What is Optimization?
Basic concepts of optimization are described using design of a plate girder as an example. First, a way to formulate the problem as an optimization problem is presented. Then basic terminologies...
How to Optimize Steel Frameworks
This paper presents the details of a design synthesis strategy to conduct computer-automated design of least-weight structural steel frameworks, where members are automatically sized using...
How to Include Reliability Constraints in Structural Optimization
Structural optimization is a complex process made of design cycles aimed at finding the best possible solution. At each design cycle ultimate and/or serviceability limit states must be...
Teaching Structural Engineering in Year 2000
The paper addresses the need for changes in engineering education in order to keep pace with the changes that have and will continue to take place in the workplace. Over the past 40 years...
Interfacing Academia and the Practicing Profession
The paper presents a discussion of current topics and instructional methods in structural engineering in the United States. Following a review of typical subject matter in analysis and...
Structural Analysis for the Student
The transition from student to practicing structural engineer can be a very 'eye-opening' experience. From the classical right-wrong classroom solutions of well-defined indeterminate structures,...
Jatiluhur Dam: Problems and Rehabilitation
The Jatiluhur Dam in Indonesia, completed in 1965, is an innovative design consisting of rockfill embankment with a clay core and a vertical cylindrical Intake Spillway. Within the Intake...
Risk Assessment: A Tool for Dam Rehabilitation Decisions
A phased approach to the dam rehabilitation decision problem is presented. The approach is based on viewing the newer dam safety evaluation approaches of incremental damage assessment...
Design Considerations for Raising Existing Dams for Increased Storage
While a number of new dams have been constructed in the United States and other countries in recent years, much of the construction activity related to dams has involved the raising of...
Saylorville Spillway: Emergency to Service Spillway
The spillway for Saylorville Lake located on the Des Moines River, 12 miles north of the city of Des Moines, Iowa, a large metropolitan, was designed as an emergency spillway. Due to subsequent...
Mud Mountain Dam Concrete Cutoff Wall
Mud Mountain Dam is an earth and rockfill flood control dam on the White River. The dam is located approximately 50 km southeast of Seattle, Washington. The dam was constructed in 1941...
Seismic Stabilization of St. Joe State Park Tailings Dams
Tailings dams constructed by the `upstream' method are known to be seismically vulnerable, but field experience indicates that their seismic stability usually improves following termination...
Seismic Rehabilitation of Echo Lake Dam
Echo Lake Dam is an existing dam raising a natural lake in the Sierra Nevada in California, along the western edge of the Tahoe Basin. The dam was an embankment built with steep, hand...
Graham Lake Dam Remedial Measures Project
Graham Lake Dam consists of a 550-foot long earth embankment and an 80-foot long concrete spillway. Several concerns were identified during project inspections including limited spillway...
Twin Lakes Enlargement and Rehabilitation
The Twin Lakes Enlargement and Rehabilitation Project involves an enlarged embankment replacing a two-tiered reservoir system with a single, larger-volume reservoir and new appurtenances....
Bureau of Reclamation Experience with Innovative Solutions to Increased Design Floods
Over the last several decades advances in the hydrologist's ability to estimate floods have resulted in increases to the design floods for many existing drainages. As with other dams throughout...
Rehabilitation of a Toe Drain
Old or improperly designed toe drains can cause trouble for embankment dams. Toe drains installed without proper filtering can provide an easy course for internal erosion and piping of...
Geotechnical Modifications at Meeks Cabin Dam
This paper presents a summary of the geologic and geotechnical evaluation of a potential piping deficiency identified at Meeks Cabin Dam as well as description of remedial measures and/or...
General Design and Construction Considerations for Remedial Seepage Control
All earth and rock-fill dams are subject to seepage through the embankment, foundation and abutments. Methods for remedial seepage control include storage restriction, grouting, upstream...
Coolidge Dam Abutment Stability and Stabilization
This paper focuses on left abutment stability assessments and stabilization measures at Coolidge Dam, Arizona. Initial assessment of abutment stability was based on limited rock strength...
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