21st Century Dam Design

Advances and Adaptations

31st Annual USSD Conference

San Diego, California, April 11-15, 2011

Hosted by
Black & Veatch Corporation
GEI Consultants, Inc.
Kleinfelder, Inc.
MWH Americas, Inc.
Parsons Water and Infrastructure Inc.
URS Corporation

On the Cover
Artist's rendition of San Vicente Dam after completion of the dam raise project to increase local storage and provide
a more flexible conveyance system for use during emergencies such as earthquakes that could curtail the regions
imported water supplies. The existing 220-foot-high dam, owned by the City of San Diego, will be raised by 117
feet to increase reservoir storage capacity by 152,000 acre-feet. The project will be the tallest dam raise in the
United States and tallest roller compacted concrete dam raise in the world.

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Copyright 2011 U.S. Society on Dams
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PLANNING AND COST REDUCTION CONSIDERATIONS FOR RCC DAM

CONSTRUCTION
Adam Zagorski1
Mike Pauletto2
INTRODUCTION
The San Vicente Dam Raise Project is currently being constructed for the San Diego
County Water Authority (SDCWA) and the City of San Diego in the hills east of San
Diego near Lakeside, California by Shimmick-Obayashi Joint Venture. The City of San
Diego is the owner of the dam and original reservoir storage, while SDCWA will take
ownership of the incremental storage capacity created from the raised dam. The purpose
of the project is to raise the existing dam 117 ft and increase the reservoir storage
capacity from 90,000 acre ft to 242,000 acre ft (see figure 1). In addition to the main
dam raise portion, there is construction of a saddle dam in a topographic low point in the
reservoir rim just to the west of the dam. SDCWA is utilizing the San Vicente project as
a major feature in its development of an Emergency Storage Project (ESP) and part of
its Carryover Storage Project (CSP), both of which will increase the operational
flexibility of the water delivery system in the San Diego region. The contract awarded
for the raised-dam portion of the construction of the San Vicente Dam Raise is the third
(Package 3) in a series of packages awarded to perform the construction of all facilities,
including exploratory quarry and test fill programs as well as foundation excavation and
the main dam raise structure. This paper will review the planning and scheduling
processes performed after the award of Package 3 which help to ensure that a safe, high
quality, low cost project can be attained.
PROJECT SPECIFICS
The following statistics will present a brief description of the San Vicente Dam Raise
Project, as well as explain the project site and some logistical requirements which have
been considered during the planning and scheduling process.
The existing 220-foot-tall concrete gravity dam structure was constructed between 1941
and 1943, using approximately 600,000 cubic yards of conventional mass concrete. The
existing dam is 950 ft long at the crest and 150 ft wide at the base with a reservoir
capacity of 90,000 acre ft. The raised dam structure will be approximately 1,430 ft long,
337 ft high with a base and crest width of the dam raise portion of 100 feet and 20 feet,
respectively. The dam will be raised using approximately 608,000 cubic yards of rollercompacted concrete (RCC) in the main dam raise and 12,000 cubic yards of RCC in the
saddle dam. In order to produce over 620,000 cubic yards of RCC, approximately 1.1
million tons of aggregate, 70,000 tons of pozzolan and 57,000 tons of cement will be
utilized. At the same time, about 600 ft of tunnel and shaft will be drilled and shot for the
new outlet piping system. In addition, there will be approximately 14,000 cubic yards of
1
2

Shimmick Construction Company, azagorski@shimmick.com

Shimmick?

