Randolph Construction Services, Inc.
1992 Saint Street, Richland, WA 99354
Phone: (509) 545-5404
Randolph Project: Bonneville Dam Behavior Guidance System
- Project Name: Bonneville Dam Behavior Guidance System
- Location: Cascade Locks, Oregon
- Client: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
- Work Performed: Design-Build and Deploy Behavior Guidance System
Description
Randolph performed a multitude of work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Bonneville Lock and Dam Project and their Department of Fish Studies. Randolph constructed an underwater system to divert migrating fish to the Bonneville Power House 2 Corner Collector (B2CC). This was a first-of-a-kind project. It required design and construction of a system that would sustain the turbulent flow conditions generated by the massive powerhouse at Bonneville's Power House 2, which was thought to be impossible.
Planning and design meetings were held; discussions between Randolph and USACE determined that the proposed system would meet the performance requirements sought from all parties. The project required spanning the entire width of the Columbia River at Power House 2, utilizing enormous concrete anchors from the Washington to the Oregon shoreline.
Approximately 80 underwater pre-cast anchors were placed weighing 66,000 lbs each and secured the Behavior Guidance System (BGS) using 72 1-inch cables reaching up to 200 feet in length. The BGS is 720 lineal feet of underwater steel curtain with a ten foot underwater draft suspended by unsinkable floats and a complex anchor arrangement.
To allow maintenance and boat traffic to access Power House 2, both north and south ends of the BGS were designed to open and allow up to 200 ft. barges and tugboats to enter with the ease of removing one galvanized pin. Construction was completed in February 2008 even though unexpected design changes were encountered due to heavy snows and unseasonable runoff that hampered dive opportunities, creating turbulent conditions during installation.
Daily coordination with USACE, Randolph, Bonneville Dam, Fish Studies and the Bonneville Power Administration were key in scheduling powerhouse outages, dive windows and work at Bonneville.
Project Snapshots
