Estimating RCC Costs for Dams

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The Portland Cement Association (PCA) maintains a database on many roller-compacted concrete (RCC)
water resource projects completed in the United States. The database includes in-place unit costs for RCC.
This information maybe useful in estimating costs on proposed projects. To assist in estimating costs, PCA
has developed cost curves based on actual unit bid prices for the two most common uses for RCC in water
resources applications: gravity dams and dam rehabilitation projects in which RCC is used for spillways,
overtopping protection, and as a concrete buttress.
Gravity Dams
Figure I plots cost data from actual RCC gravity dam projects. The RCC unit prices
include all material costs (i.e., aggregate, cement, pozzolans, water and
admixtures); plus mixing, conveying, placing, formwork, cleanup and curing. Also
included are labor and equipment costs to mix and place the RCC. Project
mobilization costs are not included.
The cement and pozzolan content for each project varies widely. To minimize the
effect of this variable, unit costs for each project were adjusted to assume 150 pcy of cement and 90 pcy of
fly ash or simply 195 pcy of cement with no fly ash. When using Figure I to develop preliminary cost
estimates, the unit price derived from the curve should be adjusted to reflect the actual cementitious
content of the particular project.
Rehabilitation and Spillways
Figure 2 provides a baseline for projects where RCC is used in the
rehabilitation of existing dams and for new project spillways. The curve
was developed from actual projects in which RCC was used for
emergency spillways, overtopping protection, and the buttressing of
existing concrete and masonry dams. Unlike the gravity dam analysis, no
efforts were made to adjust project unit prices to a baseline cementitious
quantity. Typically, projects represented in Figure 2 generally have
cement contents between 250-325 pcy.
The cost curves serve as a baseline but the specifics of each project must be
taken into account and appropriate adjustments made to the unit cost to reflect
the uniqueness of the project. A variety of factors can influence the unit price of
RCC as can be seen from the scatter of the data points in the figures. These
factors include contractor's experience, availability and size of access and staging
areas, contractor's flexibility in choosing conveyance and mixing equipment, the
extent of RCC forming, the length of the allowable RCC placement window before
special methods have to be employed for temperature control, and the availability of the aggregate source,
to name a few.
In developing the two cost curves, each project's bid unit price was adjusted from the year it was bid to the
current year using a construction cost index developed by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The index
accounts for inflation from the time the project was bid to the year shown on the figure. For gravity dams,
PCA used the USBR's cost factors for concrete dams. For the rehabilitation and spillway projects, an average
was taken of cost factors for concrete dams and embankment dams. Averaging the cost factors was thought
to provide a better representation of the type of work performed for dam rehabilitation and spillway
construction.
Latest Cost of In-Place RCC on Recent Dam Projects

Bid tabulations from several RCC dam projects completed after 2003 show that the unit cost of in-place RCC
approximately ranges from $75 to $142 per yd
3
(from $98 to $186 per m
3
). This unit cost includes cost of
materials, mixing, transporting, placing and curing. It is based on reported bid prices of successful bidders.
For detailed cost information on eight recent projects, click here.