*Support Strength Criteria and Intelligent Design of Underground Powerhouses DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102791*

the top 10 underground hydropower plants of installed capacity that have been built in the world are shown in **Table 1**.

The underground plant caverns are generally located in the hills downstream of the dam, mainly consisting of the diversion cavity, underground plant, traffic cavity, transformer room, surge chamber, and tailwater cavity, as shown in **Figure 1**. When designing the location of the plant, the longitudinal axis of the plant should have a small angle to the direction of the maximum principal stress of the initial ground stress and a large angle to the main structural surface, which is conducive to the stability of the cavern envelope.


**Table 1.**

*Top 10 installed capacity underground hydropower plants in the world.*
