The Bend Creek Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Cumberland River in western Russell County, Kentucky, USA. This dam serves at once four different goals: it produces hydroelectric power; it regulates and limits flooding; it releases stored water to allow year-round navigation on the lower Cumberland River; and it creates Lake Cumberland for recreation, which has become a popular tourist attraction. Due to seepage problems at the base of the dam, it has become a major priority of the US Engineer Corps dams. US Route 127 is built on a dam.
Video Wolf Creek Dam
Construction Edit
The Development of Wolf Creek Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938 and the River Port Act of 1946 as part of a comprehensive plan to develop the Cumberland River Basin. Construction began in 1941 but due to World War II and other factors, construction was not completed until 1951. Lake Cumberland is one of four large flood control reservoirs for Cumberland; the others are J. Percy Priest Dam, Dale Hollow Dam, and Hill Hill Center. The last of the power plant was installed in 1952.
While some small towns are affected by dam construction, such as Creelsboro (downstream) and nearby Burnside (upstream), the dam is credited with preventing several hundred million dollars in flood damage.
Maps Wolf Creek Dam
Characteristics Edit
Wolf Creek dam is a dam of 5,736 feet (1,748 m) long and 258 feet (79 m) long with a combination of soil and concrete structures. The Wolf Creek Dam concrete section consists of 37 gravitational monoliths composed of 547 m long dam, across the old river channel. The spillway section contains ten tincers 15m x 11m and six low-level water gates 1.2m x 1.8m. The power intake section contains a buildup that feeds into six 45 MW turbines. The embankment extends from the end of the 1200m concrete gravity section across the valley to the right abutment. It has a maximum height of 65m above the top of the rock. Uncategorized embankments consist of very dense clay and small clays, of the alluvium valley.
Seepage Edit
In 1968, signs of seepage problems on the dykes and foundations of Wolf Creek Dam found clay. Sinkholes appear at the downstream end of the dam, and muddy water is visible in the duct out of the dam. The seepage problem is traced to a karst geology area that allows the dissolution of limestone at the base of the dam. The solution channel caused by this process allows piping to occur, which increases the rate of erosion in the foundation.
The adjacent dam and reservoir are on the foundation of Karst's bedrock. The karst formation is a large vacuum that lies beneath a limestone rock species that appears to be solid. The karst formation is made when limestone rock, over time, is attacked by water through natural settling seepage. Rainwater or snow melt contains dissolved carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which, in solution, forms a weak carbonic acid. The acid that attacks the limestone dissolves it and thus leads to the cavity in the rock formations. When a reservoir of 100 feet elevation is raised above this foundation force, water hydraulic pressure easily releases the cementing clay in the gap and empty space of the underlying Karst foundation.
Typing the form of a concrete foundation foundation into such a foundation; together with injecting waterproof natty into a vacuum between the basin of the dam and the stone foundation (thus filling the foundation void) will usually create a watertight seal above, at, and under the foundation of a concrete dam, at a Karst location.
But Wolf Creek is primarily an embankment hoop embankment. In the form of this construction, most of the dam structures (measured with lengths along the streambing) are highly water-resistant waterfill piles, with only a power plant and (if so) controlled spill overflow located within a concrete monolith. In the particular case of the Wolf Creek dam, the earth's embankment is placed directly above the previously existing streambed; only with surface soil and clay discarded. While the upstream interface between the leg of the dike and the old streambed is nominally waterproof, the Karst solution channel deep beneath the precise mass of the earth's embankment, can directly attack the porous embankment foundation and is not water-resistant from the dam embankment. This phenomenon has occurred and directly leads to seepage problems.
Short-term solutions to install existing seepage channels are immediately used; installed grouting at the dam's dam from 1968-1970 and was credited with saving the dam. The construction of a long-term solution began in 1975 in the form of seepage seepage walls. The wall of the concrete diaphragm is chosen as the right cut-off solution and extended through the earth embankment into the stone foundation. The cut-off wall was completed in 1979.
Recent events Edit
Despite efforts to contain seepage, ongoing monitoring of dams suggests that seepage problems have not been fully reduced and are increasing. The seepage report has generated public concern and if the Creek Creek Crash fails, USACE estimates property damage worth US $ 3 billion. The seepage may have found a new lane around, and possibly through, a previously placed cut-off wall. Since March 2005, around the time when an increase in seepage rate was discovered, Lake Cumberland has been held at almost constant water levels to reduce the pressure placed on its structure and foundations.
At the end of January 2007, the US Army Engineers Corps put the dam under 'high risk' for the appointment of failure, along with Center Hill Dam in Tennessee, both of which are large upstream dams from Nashville, Tennessee. New long-term solutions are proposed to solve, or control, current seepage problems. A curtain of grout and a new concrete diaphragm wall from a larger dimension will be built with newer technology. To reduce the pressure on the Wolf Creek Dam, and thus the risks, the Corps planned to bring down Lake Cumberland to 640Ã, ft (200 m), 83Ã, ft (25 m) lower than normal summer rates. However, this will affect up to 200,000 water supplies from local residents and also encounter resistance from the marina owner, so the water level remains at 40 ft (12 m) below normal. The 40 feet lake level will be held for an unlimited time and will be reviewed frequently. In October 2007, warning sirens were installed in the downstream area of ​​the dam. The first phase of repair works began in March 2006. Phase two, which involved the creation of a dam foundation, began in January 2007.
In April 2009, construction began on a new concrete barrier wall on the Wolf Creek Dam embankment. Concrete walls are planned for completion in 2012 at a cost of US $ 584 million. The benefit-benefit analysis demonstrates the benefits of 7: 1. In 2010, the Commonwealth of Kentucky proposed a new route for 127 USs that would cross the Cumberland River at the first corner downstream, potentially moving traffic from above the dam. Project execution time is uncertain. The barrier wall starts in 2009 completed in 2013 and the lake level returns to normal by 2014.
References Edit
External links Edit
- Visitor's Guide to Lake Cumberland Online
- Wolf Creek Dam - US Army Engineer Corps
- Potential Flooding Map is available online.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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