-
.""
1PI"c:.tlt' sheet protecting day core on upstream face is one of •••
- hree Phases of Mission Dam
that it's complete, Canada's
_L",,,'" Dam on the Bridge River looks
a garden varietv earth and rockfill
But some hybrid construction
ues went into building it.
• Deep-sea divers worked bv feel
slurry-tilled holes up to 9:; ft deep
remove parts of an old sheetpile
wall in a small diversion dam
was incorporated into the new
A grout curtain for the ZOO-ft-high
was injected 500 ft through allu­
to bedrock using grouting tech­
new to North America.
Two acres of polvvinyl chloride
used to sheath the impervious
blanket on the upstream face of
dam so that the clay could settle
consolidate in the di-v.
old 40-ft diversion dam
the site complicated initial construe-
at Mission Dam. extending the
arrangement of this old dam,
were able to incorporate it
- upstream toe of the ne\'!.
is involved strengthening the old
clav core bv adding a third row
between an existing double
new ones had to go deeper
GINEERING NEWS-RECORD • June 29, 1961
"".::..:..;,..;::.....,.r,;;,;.;.,.,;...;.;._.....;~"""'"""""'~, __""""-"-.._ ..........._._:~:_,-~;l.-'."~~"~ :~~
than the old ones to penetrate an un­
derlying Jayer of clav, but before they
could be installed. transverse dia­
phragms or cross walls that formed cais­
sons in the old core had to be breached
through.
Fourteen such cross walls were
breached. either by pulling or burning
off at least two sections. vVorking
entirelv underwater or, more specifi­
cally. in liquid mud, deep-sea divers did
the hazardous job.
Thev used specially adapted equip­
ment in :;-ft-dia holes filled with drill­
ing mud to prevent cave-ins. The divers
worked entirelv bv touch with onlv
telephone control' from the surface.
vVork took some 440 crew shifts.
The new sheetpiling was placed,
welded and driven in successive pairs
of sections \V1 th lengths up to 106 ft.
On completion of the driving, each
side of the wall was backfilled. "\atural
clay bulkheads or, where the depth or
width of the trench was too great,
artificial bulkheads of grout-filled plas­
tic tubes separated the increments of
backfill. Almost 2,300 cu yd of grout
went into backfilling.
Universal Divers Ltd. handled the
diving operation with guidance from
Soletanche and Associates. Soletanche
is a firm of drilling, grouting and foun­
dation specialists formed jointlv by
Franch, Italian and Swiss companies.
Its activities in Canada are handled bv
Soletanche and Rodio of Canada, Ltd:.
:.\·Ion treal.
• A new. grout-Soletanche, which has
successfullv used its grout formula on
a number' of European dams, used it
for the first time in North America at
Mission Dam.
The grout is intended to protect
the earthfill from seepage through a
sand and gravel aquifer that ran be­
tween bedrock and a natural clav stra­
tum under the dam. Although the low
head diversion dam had no need for
such cut-off protection, Mission Dam
has to have it in order to perform
economicallv.
Soletanche designed a vertical cut-off
consisting of an injected curtain of
clay-cement grout and stabilized clay
grout placed with sleeved grouting
pipes.
Five lines of grout holes, 5~ in. dia
and spaced 10ft apart. extended across
the river bed. The holes on the outer
lines of the curtain were spaced at 10-ft
intervals and formed a type of coffer­
dam within which three lines of holes
33
 /
Fovnoa'lPI'I fill ..../:

impervious Fill

'Graded ,Rubble'

Rock Fill

Waste Material
.. ~". ~

c:::: Random1'al"'$ Fill

o lronsition Materi~l,

GROUT CURTAIN and sheetpile cutoff complicated the construction at Mission Dam. Gront new to North Amcricn was used
curtain; divers worked in slurry to make way for new sheetpilc cutoff.

were drilled at 15-ft centers, Thc grout is 50 fL It reaches to a maximum
under h1gh hO:-ll depth of 500 ft.
up usmg ;1 packer
, first in the outside lines. thcn • Plastic Blankct-l\'lorc than 3 million
in lmes two and four, and finalh in eu vd of £ill wcnt 11lto the dam, It
the line through thc center. ' stan'ds some 200 it abovc the ri\'er bcd,
Initially a clay-cement grout with ~ Its length at the crest is 1.200 ft across
cement-water ratio was used, This thc Bridge Ri\'cr Valley,
was followed by a more penetrating Rock dumped on the zoncd fill was
material for the cen ter line-a phos· sluiced with w2ter to assure immediatc
phate-defioeeulated clay stabilized with settlement.
silicatc, The two-acrc impen'ious clay bhmket
The theoretical width of the curtain on the upstream face, however, will
settle greatly in the next fe\\< years,
it settles, the clav will crack and f
gradually reconsolidate into an
pervious 12yer<
To prevcnt water from penetr2
the cracked cJa\' surfacc and ec
3\\'2\' a t the fill; a sheet of pol)"
chloride (pvc) was applied to the
cover.
Strips of the plastic 30 mils 1
\\'erc electronically lap-sealed in
field to form a blanket covering ,
than 100,000 sq ft. Tests showec

SLEEVED':GROUTPjpJ:'WaS,Us~d to inject GROUTING HOSES backfill sheetpile cutoff with Solel:ancbe special formula
grouhsCleep~s,:;OO:f£ .,:~.,,' Each hose connects to a H in, pipe.

:34 June 29, 1961 • ENGINEERING NEWS·R

 DIVER ABOVE DESCENDS 45 ft into mud-filled bole sketched jaw of extracting hammer (2). If pile won't pull, he goes another 50
at right (1) for job of breaching crosswall in existing cutoff to guide it deeper to burn its bose (3) .

. joints to be as strong as the sheeting

,itself. :\ 6-ft-thick laver of clay, sand

-
and rock covers the sheet of polyvinyl
,chloride.
. The pvc is c~lendered f,om J spe­
formulated compound. Besides
to the uneven 5-ft-thick
;]150 proved 8exiole enough
wi th subsequen t cracking. ;\
surface was e:nbossed on the
to it fror:~ slipping on the
base.
backed up bv Mission Dam
is diverted through a 2 ±-mile tunnel
that over LOOO f: to a power-
the shore of Seton Lake.
impounds a ;)O,OOO-acre-ft
eservoir.
British Columbia Electric Co. owns
. fission Dam. 'With its completion the
will have a total of 512,000
generating capacity available to
demands in Southwest
and Southen Van-

MUD DIVER inspects original sheetpiIe cutoff to find exact location of crossw:ills to be
breached. Working blind in thick slurry, divers did everything by feeL

eNGINEERING NEWS-RECORD. June 29, 1961 35