Moving 4000-ton Precast Concrete Shells into the Ohio River for the Olmstead Dam
Presented by:
Dr. Dale Berner, P.E., President, Ben C. Gerwick, Inc.
Casey Bowden, P.E., Senior Engineer, Ben C. Gerwick, Inc.
A new navigation dam at Olmsted on the Ohio River between Illinois and Kentucky is being built "in-the-wet" using a lift-in construction method by the Washington Group/Alberici Joint Venture for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District.
Up to 4,000-ton precast concrete dam shell segments will be prefabricated on the Illinois riverbank, carried to the top of a marine skidway with a 5,100-ton gantry crane and lowered into the river on a marine skidway and cradle. Next, a 4,500-ton catamaran crane barge will lift the shells from the cradle, and transport them partially submerged to a piled foundation pre-installed underwater. Tremie concrete will be used to compositely connect the shells, piles and sheet pile cut-off walls.
The Corps of Engineers estimates that this project will produce average annual economic benefits to the nation of more than $700 million as the new locks, and associated navigation dam, will operate more efficiently and will pass tows with fewer delays than the existing locks and dams that this project will replace.
Construction of the precast yard took place from 2005 to 2009, and shells are planned to be installed over 6 years, starting in late 2010. The presenters are the designers of the precast yard and the navigation section of the dam. Measuring up to 116 ft long, 124 ft wide, and 80 ft tall, moving the massive concrete shells with associated steel lifting frames by air, rail and barge from the precast yard to the river will be the focus of the presentation.
South Bay
The April South Bay Dinner will feature an informative and extremely timely account of Stanford Professor Eduardo Miranda’s recent visit to earthquake effected areas of Chili.
Miranda's research at Stanford involves development of knowledge and tools to integrate structural engineering with construction and management engineering in order to design projects that perform better, are faster to build and are more economical to design, build and maintain. Other areas of research include performance-based engineering and earthquake engineering.
Michaels at Shoreline
2960 North Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View, CA 94043-1357
General Description
The Program Committee organizes the monthly
programs for the general membership meetings. The Committee is responsible
for scheduling guest speakers, running the monthly programs, providing
announcements and summaries for the Newsletter, and maintaining
a list of past and potential subjects of interest to the general
membership.
Charges
Arrange monthly programs for the general membership meetings:
August, September, November, December, January, February, March,
April, May.
Contact, brief and host speakers at the meetings.
Work with SEAONC staff to make arrangements for the speaker's
audio/visual needs and arrange the operation of such equipment
(including assurance of working projector) plus the lighting
controls at the meeting facility.
Provide speaker's background and topic in sufficient detail
for a publicity article in the newsletter.
Provide a follow-up summary article for the newsletter.
Maintain a list of possible program topics along with the
program outlines over the past 2-3 years.
Maintain contacts with other organizations that we have joint
meetings with (ASCE, ACI, AIA, SAME).
