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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Representing the United States as an active member of the International Commission on
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Copyright 2011 U.S. Society on Dams
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STAYING DRY COFFERDAM CHALLENGES ON THE SAN VICENTE DAM

RAISE PROJECT
Wayne O. Mac Donell1
Aaron Rietveld2
Gary Olvera3
ABSTRACT
The fabrication, shipping, assembly, installation and dewatering of the San Vicente
Lower Level Outlet Cofferdam was a challenge for the Contractor, Barnard Construction
Company, Inc. This paper tells how this was accomplished using old ideas with new
equipment and quality craftsmanship to bring success to the project. The cofferdam was
to be fabricated in Montana, shipped in pieces to San Diego, assembled accurately in 8foot- high units on-site, bolted together 3 units high and installed on a barge for floating
transport to the upstream face of the dam. The units were then lifted off the barges with
strand jack lifting beams which could easily lift the entire cofferdam. By lifting and
assembling the units together, 11 units were assembled above water under dry conditions
that could be checked by the Owner, Contractor and Engineer. After tipping the
cofferdam units and setting them in place, anchor bolts were drilled into the dam face,
seals were compressed, grout was pumped into a space on the back flange and the
cofferdam was pumped dry all with a minimum of underwater work. The project
utilized fabricated cofferdam shells from Midwest Steel Industries, Belgrade MT, anchor
bolts from Williams Concrete Form Co., seals from Seals Unlimited, Beaverton OR, a
350-ton Grove Hydraulic Truck Crane from Maxim Crane, a strand jack lifting system
from Barnhart Crane & Rigging of Memphis TN, a Manitowoc 888 Crawler Crane from
Bragg Crane, Flexifloat barges from Robishaw Engineering, Inc of Houston, TX and
engineering design from Ben C. Gerwick, Consulting Engineers of Oakland, CA.
INTRODUCTION
The San Vicente Dam is located 25 miles northeast of San Diego and was constructed in
the 1940s. The lake formed by the dam is one of several reservoirs serving the evergrowing San Diego areas daily water needs. To increase water storage for use in the
event imported water deliveries to the region are interrupted, the San Diego County
Water Authority (Water Authority) awarded contracts to raise the level of the San
Vicente Dam in Lakeside California by 117 feet, increasing the volume of the lake by
over 2.5 times the original capacity. This is the tallest dam raise in the United States, and
the tallest of its type in the world. For additional information on the project in general go
to: http://www.sdcwa.org/infra/esp-sanvicentedamraise.phtml.
1

Senior Engineer, Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. 1300 Clay St. 7th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 267- 7176,
wom@gerwick.com
2
Project Manager, Barnard Construction Company, Inc. 701 Gold Ave, Bozeman, MT 59771, (406) 5861995, aaron.rietveld@barnard-inc.com
3
Construction Manager, San Diego County Water Authority, 4677 Overland Ave. San Diego, CA 92123,
(619) 390 2310, Ext. 3327, golvera@sdcwa.org

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In an effort to increase emergency water release capability, a new larger outlet was
needed through the concrete dam. The outlet tunnel was to be bored from the
downstream side of the dam and through the concrete to the water side. To hold back the
water and provide a dry work space for tunnel boring operations, a cofferdam was
required. This project centered on the design of a special cofferdam for the San Vicente
Dam.
A cofferdam is a "box dam" that holds back water and allows work to be done inside the
"box", under dry conditions. The challenges for a cofferdam are structural in nature, in
that is has to resist the water and gravity forces including earthquakes, and fit closely
against an existing dam to prevent leaks and flooding of the work space. This particular
project was especially challenging because the cofferdam had to be constructed in bolttogether pieces that would fit on trucks for transport to the jobsite.
The cofferdam type suggested by the Water Authority was a "Limpet" type that would
cling to the side of a dam and, when dewatered, would provide the necessary watertight
work space around the new outlet area. Preliminary sizing was done by the Water
Authority design engineer, Montgomery Watson and Harza. The cofferdam shape was to
be a half-cylinder, 34 feet in diameter and 111 feet tall. The specifications required that
the cofferdam provide a watertight work space under full 111 feet of water pressure head
during earthquakes. Since the concept structure was not detailed, the Contractor was
responsible for the detail design and performance.
The successful bidder on this project was Barnard Construction Company, Inc. (Barnard)
of Bozeman, Montana, one of the largest dam building contractors in the United States.
Before bidding the job, Barnard selected Gerwick to develop design concepts. The
design goal was to provide a functional cofferdam with an efficient fabrication, assembly
and installation plan that would make the project economical and successful. Barnard
selected a local Montana steel fabricator, Midwest Steel Industries, to build the cofferdam
units.
Since the fabricator was a long way from San Diego, Barnard requested that Gerwick
design the cofferdam in shippable pieces that would fit on standard trucks, and would not
require wide-load truck permits. For the pieces to fit on the trucks, their size was limited
to 8 feet high and 8 feet wide. This was done by fabricating the cofferdam steel shells
into two unequal 8-foot-tall pieces, which when assembled and welded together, would
form the 34-foot diameter, 17-foot-wide half circle shells. See Figure 1 and 2. which
shows the units fully assembled in the assembly yard at the dam site
To hold its half-circle shape under hydrostatic load, each of the semicircular unit shells
was stiffened with top and bottom bolt-together flanges and four box rings. Vertically,
tee stiffeners were added and equally spaced to handle the vertical buoyancy loads. The
box rings and vertical tees are seen in Figure 3.
At the back of the shell arch on each side was a 3-foot-wide stiffened plate, which was to
set against the dam face to contain the side seals and anchor bolts. The mating half circle

