2013 – Deformation surveying of dams in New Zealand
Steve Currie
The dam surveillance industry relies on deformation survey data to assist in understanding and monitoring dam performance. My paper presents an overview of New Zealand dam deformation surveying. The fundamentals and best practice of deformation surveying are discussed, along with accuracies achieved and developments in automated measurements in real time. The key to achieving high accuracy in the results is using precise well calibrated survey instruments, many redundant measurements, quality survey marks and rigorous computational routines.
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2013 Papers
2013 – Managing the risk of under-designed spillway training walls: an owner’s guide
Learn moreChris Topham, Eoin Nicholson and David Tanner
A number of Australian dams have spillways with reinforced concrete training walls designed in the 1950/60s to the standards of the day, but which could be considered under-designed according to modern criteria. Such walls commonly retain significant depths of earth and rockfill embankment materials, where structural failure of the wall could seriously compromise the safety of the dam. This paper presents the journey to mitigate the risk of such training walls, drawing primarily on experience in managing structurally deficient spillway training walls for a High Consequence Category dam in northern Tasmania. Reflections from each step of the risk management process are presented, including how the portfolio risk assessment contributed to a focus on the dam as a whole, and how that led to more detailed analysis and evaluation of the training wall risk. The use of instrumentation and enhanced surveillance for risk monitoring is discussed, including how real-time deformation data ultimately led to installation of temporary wall bracing works and enhanced contingency planning. The long-term risk treatment for the walls is presented, comprising a $6m structural upgrade to the training walls completed in 2013. The paper concludes with the learnings from the risk management journey and highlights the range of interventions available to owners with similar spillway training walls.
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2013 Papers
2013 – DAMRAE-U: A tool for including uncertainty in dam safety risk assessment
Learn moreAnurag Srivastava, David S. Bowles and Sanjay S. Chauhan
Based on a generalized event tree algorithm, a deterministic model (DAMRAE) was developed for the US Army Corps of Engineers to support the dam safety risk assessment. With an objective to incorporate the uncertainty analysis functionality for the event tree based risk models, we extend the DAMRAE framework to develop a generic uncertainty analysis tool (DAMRAE-U) for dam safety risk assessment. DAMRAE-U provides a convenient way to efficiently characterize, propagate, and display the outcomes of uncertainty analysis. DAMRAE-U is structured to analyze knowledge uncertainty for the event tree variables and natural variability associated with flood and earthquake loadings. It also provides for separating the effects of uncertainty in the existing condition of the dam system on which the event tree model is dependent. In this paper, we present the details of the developed computational framework. Also, an example risk model to illustrate the inputs and outputs of the framework and the implementation of tolerable risk evaluation incorporating uncertainty in risk estimates is included.
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2013 Papers
2013 – Case study of risk assessment for dam safety management decision-making in Korea
Learn moreJeong Yeul, Lim
For various historical reasons and some technical reasons, the safety of dams has been evaluated using an engineering standards-based approach, which was developed over many years. It was used initially for the design of new dams, but increasingly has been applied over the past few decades to assess the safety of existing dams. Some countries have carried out risk assessments of existing dams that included both the structural and hydraulic safety of the dam and social risk. These methods developed by other countries could be adapted to assist in decision-making for dam safety management. Unfortunately, methods for risk assessment of dams were not established in Korea. This study outlines a beginning risk analysis for structural safety management. The first stage consisted of research on the present domestic dam safety guidelines and reviewing operations for management systems of dam safety abroad. Also, dam risk analysis requires reliable data on dam failure, past construction history and management records of existing dams. A suitable risk analysis method of dams for structural safety management in Korea is use of event tree, fault tree and conditioning indexes methods. A pilot risk assessment was carried out for two dams. The dam risk assessment process was thus established, and we learned the importance of risk assessment. The future includes additional research and risk analysis to develop the system.
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2013 Papers
2013 – Cotter Dam construction challenges and innovations
Learn moreB. Perrin and J. Vida
The Cotter Dam project represents the most significant infrastructure project in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) since Parliament House in 1988. Enlarging the Cotter Dam has increased the Cotter reservoir capacity from 3 GL to 78 GL, representing a 35% increase of ACTEW Corporation’s total reservoir capacity for the ACT region and providing water security to facilitate future population growth.
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At 87 m high, Cotter Dam is the tallest Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dam in Australia. Construction began in October 2009, with excavation of the dam foundation commencing in March 2010. With typically 05H:1V slopes up to 115 m high, excavation posed a number of challenges. RCC placement commenced in August 2011 and continued until December 2012.
Innovation and continuous improvement were crucial to the success of the project. From development of specialised mechanical tools for the abutment excavation, to use of precast, to mechanical paving of the downstream RCC steps, construction practice on Cotter Dam established a number of new benchmarks for RCC dam construction.
This paper will describe the construction innovations used to overcome the challenges associated with construction during foundation preparation and RCC placement for the Cotter Dam Project. -
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2013 Papers
2013 – Risk-based management of two water bodies at a Queensland coal mine
Learn moreRob Campbell, Christopher Dann and Mark Foster
Queensland contains some of Australia’s most significant reserves of mineable metallurgical coal, which is an essential raw material used in the production of steel. The area also has large deposits of thermal coal, used for electricity generation.
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For the many active open cut and underground coal mines in Queensland, the enduring operational focus is to maximise returns and productivity, while still meeting key safety and environmental responsibilities.
Maintaining open cut pits in a dewatered state is often a key factor in achieving optimal productivity of an open cut mine. In Queensland, for many mines it is not always practical to maintain all pits in a dewatered state, given the subtropical climate and significant rainfall that can occur during the wet season, between the months of November and March. In effectively managing mine water while maintaining production, it is not unusual for excess mine water to be temporarily stored in a designated open cut pit.
The typical scale and arrangement of open cut pits at mine sites in Queensland is such that relatively deep and high volume pits can be separated by relatively narrow “landbridges”, consisting of in-situ material or mine spoil. The situation can therefore arise where a significant volume and head of mine water is stored in one pit, with mining operations continuing in an adjacent pit, and the landbridge is required to perform as a water retaining structure. This is a scenario that might not have been considered when the landbridge was originally constructed. This paper presents a study of two such landbridges at either end of a mine pit in Queensland, over a 5 year period from 2008 to 2013, with mining activities in the pit ranging from dragline pre-stripping to open cut mining, to large scale construction works and underground mining. By employing a long term interactive approach with mine operations personnel and utilising quantitative risk management techniques, risks were effectively managed, helping the mine to maintain operations while meeting safety and environmental requirements.