Oroville Dam is the tallest dam in the United States. On February 7, 2017, a section of the concrete chute slab of the service spillway failed during spillway discharge, and several days later the emergency spillway was activated for the first time in the half-century history of the dam, resulting in rapid and severe erosion of the hillside below the emergency spillway weir, and prompting precautionary evacuation of nearly 190,000 downstream r...

The seminar provides comprehensive instruction in inspection and evaluation techniques for dams. The principles, concepts and procedures taught will be readily adaptable to any organization conducting dam inspections and evaluating their compliance with current design standards. Participants learn about a variety of dam types and their appurtenances, the function of typical dam features, and common dam failure modes and the conditions that can...

In this classroom seminar, participants will gain a practical knowledge of methods for simulation of runoff from storm rainfall. The methods covered relate to the processing of historical and hypothetical (design-storm) rainfall data; estimation of losses (infiltration); transformation of rainfall excess to direct runoff with unit hydrographs; routing of flood waves; calibration of model parameters; and modeling of runoff from watersheds. Expe...

The objective of this course will be to provide a comprehensive presentation of the significant principles and concepts of soil mechanics to the participants. The material will be presented with emphasis on the basic soil mechanics principles prerequisite to further study for design or rehabilitation of earth embankment dams. This is a basic level course intended as an introduction for those with minimal to moderate knowledge or experience in...

The objective of this course is to provide a general understanding of conduits, valves and gates in the context of the operation, maintenance and design of dams and dam safety. Emphasis will be placed on issues related to the design, construction, and performance of conduits, values, and gates types commonly used at dams. Case histories and practical exercises will be used to enhance learning of the purposes and features of conduits, valves, a...

The seminar provides comprehensive instruction in inspection and evaluation techniques for dams. The principles, concepts and procedures taught will be readily adaptable to any organization conducting dam inspections and evaluating their compliance with current design standards. Participants learn about a variety of dam types and their appurtenances, the function of typical dam features, and common dam failure modes and the conditions that can...

Together Paul Schweiger and Dean Durkee have offered this seminar 13 times in 12 states and it has been attended by more than 800 students. The seminar provides comprehensive instruction in inspection and evaluation techniques for dams. The principles, concepts and procedures taught will be readily adaptable to any organization conducting dam inspections and evaluating their compliance with current design standards. Participants learn about a...

Join us at Conference Chicago at University Center, June 12-14, for Seepage Through Earthen Dams. This 2.5-day introductory course is designed to be a participatory, interactive workshop, which will cover the basic elements required to understand and evaluate seepage-related issues for earth dams. The first day begins with providing an understanding of why seepage mechanisms in earth dams are important to dam safety. Discussions of basic princ...

Join us May 15-17 at the Desert Willow Conference Center in Phoenix, AZ. This course will provide a thorough overview of the fundamentals of specifying the fresh and hardened properties of concrete mixes; the review of applicable codes for concrete hydraulic structures; the design philosophy and methodology of reinforced concrete hydraulic structures; and issues associated with the construction process. The course will include actual design ex...

This course is a three-day introduction of HEC-RAS and a one-day introduction to HEC-RAS 2D, with applications to dam safety. The three-day introduction course provides hands on opportunity to use the program and resolve specific questions. The objective of this course is to review the principles of open channel hydraulics as they relate to the natural stream environment with application to dam safety. Both steady and unsteady flow modeling wi...