BLUESTONE DAM SAFETY ASSURANCE PROJECT
It probably won’t fail(as far as you know)
Bluestone Dam showing dam face, stilling basin and penstocks
History Dam was built between 1941 and 1949 It’s purpose was and is to control flooding
in the New and Kanawha River Valleys It is constructed of a series of concrete
monoliths standing side by side and interlocked across the valley
Monoliths were not anchored into the bedrock
Statistics 2048 feet long 55 interlocked concrete monoliths 165 feet high from the river bed 200 feet wide at the base
Pouring Concrete
View across the downstream face showing interlocking monoliths
Current Problems Recent calculations have shown that the
possibility exists for the dam to fail based on the monoliths sliding on the bedrock and
The possibility of erosion/scour undermining the front of the dam and
Overtopping is also a threat which would contribute to scouring
A series of projects are currently underway to both stabilize the dam and increase the amount of flood water it can hold
Upstream or back side of dam
Potential for Harm Catastrophic flooding from the dam in
southeastern WV to the Ohio River West Virginia State Capitol building would
be flooded to third floor. Chemicals from large scale industry
would be spread down the valley Hundreds of thousands of residents would
be affected
Remediation Program 216 high strength anchors were added to
critical monoliths The dam will be raised 8 feet by installing a
precast concrete wall on top of the existing structure and an additional monolith on the East side in conjunction with
A swing gate closure across route 20 on the West side of the dam
Installation of sacrificial bulkheads on the penstocks
Anchor Installation
Remediation Program Installation of scour protection and
training walls for the penstocks Installation of high strength anchors over
the stilling basis Improvements to the spillway
Completed high strength anchor
Current Status Dam is exponentially safer than this time
last year Project is 11years into a 20 -25 year
project In the event that danger level is neared,
flood causing amounts will be released During the current rain events, Bluestone
Dam is the only flood control dam not increasing it’s capacity
Questions?Lisa R. Morgan, PMP
Project ManagerU.S. Army Corps of Engineers
502 Eighth StreetHuntington, WV 25701