The Norfolk District was assigned responsibility for the dam safety program for 33 dams located on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Facilities nationwide. For more than nine years, Schnabel has provided geotechnical and dam engineering services to the Norfolk District under an indefinite delivery contract.
Schnabel’s services have included visual inspections, hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, dam breach analyses and inundation mapping, development of Emergency Action Plans, and structural and geotechnical engineering. One of the more significant task orders was the assessment and evaluation of two high hazard dams (a concrete gravity dam and an earth embankment dam) at Quantico Marine Corps Base. Schnabel provided also services for the USACE-owned Gathright Dam, a 257-ft high zoned rockfill dam built on a karstic limestone foundation and abutments which, in part, led the USACE to assign the dam a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC) of II (Urgent – Unsafe or Potentially Unsafe). At USACE request, Schnabel perform an independent evaluation of the existing seepage conditions and monitoring program at the dam.
Services:
- Breach Analysis and Inundation Mapping
- Geotechnical Investigations and Design
- H&H Studies
- Instrumentation
- Reinforced Concrete Design
- Evaluation of Rock Anchors