorges Dam

Location

China

Year

1997

Number

2

Span

1,416 m

Lifting height

215 m

Payload

25 to / system

Travel speed

7.5 m/s

Lifting speed

2.2 m/s

Lowering speed

3.0 m/s

Working area

1,416 x 80 m

Total cubic capacity

17,000,000 m³