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

flanges were to be match fitted in the shop so that the field fit up would also match within
tolerance at the jobsite.

Figure 1. Cofferdam units ready to be bolted together at dam assembly site

Figure 2. Cofferdam units 6 and 5 bolted together ready for setting on barge

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Figure 3. Inside view of cofferdam showing ribs and vertical stiffeners

In order to closely fit the fabricated side flanges of the cofferdam to the actual dam face
in the planned location, it was necessary to map the face of the dam in the planned dam
contact area. Gerwick determined that a fit of +/- two inches from the theoretical plane
could be tolerated with a good seal design. Diver surveys by Associated Underwater
Services of Tacoma, Washington, showed that the 1940's era construction tolerances
were excellent and that the actual deviations of the dam face from a plane surface were
less than an inch in most cases. This led to the design concept of fabricating the back of
the cofferdam in two planes: one flat plane from the bottom of the cofferdam and 86 feet
up (at this point, the dam face changed from a 1:10 slope to a 1: 20 slope); and the
remaining 25 feet of the cofferdam in a different plane at a steeper slope above the
construction lake level.
Next, four rubber lip seals were attached to the back of the flanges. These seals extended
out about three inches beyond steel bearing bars and bearing blocks that would fit against
the dam. When pushed against the bearing bars and blocks by differential water pressure,
the outward facing rubber strips would fit press against the dam, forming a watertight
seal. A grout channel was included between the center seals with inward facing rubber
seals for confining cement grout. This grout channel also served to seal any leaks that
occurred in the outer lip seal and to provide sufficient bearing strength to transfer the
hydrostatic load from the shell to the dam. The bottom unit of the cofferdam was
designed to flex upward 5/8 of an inch to accommodate the massive load applied to the
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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

structure during dewatering. Since this movement would have cracked any grout seal, it
was decided to use a bearing type rubber seal that would tolerate movement. This idea
was implemented and successfully solved the movement challenge. Seals were provided
by Seals Unlimited, Inc. of Beaverton, Oregon.
Since the 111-foot-tall cofferdam had to be transported in 8-foot sections, a total of 14
units were designed to be bolted together on site. The top and bottom flanges of mating
cofferdam units had a series of holes for one-inch-high strength bolts which were used to
connect the flanges. Two, one-inch neoprene "O" rings between flanges prevented
leakage. The construction goal was to do as much bolting as possible out of the water
without the need for more costly diver work. Except for the drilling and installing of the
side and bottom anchor bolts, this goal was accomplished. Most unit bolting was done on
land at the assembly site before float out. Other bolting at the cofferdam erection site
was done above water, with the units supported by Flexifloat barges supplied by
Robishaw Engineering, Inc. of Houston, Texas, or supported and lifted by the strand jack
system installed by Barnhart Crane & Rigging of Memphis, Tennessee.
The two segments of each unit were welded together at the Dam assembly site and then
set on the Flexifloat barges for transport to the dam. A 350-ton Grove hydraulic truck
crane was set up on outriggers at the assembly site to unload the unit segments from the
shipping trucks, set the segments together for welding, and with its long reach, pick up
completed units and set them on the Flexifloat barges. The Grove crane could lift up to
three standard units bolted together at one time, or could lift the heavier 40-ton bottom
unit, which had a heavy floor and box beam attached.
The first two units set on the barge were Unit 6 and 5 as seen in Figure 4 below:

