Building Two Dams in the ‘Smart Era’

Technology, construction plant and on-site testing have advanced, enabling the construction of two separate dams to a higher standard and tolerance than would have been imagined at the start of the last century.

Flood protection at the Eller Beck Dam has technology at its centre with active river control via a fully automated penstock that uses live data to restrict flows entering the town. The dam is a significant addition to the landscape with a crest length of 623m, a 35m wide labyrinth weir and 150m long reinforced concrete spillway.

Construction works for both the Eller Beck Dam and the smaller Waller Hill Dam utilised drones for project planning, 3D models for the earthworks and construction plant controlled by GPS. Vibrating wire piezometers were used to control fill rates above very soft clays at Eller Beck and computer controlled grouting used for the cut‐off at Waller Hill Dam. However, technology is not always infallible, for example seismic refraction interpretation led to a smaller area of shallow rock head being anticipated than was actually present, requiring modifications to the design during construction. The project is also assisting in Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modelling advances by being the subject of a PhD thesis.

Along with highlighting where technology has been used (both successfully and unsuccessfully), this paper also shares lessons learnt during the construction of the two dams, including dealing with springs; bedrock grouting; embankment fill selection and conditioning; and construction of reinforced concrete structures within the body of the dams and spillways.