Engineering Disciplines

Constructing the Hoover Dam necessitated the use of several types of engineers to help with construction. These disciplines include Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering as a sub-discipline of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Design Engineering.

Civil Engineering

The main contributor to the Dam project was civil engineering. The main engineer was John L. Savage, who was a civil engineer. These engineers were responsible for the massive diversion of the Colorado River and designing the arch gravity structure that could take the immense pressure of the river.

Design Engineering

The design engineers' main purpose was to design the layout of the whole construction using blueprints and create blueprints to help other people know what to do. Designing the Hoover Dam was a monumental task that took trial and error for the whole design. Engineers had to solve a puzzle on how to fit a massice power plant and spillway system into a narrow and rugged canyon.

System Engineering

Systems Engineers make sure that they have a plan to execute. They plan what would be the best thing to do and what would flow perfectly. Sytem engineers ensure that thousands of individual components function as a single efficient machine. During construction they managed the critical pas of the project ensuring the river diversion was right, concrete cooling, and electrical wiring was correct.

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineers made the design for the hydraulic system and installed them. The mechanical engineers helped make the cooling system for the Dam, by embedding 582 miles of one inch steel pipe within the blocks. And a dedicated refrigeration plant produce 1,000 tons of ice daily, circulating ice-cold water to cool the concrete and preventing it from cracking. The mechanical engineers also helped the civil engineers with making and building the arch-gravity Dam design. The arch design made the dam withstand extreme pressure from the Colorado River. The mechanical engineers also designed massive heavy machinery and pneumatic tools to carve the massive 56-foot diameter diversion tunnels.

Electrical Engineering

Electrical Engineers made the power for the dam. They constructed the generators to convert the water flow to power. With the Hydroeletrix power generators, they designed and installed 17 main vertical hydraulic turbines, allowing the plant to become the world's most powerful at the time, capable of powering 1.3 millions homes. In Boulder City, Nevada, engineers contructed a eletrical subtation to hold the power generated from the dam and to transport that power to Los Angeles, California, which is 266 miles away.

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