2003 – Coping with Probable Maximum Flood – An Alliance Project Delivery for Wivenhoe Dam

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  Papers2003

  2003 – ENERGY DISSIPATION IN CONCRETE INTAKE TOWERS SUBJECT TO EXTREME EARTHQUAKES AND ASSOCIATED REDUCTION IN INERTIA LOADS

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  In 1998, ANCOLD Guidelines entitled “Guidelines for Design of Dams for Earthquake” was issued. The Guideline mainly deals with the seismic aspects of dams and only a basic reference is made to the seismic assessment of intake towers in Section 8.3. Although the much needed and pioneering step taken to introduce this Guideline is to be appreciated and it has covered the seismic aspects of dams, some confusion does exist amongst dam / structural engineers in assessing the seismic performance of concrete intake towers. This is mainly due to the fact the behaviour of reinforced concrete intakes towers is quite different from that of earth or concrete gravity dams. This confusion could potentially lead to gross overestimate of the inertia loads on concrete intake towers resulting in unnecessary expenditure in investigation and remedial works.

  The energy dissipation due to inelastic hysteresis behaviour of concrete members results in a great reduction in the inertia loads compared with those calculated with traditional “elastic” analysis methods. This consequently results in significant reductions in bending moments and shear forces on the tower and its foundation. It is very important to understand the basic behaviour of reinforced concrete, considering the composite action of concrete, longitudinal & hoop reinforcing steel, before embarking in sophisticated dynamic analysis the outputs of which are highly dependent on the input parameters

  The authors have developed a methodology in which the hysteresis energy dissipation due to the inelastic behaviour of concrete intake towers is considered. Various criteria were defined for serviceability and ultimate failure modes such as excessive deflection, spalling of concrete, buckling of reinforcing steel. The confinement effect of hoop steel on the core concrete is also considered.

  This paper will present the fundamental aspects of seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete structures with practical cases as applied to intake towers. The results showed that the current methods adopted by various Dam Authorities in Australia are cursory and the energy dissipation aspect should be considered, in conjunction with expert advice, before undertaking any remedial works.

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  Papers2003

  2003 – THE IMPACT OF THE REVISION OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES IN THE GTSM REGION OF AUSTRALIA

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  The Bureau of Meteorology has recently revised the Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) estimates for the Generalised Tropical Storm Method (GTSM) region of Australia. The revision process has involved the application of the more technically rigorous Generalised Southeast Australia Method (GSAM) that was previously developed for the southern part of Australia to a much larger data set of severe tropical storms. This has generally lead to an increase in the total GTSM PMP depths with a resultant increase in the Probable Maximum Precipitation Design Flood (PMPDF) and the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF).

  In addition, the revision process has produced significant modifications to the temporal and spatial patterns adopted when applying the PMP depths to a dam’s catchment and these changes have also generally lead to increases in the resultant floods.

  This paper discusses the rationale behind the increases in PMP depths and changes in the associated temporal and spatial patterns and presents the justification for the adoption of these more scientifically defensible estimates.

  The application of the revised PMP estimates to the Keepit Dam catchment in northern NSW is presented and a comparison between the PMPDF and PMF estimates based on the original GTSM and the revised GTSM (GTSMR) made for this specific case study.

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  Papers2003

  2003 – COPING WITH PROBABLE MAXIMUM FLOOD – AN ALLIANCE PROJECT DELIVERY FOR WIVENHOE DAM

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  SEQWater is the major supplier of untreated water in bulk to Local Governments and industry in the South East Queensland region of Australia, through ownership of Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine Dams. Wivenhoe Dam (Lake Wivenhoe) is located on the Brisbane River in Esk Shire. The storage provides both flood mitigation and water supply storage to Brisbane and Ipswich. The water supply storage capacity at full supply level is 1,160 GL. An additional 1,450 GL of storage above full supply level is used for flood mitigation.

  Changes to the estimation of extreme rainfall events has resulted in significant increases in the estimates of the PMF since the original design of Wivenhoe Dam. To upgrade the flood security of Wivenhoe Dam, SEQWater has formed an alliance with Leighton Contractors, Coffey Geosciences, MWH and the NSW Department of Commerce.

  This paper details the alliance delivery method, the latest estimates of the PMF based on the GTSMR method and details of the two preferred options being finalised by the Alliance.

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  Papers2003

  2003 – NUMERICAL FLOW ANALYSIS FOR SPILLWAYS

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  Many dam structures in Australia were designed and built in the 1950s and 60s with limited hydrological information. As a result existing spillway structures are under-sized for today’s revised probable maximum floods (PMF). Potential problems such as the generation of excessive negative pressure over spillway crest under increased flood condition could be encountered. This may cause instability or cavitation damage to the spillway. The raised flow profile may also have adverse impacts on crest bridges and gate structures.

  Historically, physical models have been constructed in hydraulic laboratories to study these behaviours, but they are expensive, time-consuming and there are many difficulties associated with scaling effects. Today, with the use of high-performance computers and more efficient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes, the behaviour of hydraulic structures can be investigated numerically in reasonable time and expense.

  This paper describes the two- and three-dimensional CFD modelling of spillway behaviour under rising flood levels. The results have been validated against published data and good agreement was obtained. The technique has been applied to investigate several spillway structures in Australia.

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