Planning and Cost Reduction Considerations

43

structural concrete on the project for use in the new Outlet Tower, Downstream Control
Facility and other miscellaneous structures.
Work which was performed by the preceding Package 2 contractor consisted of
excavation of the main and saddle dam foundations, stockpiling of 57,000 CYs of
crushed rock material from the main dam foundation excavation and 29,000 CYs from
the saddle dam excavation. The Package 2 contractor also performed some initial grading
in an area which will eventually be used for a new marina servicing the raised reservoir
levels. The Package 2 grading in the marina area has been laid out such that specific
working area pads are now available for use by Shimmick-Obayashi Joint Venture, the
Package 3 contractor for stockpiling and batch plant operations.
PROJECT COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS
Along with a final completion requirement, (Milestone #1) of 1,010 calendar days or
January 26, 2013, Milestone #2 includes completion and demobilization of the Marina
Areas by July 30, 2012. In addition, there is a 10 calendar day allowable shutdown
window for the tie into the existing facilities at the Downstream Flow Control Structure
which begins November 28, 2012. In general, the existing dam and outlet works are
required to remain in operation to providing drinking water for the City throughout
construction until the new outlet works are ready to be engaged.
The Package 3 Contract has liquidated damages associated with the failure to complete
the construction of the dam and substantial completion of the project within the
prescribed time frames indicated.
QUARRY AND AGGREGATE CONSIDERATIONS
During the initial planning phase of the project, RCC aggregate sources were proposed
from new granodiorite quarries located downstream of the dam. These aggregates would
be essentially the same material used in the construction of the SDCWA Olivenhain RCC
Dam Project in 2001 and 2002, with demonstrated excellent RCC material properties.
During the final design phase, an alternate source of aggregates was identified using a
stadium conglomerate formation located inside the future Marina Area. There were
issues with both of these sources.
The two potential downstream quarries for granodiorite aggregate sources would be
exposed to the public. Both quarry sources are located in steep terrain and would be
expensive to develop as an elaborate drill-and-blast operation would be required. This
blasted rock material would also need to be transported upstream to the construction area
for the production of the RCC. Noise, dust and operating hours would be issues affecting
the overall cost. One potential quarry site was located within 500 feet of the proposed
water tunnel outlet, which would be problematic at best. Finally, the granodiorite was
not the same material as was used in the original dam construction. The original dam
actually used river-run rock from the Stadium Conglomerate formation. During the final

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

design phase, it was determined to optimize the compatibility of the new RCC and the
original concrete dam by utilizing the same aggregate materials Stadium Conglomerate.
The future marina area was identified as a good source of Stadium Conglomerate as
extensive excavation is required in this area for mass grading of the new marina parking
area. The excavated aggregates in the marina area are similar to the aggregates used in
the original dam. This aggregate would also be easier to quarry with a ripping operation,
thus would be cheaper to produce. One disadvantage to the Stadium Conglomerate
operation is that the natural fines (1 minus) are not of very good quality and rejecting
these fines would produce a great deal of waste. The side benefit of this waste, however,
was that the waste material could be used to construct the large marina fills. This quarry
area is located out of public view and did not require blasting. Both are very good
benefits from a constructability point of view. Testing was done during the design phase
and the aggregate proved to be acceptable for RCC materials.
SITE ACCESS
Since its completion, the 65-year-old San Vicente site has required only limited access,
primarily for recreational users of the reservoir area. Access into the site must therefore
be upgraded to permit the safe, efficient and cost effective transportation of labor,
equipment, and materials to the project site. The utilization of existing roads helped to
control overall site-access costs, however many upgrades were implemented and/or taken
advantage to allow heavier and larger equipment. The project includes a new Marina
Access Road to widen access as well as lessen the grade of the road, while providing
access to the new marina at a higher elevation. By aggressively scheduling this work to
be performed before the start of the main dam construction, these improvements could be
utilized to facilitate the delivery of up to 45 loads of pozzolan and cement to the RCC
mixing plant daily. During the construction improvements of the new Marina Access
Road, the Citys site access road had to be widened and graded to facilitate the delivery
of more than $14 million dollars of construction equipment.
Another site feature that was taken advantage of for construction was the utilization of
the Right Abutment Access Road a spur off of the Marina Access Road - for the
location and alignment of the main RCC delivery conveyor. By locating the overland
conveyor on this road, economies of having easy access for erection, maintenance and
demobilization helped reduce overall construction costs to SDCWA. An additional
upgrade to the ingress and egress to the site was the widening and improvement to an
existing county road intersection (Vigilante Rd and Moreno Ave) near the site entrance,
which was completed early on in the project before major deliveries were to begin for the
dam construction.
These combined upgrades to the existing access roads both on and off the project site
helped to ensure the efficient and safe transportation of labor, equipment and materials to,
from and within the site. Providing for both safe and efficient access while utilizing
existing site features helped maximize cost effectiveness and lower overall construction
costs of the project.

