Selecting Flow Frequency Distributions for Designing a Small Low-Head Dam Removal Cofferdam
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 14, Issue 9
Abstract
One of the first steps in removing a dam is the construction of a cofferdam so that demolition activities can proceed safely. The time necessary for removing a small low-head dam is often on the order of a few months. To minimize the cofferdam construction cost, these dams are generally removed during the low flow months of the year. Therefore, design of cofferdams should be based on river flow series during the dam removal period, rather than the entire year. In this study, available hourly and daily average records at the recently removed Marmot Dam on the Sandy River, Oregon are analyzed for four dam removal periods, varying from 1 to 4 months (July through October). -moment ratio diagrams and probability plot correlation coefficients are used to select log-Pearson Type 3 and two- and three-parameter lognormal probability distribution functions for representing at-site maximum flow series. From a hydrologic engineering consideration, the analysis suggests an optimal dam removal period of 3 months (July through September). An estimate of flow on the basis of annual maximum series is an order of magnitude higher, which would result in an uneconomical design of the cofferdam.
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Acknowledgments
Data used in this study were obtained from USGS by Ms. Rebecca Hall, formerly with ENSR. The writer acknowledges Ms. Hall’s review of data for quality control and quality assurance for a project supervised by Mr. Chick Sweeney, UNSPECIFIEDNational Hydraulic Engineering Program Manager. Ms. Kim Anderson graciously reviewed the manuscript and provided valuable editorial comments and suggestions for its improvements.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 14 • Issue 9 • September 2009
Pages: 935 - 943
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: May 21, 2008
Accepted: Jan 27, 2009
Published online: Aug 14, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
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