The Dongtaizi Reservoir project is a CNY 2.148 billion large-scale water conservancy initiative scheduled as part of China’s 13^th Five-year Plan period. It is located in the middle and upper regions of the Xar Moron River in the city of Chifeng and part of 172 national water conservancy projects in the region. The reservoir consists of a rockfill dam with an asphalt core wall and a concrete gravity dam. The dam needed to have a total storage capacity of 321 million cubic meters with a maximum height of 43.5 meters. Liaoning Water Conservancy and Hydropower Survey and Design Research Institute is the engineering, survey, and design unit and faced technical, geological, and coordination challenges. They realized that traditional design methods were insufficient and that they needed an integrated 3D BIM approach to accommodate the geology, excavation, and dam design.

The team used ProjectWise as the collaborative design management platform, providing a connected data environment for the multiple disciplines. OpenBuildings and OpenRoads facilitated 3D modeling and visualization that helped resolve difficulties designing the ecological fishway and complex concrete dam structure. Using Bentley’s integrated applications, they completed the engineering design two weeks earlier than expected and reduced design errors by 90%. The digital models were handed over for construction monitoring, operations, and maintenance to achieve full-lifecycle BIM application. When completed, the Dongtaizi Reservoir will help improve the increasingly severe flood risk in the area and meet irrigation needs, improving quality of life for nearby residents.