From Good to Great: The Evolution of Cutoff Wall Quality Control and Verification Techniques
The last three decades have brought tremendous improvements to quality control (QC) procedures for construction and post-construction verification of deep cutoff walls installed in active high-hazard dams....
Dry Dams and the Dayton Flood of 1913: The Origins of Integrated Systems Engineering Concepts
This article examines the history of integrated flood protection with particular focus on the 1913 Dayton Flood....
Small Projects are Big Deals
Geotechnical engineers work on a wide array of projects, ranging from small retaining walls or pavement projects, to construction of dams, canals, and foundations for bridges and high-rise...
So, Why Do You Want to Write a GBR?
Since 1974, scores of papers, articles, conferences, and legal documents have been dedicated to explaining how to write and/or how to use a Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR). But the...
The Best Surprise is No Surprise: The Geotechnical Engineer's Ethical Responsibility to Say No to Bidding
The subsurface characterization work that a geotechnical engineer must perform is critical to the success of every project that requires the cooperation of the ground, regardless of whether...
Calendar: Bridges 2010
Featured bridges are: Chesapeake Bay Bridge, MD; Pedestrian Bridge, TX; Pont Gustave Flaubert, France; Leonard P. Zakim Bridge, MA; Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia; Tacoma Narrows Bridge,...
Discussion of Time for Development of Internal Erosion and Piping in Embankment Dams by Robin Fell, Chi Fai Wan, John Cyganiewicz, and Mark Foster
(Originally published in
Estimating Slope Stability Reduction due to Rain Infiltration Mounding
(Originally published in
The Levees Fail
This chapter examines the failure of levees against storm forces and the flooding that ensued....
Contributing Factors
This chapter examines contributing factors of the hurricane protection system failures, including the underappreciated risk to New Orleans, a piecemeal implementation of the hurricane...
Calendar: A 1987 Calendar of Dams of the United States
Featured dams are: Grand Coulee Dam (CA); Buffalo Bill Dam (WY); Oroville Dam (CA); Norris Dam (TN); Theodore Roosevelt Dam (AR); Hoover Dam (AR & NE); Willow Creek Dam (OR); Flaming...
Calendar: A 1984 Calendar Illustrating National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
Featured landmarks are: John A. Riebkubg Bridge (KY & OH); A Hydraulic Powered Inclined Plane of the Morris Canal; Buffalo Bill Dam (WY); The Philadelphia Municipal Water Supple...
Calendar: A 1982 Calendar Illustrating National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
Featured landmarks are: The Erie Canal (NY); High Bridge (NY); The Joining of the Rails if the First Transcontinental Railroad (UT); Mormon Tabernacle (UT); Theodore Roosevelt Dam and...
River Renaissance
Once dismissed as radical, dam removal is increasingly being viewed as a viable option for resolving the safety and aging dams. By participating in a growing number of dam removal projects,...
Pressure Relief
When the two basins making up a 90 acre reservoir in New York needed to be emptied and cleaned, engineers decided to use the 2,750 ft (840 m) long concrete wall dividing them as a dam....
Panel Discussion: Synthesis - What Does It All Mean?
This final panel and group discussion revisted topics from all of the week's sessions. It was acknowledged that the conference has addressed the threat of terrorism to diverse systems...
A Better Barrier
Seepage problems have troubled the Walter F. George Lock and Dam, on the Chattahoochee River, for more than 40 years. Construction of a deep positive cutoff wall is nearing completion,...
A Dam for a Dam
The General Electric (GE) Dam in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was more than a century old when it began leaking excessively in December 1998. Operations staff for the dam owner�the Minneapolis-based...
Revised Operation of a Dam and Reservoir to Achieve Environmental Objectives
Alamo Dam and Lake are located in the State of Arizona in the western part of the United States of America. The dam is located 62.8 km (39 mi) upstream (east) from the rivers confluence...
Redesigning the San Roque Dam
Engineers updated a 20-year-old design for the San Roque Dam in the Philippines to save time and money and improve the dam's ability to withstand earthquakes. The structure...
Return to search