Eastmain River Dam—A case history of mass compaction in earth dam construction

• Published in: Canadian Geotechnical Journal
• Main Authors: Rosenberg, Peter, Paré, J.-Jacques
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1983
• Subjects: Civil and Structural Engineering; Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology; Eastmain; James Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/t83-082; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/t83-082

The OA-11 dam on the Eastmain River in the James Bay Region of northern Quebec was designed without conventional cofferdams. The river section of the dam was constructed by end-dumping and dozer pushing of granular fill and achieving closure and diversion of the river through a spillway located in a rock abutment on the south bank.The fill was then compacted by using the vibroflotation method. The fill thickness varied from 4.5 to 15 m, the compacted area being 68 000 m 2 while the volume was about 725 000 m 3 .This paper gives the properties of the fill, the equipment used for compaction, the control method used to assure compliance with specifications, and the results of the compaction programme. Keywords: dam construction, compaction, density, vibroflotation, equipment.