Wolf Creek Dam Rehabilitation
A fundamental site evaluation and review of the geologic setting provided vital information for Wolf Creek Dam’s rehabilitation.
- Client
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District
- Location
- Russell County, Kentucky
- Our Role
- Geotechnical Engineering, Geologic Services, Drilling.
- Data
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- Completed
- 2010
- Duration
- 4 years
- Outcomes
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- Fundamental evaluation of site conditions and review of geologic setting
- Technical oversight and coordination of exploratory drilling using wireline core and resonant sonic drilling techniques
- Held roles providing evaluation results for technical meeting panel of experts.
Wolf Creek Dam is located on the Cumberland River in south central Kentucky and was originally designed and constructed from 1938 to 1952. The 5,736-foot-long dam is a combination rolled earth fill and concrete gravity structure that includes a power-generating station. Lake Cumberland, created by the dam, impounds 6.1 million acre-feet at its maximum pool elevation of 760. It is the largest reservoir east of the Mississippi and the ninth largest in the United States.
Ongoing seepage problems have been traced to the karst geology of the region, which allows for the dissolution of limestone in the dam’s foundation. The purpose of the project was to reduce the residual permeability of the dam foundation with the installation of two rows of grout curtain within limestone foundation material.
What We Did
Gannett Fleming provided geotechnical engineering and geologic services to the prime contractor, ACT Ltd., and to the Nashville District Corps of Engineers. Our firm performed technical oversight and coordination of exploratory drilling, borehole washing, borehole imaging, permeability testing and pressure grouting with balanced stable high mobility grouts.
Production rock drilling was used for down-the-hole water hammer drilling, water flushing, permeability testing and pressure grouting with balanced stable grout formulations and real time computer monitoring. Additionally, special procedures and grout mixes were developed to treat limestone solution features encountered within the dam foundation. Grouting operations were conducted using IntelliGrout®, a patented system for data collection, monitoring, record keeping, and analysis of grouting activities.
Key Features
- Ongoing seepage problems traced to the karst geology of the region allowed the dissolution of limestone in the dam’s foundation
- The purpose of the project was to reduce the residual permeability of the dam foundation.