Figure 4. Cofferdam units 6 and 5 ready for lift from the barge by the strand jack lifter
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Gerwick engineers felt that assembling the first 86 feet, or 11 Units, together vertically,
then lowering them, tipping them and setting them in one piece against the dam would
yield many advantagesif it could be done. Bolting above water would be superior to
that done underwater and the alignment of the unit back flanges would be in one straight
line. The seal installation (as well as the quality control) would also be superior. With
this in mind, Gerwick engineers developed an erection scheme that would allow all the
units to be bolted in the assembly yard or on the barges.
From the onset of the job, lowering the cofferdam to its final position against the dam
would require a large crane on a barge, or a crane on top of the dam. The top of the dam
position would be more stable than on a barge, but since the top of dam was only 12 feet
wide, it would be difficult to fit a high capacity crawler or truck crane on such a narrow
spot. A different piece of lifting equipment was needed, and Barnard asked several heavy
lift contractors to quote on supplying equipment that could lift the 200 + tons of
cofferdam off the barge, tilt the cofferdam to match the sloping dam face, and slide the
assembly tight to the dam. Barnhart Crane & Rigging (Barnhart) had suitable equipment
and was selected for the job.
Two large beams fixed to the top of the dam were provided as support for two sliding
beams and jacks to lift and position the cofferdam. The back ends of the large support
beams were tied to the downstream face of the dam to prevent uplift. The sliding jack
beams had the ability to move out over the barges, and with four 450 ton jacks, pick up
the cofferdam, and lower it vertically to its final elevation. Then, by lifting the front and
lowering the rear, the entire assembly was tipped to match the dam slope. The final step
was to slide the assembly back against the dam. The strand jack lifter is seen below:

Figure 5. Barnhart strand jack lifter mounted on top of dam

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

The installation sequence is shown in Figures 6 through 17 as follows:

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 8

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 9

Figures 6 through 9. Cofferdam Erection Sequence

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FIGURE 10

FIGURE 11

LOWER ASSEMBLED UNITS 6-1 ONTO

SUPPORT BARGE AND DISCONNECT
LIFT STRANDS FROM UNIT 6. MOVE
SUPPORT ASIDE FOR NEXT STEP.

FIGURE 12

FIGURE 13

Figures 10 through 13. Cofferdam Erection Sequence

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FIGURE 14

FIGURE 16

FIGURE 15

FIGURE 17

Figures 14 through 17. Cofferdam Erection Sequence

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The following Figures 18 through 23 show photos of the actual erection sequence:

Figure 18. Cofferdam units 6 through 1 bolted together ready for lifting from barge

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

Figure 19. Cofferdam units 6 through 1 lowered onto support beams on barge.

Figure 20. Cofferdam units 11 and 10 lifted from the support barge

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Figure 21. Cofferdam units 11 and 10 waiting for barge with units 9, 8 and 7 at left

Figure 22. Lifted Units 11 through 7 waiting for barge to move under lifter

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21st Century Dam Design Advances and Adaptations

Figure 23. Cofferdam units 11 through 1 ready for setting against dam

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After the cofferdam was moved against the dam, the next operation was to core drill twoinch diameter holes for the 108 two-foot-long stainless steel anchor bolts that would
provide vertical support for the cofferdam. The bolts were installed by the divers using
hydraulic powered core drills with magnetic bases for easy and accurate positioning. The
nuts were tightened with hydraulic impact wrenches and, with the help from dewatering
pumps, the cofferdam seal space was compressed to an inch or less. Following the bolting
of Units 1 to 11 to the dam, the remaining Units 12, 13 and 14 were floated under the
strand jack and were lifted and set in place on top of Unit 11. The last 24 anchor bolts
were then installed to complete the bolting.
The divers then placed grout in the center seal space, starting at the bottom of the
cofferdam working their way to the top of Unit 14. This operation completed the sealing
on the sides and bottom of assembly, and the cofferdam was now ready to be dewatered.
Barnard placed a dewatering pump in the bottom unit and was able to dewater the entire
assembly in about one day. The specified maximum allowable leakage was 10 gallons
per minute once the cofferdam was fully dewatered. The actual leakage was less than
this rate and Barnard was able to maintain a dry cofferdam with nothing more than a
small sump pump. Even during a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on April 4, 2010, with an
epicentre about 100 miles from the dam, no problems were reported.
While the cofferdam was being set, the tunnel subcontractor, FoxFire Constructors, Inc.
(FoxFire) of San Clemente, California, was busy boring into the dam from the
downstream side of the structure. Within a short time, FoxFire was able to bore through
the dam into a completely dry space inside of the cofferdam as planned. FoxFire
completed the pipe installation through the dam, placed concrete around the pipe, and
then installed a bulkhead over the outlet in preparation for the future placement of the
sliding gate valve. Phase 1 work was completed at the end of April 2010. For the next
phase, the Contractor will remove the cofferdam as part of the Dam Raise Project after
replacing the temporary bulkhead with the permanent sliding outlet gate.
Throughout the process of designing, fabricating and installing this cofferdam, our
engineering team was successful due to the combined efforts of all of the Water
Authority Staff, Contractors, Subcontractors, Steel workers, Welders, Divers, Riggers,
Seal makers, Anchor bolt suppliers, Portable Barge suppliers and Tunnel Drillers
involved with this project.
Also, the original high quality forming of the original dam construction crew was a major
factor in the very good fit-up achieved, resulting in a strong water tight structure.

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