​Project details

BC Hydro’s Site C Project, the third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast British Columbia, is expected to produce 5,100 gigawatt hours each year for over a century. Peace River Hydro Partners (PRHP) holds the main civil works contract for the project.

To meet BC Hydro’s requirements, PRHP installed 20ft-long, pre-fabricated insulation panes on exposed roller-compacted concrete (RCC) faces for the first winter following completion of construction for the RCC structures. CWA was engaged by PRHP to design hold-down systems for the insulation panels on RCC faces in the following configurations: vertical, horizontal, smooth inclined, and various stepped inclined faces.

Challenges

The hold-down systems would need to be easily installed an removed in a timely manner. Insulation was required over a vast area of exposed RCC faces and minimizing installation time was a priority design consideration.

The multiple geometric configurations of the RCC demanded an adaptable design. A solution for each configuration was required that would also provide the contractor with the ability to tailor the design to the needs of the varying site conditions.

Solutions

CWA designed hold-down systems for each of the different RCC configurations. To ensure efficiency, CWA took advantage of existing anchor rods, where available, as the hold-down anchor points. In other locations, timber framing secured by concrete nails was utilized. This allowed for quick installation procedures and designs that were easily adaptable to the varying RCC configurations and site conditions.