Category: Water Resources

Floating Bulkhead Saves Dam Operators Time, Money

When a dam’s spillway gate needs maintenance or repairs, operators need an efficient way to dewater the structure. Without existing means to dewater a spillway bay, owners may need to dewater the impoundment or fabricate expensive bulkhead systems. What Is a Cost-Effective Way to Dewater a Dam? The floating bulkhead allows owners to dewater gates… Read More »

Understanding Highway Hydraulics Keeps Bridges, People Safe

By Pete Haug, PE One of the principles of engineering is that water always wins. Whether contained in a river or falling in a rainstorm, water finds a way to infiltrate basements, saturate soils – and undermine bridges. The most common cause of bridge failures is from floods scouring bed material surrounding bridge foundations. What… Read More »

CFD Hydraulic Modeling Helps Find Solutions to Dam Flow Problems

By Pete Haug, PE Today’s engineering challenges are complex, especially for dam owners and operators. Flow problems around dams include spillway scour, riprap damaging currents, river debris collecting in the wrong places, and uneven overtopping of training walls. Imbalanced flow entering powerhouse units can create trash rack vibrations, excessive bearing wear, and even air-core vortex… Read More »