August 22, 2008

Over the last few months Pakistan has suffered from regular power outages and this has beenColorful bus particularly severe in the rural areas of the country. Therefore, an invitation to see the largest Hydro-power station in the world, the Tarbela Dam close to Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute in district Swabi came as a welcome.

However, on arrival at the Dam I quickly realized this was not just a tour, but an invitation to solve a problem. Out of the four water inlet valves two were working at 30% efficiency because of cracks that had developed at some fillet welds made along the “webbing plates”. With colleagues from UET Peshawar we are now studying some data on water pressure fluctuations and previous welding process parameters used to ensure that proper welding guidelines had been adopted in some earlier repair work.
Wherever you go you can see that Pakistanis love colour and this is seen in their clothes, homes and transport. The summer has been hot and kids cool off with their farm animals.

Cooling off