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45

SITE UTILITIES
Utility availability plays an important role in the planning and scheduling of large
construction projects. One of first major considerations during the construction planning
process was determining the availability and location of a reliable power source. The
options available for the contractor were either to use the existing San Diego Gas and
Electric service to the project or to provide its own portable/temporary generators.
Because of permitting requirements with the local Air Pollution Control District, the use
of portable diesel fired generators was not an option. The permits require best available
technology and this would mean the use of gas turbine fired generators. As gas turbine
generators dont work well with continuous fluctuation in power draw, which is a
characteristic of typical construction work, these were ruled out. This initial evaluation
of the possible use of portable generators required the careful evaluation of load demands
while constructing the project.
The site was already served by a transmission line that provided 6.0 million-volt-amps
(MVA) by the local utility company. This line was upgraded before Package 3
construction was scheduled to begin to be able to provide 12.0 MVA of service capacity.
This upgrade was done to provide electrical service to the recently completed pump
station. The pump station has the ability to utilize any two of the three 7,000 horsepower
pumps, which would put a 6.0 MVA draw on the system. By knowing and understanding
this project constraint, the contractor scheduled the daily activities to ensure a load
demand would not exceed 6.0 MVA during periods of time when the pump station was
expected to be in operation.
The primary power draws for the construction equipment are expected to be the 1.0 MVA
load for the primary crusher, 2.2 MVA load for the secondary crusher, 1.4 MVA load for
the cooling plant, 1.2 MVA load for the batch plant and 1.4 MVA load for the RCC
Conveyor and other appurtenances. This adds up to 7.2 MVA total full load demand for
the construction activities. This 7.2 MVA demands means that temporary generators will
be required during periods when the pump station is operating.
The second major construction requirement was the need for a good supply of
construction water, which will be needed for the RCC cooling, batching, curing and dust
control. Water in Southern California is a major commodity and although fresh water
was readily available from the onsite reservoir, water use for the project is provided by
SDCWA/City at a cost to the project and must therefore be controlled. The value of
having a water source onsite is beneficial, however an additional efficiency realized from
this water source was that it provided an excellent source of cooling storage capacity.
The reservoir provides a constant supply of 55 degree water when drawn from greater
depths of the lake. This cold water is expected to be used for batching RCC and as
condenser water in the batch plant cooling chillers. By utilizing cool lake water in a
closed circuit loop as a cooling medium for the chiller condensers instead of a typical air
cooled chiller system, the electrical power requirements for the RCC cooling plant are
expected to be effectively cut in half.

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

CRUSHING AND STOCKPILING AGGREGATES

The future marina area is designated as the onsite source to quarry for RCC aggregates.
The stadium conglomerate formation provides an excellent source of hard rock cobble
which can be crushed to produce RCC aggregates. By utilizing the stadium
conglomerate, which has a matrix of silts and sands along with the larger cobbles, the
mining operation is able to provide two sources of usable product. The conglomerate
will be screened and crushed at the primary crusher where it can be separated out into the
two desired materials. The first material will be the silts and sands which are separated
from the larger cobbles. The smaller less than 1-inch in diameter rocks, sands and silts
will be used to build the 850,000 cubic yard structural pads of the future marina and
parking lot. The 1-inch diameter and larger cobbles which survive passing through one
of the two primary jaw crushers will be conveyed to a surge pile at the secondary crusher.
The secondary crusher will reduce the oversized cobbles which have proved to be
superior in both durability and hardness. This will ensure that the aggregate quality
would be only derived from the best rock that the quarry could produce. By
manufacturing the sand product used for the RCC from these larger cobbles, a superior
product would be available, thereby eliminating any unwanted clays or silts in the final
product.
Throughout the entire crusher design, planning and erection process, effective utilization
of aggregate stockpile space was the controlling factor in determining the final
arrangement of site facilities. By evaluating the dam construction schedule and
particularly the RCC batching for the main dam, along with the throughput of the crusher
and aggregate usage by the RCC batch plant, sizing and managing the aggregate
stockpiles could be accomplished. Locating the stockpiles, defining their shape and how
the crusher and batch plants would fit into the left over area was of paramount
importance.
COOLING, BATCHING, AND CONVEYING RCC
Once the final layout and planning of the crushers and stockpiles was complete, the final
location of the aggregate reclaiming system, cooling system and batch plant could be
determined. The aggregate reclaim and cooling system at the San Vicente project is a
process that combines transferring of aggregates to the batch plant along with cooling all
three aggregate sizes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Continuous cooling of the
aggregates whether it be through the sand cooling drum or the course aggregate wet belts
was incorporated into the design of a system which utilizes the cool water of the lake as a
cooling medium for the process. By using lake water which maintains a temperature
below 60 degrees year round, a cooling system was designed which took this water and
used it in a closed loop system in the chiller condensers. Using cool lake water in a
water chilled chiller uses approximately half the energy as a typical air cooled chiller.
Using this type of chiller system to cool both the coarse and fine aggregates enables the
RCC to meet the required placing temperatures (between 60- and 68-degrees F) year
round in the most cost effective manner.

