FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Crews on the Site C Dam project made Canadian construction history.
This fall work wrapped up on the project’s roller-compacted-concrete program.
Since the program began in 2017, crews have placed a total of 1.68 million cubic metres of roller-compacted concrete in three large buttresses, or foundations, that support the powerhouse, spillways and the dam abutment.
This makes it the largest roller-compacted-concrete structure in the country.
According to a press release from BC Hydro, the three buttresses are a critical component of the Site C project’s design. Combined, the buttresses measure approximately 800 metres long and up to 70 metres wide and will ensure the stability of the dam structures, including in the unlikely event of a major earthquake.
After BC Hydro’s Revelstoke Dam, the Site C buttresses form the second-largest concrete structure in B.C. The total volume of the Site C buttress is six times the volume of concrete used to build the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world.
BC Hydro explained roller-compacted concrete has many properties similar to conventional concrete but is constructed with a placement method that is a unique fit for for large-scale dam construction. This concrete was manufactured onsite and then transported by trucks to the buttresses.
The powerhouse buttress was completed in 2018, the upper spillway buttress in fall 2019 and the dam and core buttress in October 2021.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed