Saturday, May 4, 2024
The Brazos River Authority is focusing on Lake Granbury for a “Hearth Stability Analysis” project.
According to an annual maintenance inspection report in 2019, the DeCordova Bend Dam Hearth Sill is recommended to be cleaned. Most of the drains within the spillway section below the gates appear to be clogged.
The Dam hearth has hundreds of four-inch drain holes spaced throughout the concrete slabs of the Hearth Sill. The drain holes help relieve the uplift pressure, but due to their location the holes are difficult to clean and collect debris.
Project Manager, Lacey Darr said, “The drains have been getting clogged since the construction of the dam in 1969. We try to clean them, and then debris flows down and clogs another drain… this is all just regular maintenance for the dam.”
An engineering stability analysis is recommended to evaluate the criticality of these drains and to determine the adverse effects on the stability of the hearth due to the clogging of these drains. The analysis will determine the degree of redundancy at the dam.
We’ve never noticed any kind of public issue. The dam has several features to prevent and reduce uplift pressures. This is just one piece of those. We think that there’s redundancy to prevent any dam safety issues,” Wesley Williams, Project Engineer said.
The project is currently in scope and fee negotiations. A notice to proceed will be issued in October, which will be followed by preliminary engineering reports that will be completed roughly six months after.