Planning and Cost Reduction Considerations

47

The batch plant design had to incorporate three key factors during planning and plant
selection. First, the cooling system had to be evaluated to ensure it maintained efficiency
and reduce any aggregate temperature increases before being batched for the mixers.
Second, the RCC conveyor layout and design had to consider the site topography which
effected the alignment of the batch plant. However, the single most important and
controlling design parameter of the plant was the consideration of the supply of cement
and pozzolan to the plant. Silo sizing and positioning had to ensure smooth and efficient
truck delivery and offloading and also the efficient transfer of materials to the cement and
pozzolan batchers. The ability to offload trucks directly into one primary silo either for
cement or pozzolan reduced plant operation costs, maintenance costs, as well as reducing
environmental impacts associated with transferring powder from silo to silo, and also
heat buildup in the product from this transferring of product.
Once the batch plant layout was finalized, the RCC conveyor system could then be
designed. The RCC conveyor system was designed to consider each and every site
attribute that could be taken advantage of for economical delivery from the batch plant to
the placement areas. This included utilizing existing access roads for layout of the
conveyor to deliver to both the saddle dam and main dam efficiently. By putting the
conveyor alignment on the existing right abutment access road, the conveyor could be
erected as an overland conveyor system instead of more elaborate costly aerial
conveyors. Another site characteristic taken advantage of in the planning of the conveyor
system was the decision to utilize the existing dam and to incorporate a nearly-vertical
concrete chute from the top of the existing dam to the bottom of the foundation. By
carefully studying chute systems used on other RCC dam projects throughout the world,
it was determined that an efficient chute design would be far more economical to
purchase, construct and operate then an elaborate conveyor system with expensive
support foundations, numerous transfer points and down grades that stretched the limits
and capabilities of a conveyor system. By incorporating existing access roads, existing
topography and the existing dam, the RCC conveyor system was planned to be easily
assembled on the ground and use less moving parts which need to be serviced and
maintained.
CONCLUSION
The fact that this is the second RCC dam for the San Diego County Water Authority
created an ability to use lessons learned from the successful Olivenhain Dam, as well as
incorporate proven construction aspects and innovations into the new San Vicente work.
Construction constrains were identified such as understanding the geology, review of the
projects utility needs and understanding the availability of labor, equipment and materials
during the construction planning phase of the project. The construction plan was then
developed considering these constraints and completion (milestone) requirements. Site
access, site layout and preparing permits were the first activities to occur. In addition,
innovative construction techniques for material storage, cooling efficiency and conveyor
delivery system were implemented. The recognition of the many intrinsic site features
and utilizing them in a positive and constructive plan helped to capitalize on project
efficiencies and reduce overall project costs. The Shimmick-Obayashi Joint Venture

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

took full advantage of these efficiencies helping them to be the low bid contractor of
choice for the San Diego County Water Authority. RCC as a building tool is a relatively
quick and efficient methodology to place material when compared to large earth
embankments and conventionally formed concrete. RCC utilizes proficient earth moving
equipment at highly productive speeds, but has the long term strength of structural
concrete. This makes it the best of both worlds and easily the preferred choice for
todays most economically demanding and time sensitive projects.

Planning and Cost Reduction Considerations

49