Dam Drilling

DA Smith's dam drilling services include core drilling, destructive drilling, geotechnical drilling, and pressure-grouting in concrete arch, gravity, and embankment dams. Our underground equipment is well-adapted to drilling in dam galleries. We work with private dam owners, government agencies, engineering firms, and heavy civil constructors, and can adapt our capabilities to satisfy virtually any dam project. DA Smith has been approved by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for drilling at numerous FERC-regulated dams and is experienced with the regulatory approval process.

Capabilities

Past projects have involved a wide range of scopes:

Core drilling to investigate concrete integrity
Coring to examine concrete-bedrock contacts
Concrete sampling for mechanical properties testing
Sampling for alkali-silica reaction (ASR)
Construction of uplift pressure water monitoring wells
Drilling of pressure relief holes and drains
Water hammer drilling where air hammer drilling is prohibited
Auger and ODEX drilling and geotochnincal sampling in embankment dams
In situ stress measurements inside concrete dams and beneath dams in foundation bedrock
Installation of geomechanical and hydrologic instrumentation

Dam Projects

Difficult Access

We have the capability to drill in difficult-to-access locations on the crests of dams, on barges, from scaffolding on dam faces, below gates, on spillways, and inside narrow tunnels, galleries, and shafts inside dams. We are experienced with many forms of hole grouting and the use of non-shrinking low-alkali grouts and plasticizer compounds where historical concrete may be vulnerable to alkali-silica reaction.

Large Core

We are capable of coring through any dam and into bedrock at any angle, reaching hole depths of more than 1,000 feet, depending upon core size. We are also able to core through structural steel if necessary. We routinely core N, H, P, and 6-inch-diameter, and have cored up to 18-inches in diameter where large samples were required.

High Pressure

We have extensive experience drilling into high-pressure regimes where flow control is critical and can fabricate special containment and flow control systems for sites where water contamination, dam breaching, or inundation is a concern.