1999 – Working with Safe Dams
Norm Robins
A strategy designed to ensure that an existing dam continues to perform effectively will include:
- a set of operating instructions.
- maintenance of the reservoir components.
- an ongoing review of structural performance.
- a system to indicate the appropriate application of resources.
- the ability to respond to an incident.
This paper will explore each of these issues and how they may be applied to dams in a variety of situations. These situations include water supply reservoirs, flood retarding basins, levees and wastewater lagoons. While each situation is different, the underlying principles will remain consistent. The range of situations encountered by Victorian Water Authorities provides the inspiration for the development of an efficient approach to the management of the safety of dams.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Investigations on Canning Dam Concrete Gravity Structure and it’s Rehabilitation
Learn moreAhmad Shayan, Robert J. Wark and John Waters
The Canning Dam concrete gravity structure located in Western Australia has shown an upward movement of 18.3 mm and lateral upstream movement of 14.2 mm over the past 15 years of monitoring. These movements have been associated with considerable cracking of the upper parts of the dam and the upper gallery. Investigations have shown that the cause of the cracking was a strong alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR) in the concrete, brought about by a deformed granitic rock. Extensive horizontal and vertical cracking in the upper part of the dam wall has necessitated the removal of the section above the floor of the upper gallery level, and construction of a new reinforced concrete section to act as head beam for post-tensioning of the rest of the dam wall.
A set of small diameter cores were taken from the various parts for diagnostic purposes, and a vertical core of 100 mm diameter was taken through the whole thickness of the wall for the determination of the strength properties, alkali content and residual expansion potential. Based on these, a post-tensioning stress of 1.5-2.0 MPa has been calculated for restraining the residual expansion of the concrete. The spillway bridge structure which is part of the dam wall has also shown mild signs of deterioration. The piers and abutment walls and the deck were surveyed for corrosion activity and extent of AAR. This work showed that the spillway bridge structure was sound and only needed maintenance. The performance of a triple blend concrete mix containing a high volume of fly ash (45%) and silica fume (5%) developed for the replacement of the old concrete is also discussed.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Wingecarribee Reservoir Swamp Failure
Learn moreKumara Arachchi and Kelvin J Lambkin
Wetlands by their very nature act as storages of pollutants and nutrients in systems subject to environmental stresses. Wingecarribee Swamp acted in this manner and enhanced the quality of catchment runoff flowing into the Wingecarribee Reservoir until the structural failure of early August 1998 in which 6000 megalitres of peat and sedimentary material were moved into the Reservoir. Protection of the Swamp’s functions and values is directly related to Sydney Catchment Authority’s core objectives of protecting the environment and protecting public health by supplying drinking water of acceptable quality. Due to the catastrophic failure, water quality in the reservoir and the ecological integrity of the Swamp have been compromised. The incident has also resulted in significant dam safety issues.
This paper describes the dam safety, catchment management and water quality response to the failure of a major peatland which covered 8% of the catchment of Wingecarribee Reservoir in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Karapiro Dam – Stability Investigations and Enhancement Works
Learn moreJim Walker, Murray Gillon and John Grimston
Karapiro Dam is at the end of a cascade of hydropower dams on the Waikato River in New Zealand’s North Island. The 52m high, high hazard, arch dam retains the lake for a 96MW power station at its downstream toe. Safety reviews recommended a re-evaluation of the dam stability under seismic loading.
Dam owner, Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ), commissioned consultants Tonkin & Taylor Ltd to carry out a series of studies and investigations which provided better understanding of the dam’s safety status. Investigations located a previously unrecorded continuous low strength thrust fault underlying the left abutment. This provided the potential for movement of the left abutment gravity blocks under earthquake loading, with adverse effects on arch dam and reservoir safety. Investigations showed the abutment cut off walls to be lower than the PMF lake level. High groundwater levels and erodible pumiceous soils were found at the left abutment. These findings prompted ECNZ to implement stability enhancement works.
This paper describes the studies and investigations, peer review process, and design and construction of enhancement works.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Small Dams, Big Issues
Learn moreRobert E Saunders
The vast majority of dams in Australia are relatively small affairs. For example, approximately 90% of Queensland’ referable dams are less than 15 m in height. Most of these dams are owned by small communities, mining companies or farmers, many of which have smaller operations than those of Australia’s larger dam owners. In many cases the dam represents the owner’s sole source of water supply.
Many smaller dam owners are unaware of the key factors affecting the safety and best management of their facilities. Added to this is a general lack of understanding of dam related issues by the community at large. This often leads to significant owner and community concerns (and conflicts) that have the potential to jeopardise the viability, or worse, the safety of a project. The relative importance of the dam to the smaller dam owner often exacerbates these issues.
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This paper serves to illustrate, by way of example, a consultant’s viewpoint of some of the issues encountered on small dam projects and suggests actions that the dams industry as whole could take to improve the situation. -
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1999 Papers
1999 – Dam Safety Management using the Asset Safety Evaluation Tool in the Hydro Electric Corporation Tasmania
Learn morePeter Quinlan and Sergio Giudici
The Hydro Electric Corporation (HEC) owns and manages 54 large and referable dams across Tasmania. Monitoring, data storage and data utilisation techniques have evolved significantly over the years as the dams have aged and as instrumentation, communication and data management technologies have advanced. This paper describes the development of the HEC’s ‘Asset Safety Evaluation Tool’ (ASET) for acquisition, management and interpretation of data relating to dam safety management. The paper also provides examples of how ASET has been applied within the HEC to demonstrate how the primary functional development goals of robustness and practicality have been achieved.
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