INDUSTRY-LEADING ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT IN GEOTECHNICAL, WATER-RELATED AND SAFETY ASPECTS OF LINED AND UNLINED EARTH AND ROCK EMBANKMENT DAMS
PSM is a trusted partner for businesses and governments seeking expert dam engineering services. With a team of more than 180 highly experienced and motivated engineers and specialists, we have been advising clients of all sizes for over 30 years in dam design and construction. As one of the leading dam engineering consultants, we offer a range of dam services tailored to meet the unique needs of ourclients. While our roots are in Australia, we have a global reach, having worked on dam projects across the world. With offices across the country, we are well-positioned to offer expert advice and comprehensive solutions for dam design and construction.
Dam services include:
- Dam Design: We provide a full range of dam design and analysis services, including siting, feasibility studies, foundation assessment, embankment and spillway assessments. Our team of dam specialists ensures that ourdesign meets the highest local and international standards of safety and environmental impact.
- Dam analysis: We offer an extensive range of capability in the analysis of dam and dam related areas including dam break assessment, static and seismic stability, flood stability, erosion, settlement and crack propagation.
- Construction Management: Our team of dam experts offers construction management services that ensure that the construction of the dam is executed in accordance with the design specifications and requirements.
- Dam Safety and Risk Management: We help clients manage the safety and risk associated with dams by providing expert panel review services, detailed analyses including numerical stability, seepage and dam break assessment. Our dam specialists are trained to identify potential safety hazards and to develop risk mitigation strategies that minimise the likelihood of dam failure.
- Dam Operation and Maintenance: We provide services for the ongoing operation and maintenance of dams, including monitoring, operating manuals and comprehensive review services.
- Dam Closure: We provide a comprehensive range of services for the safe closure of tailings dams including slope stabilisation, capping, erosion control, flood mitigation and long term stability.
CAPABILITIES
EARTH AND ROCK EMBANKMENT DAMS
Our approach to earth and rock embankment dam design and analysis is underpinned by the latest industry standards and guidelines. We use state-of-the-art software tools to model complex phenomena such as seepage and piping, allowing us to accurately predict potential failure modes and develop risk mitigation strategies. Our team of dam experts also draws on its practical experience to inform the design process, ensuring that the design is not only technically sound but also practical and cost-effective.
Rigorous risk assessment failure modes include:
- Seepage
- Piping
- Overtopping
- Scour and erosion
- Slope stability
- Rapid drawdown
- Numerical modelling of crack propagation.
DAM FOUNDATIONS
Services include:
- Linear and non-linear deformation
- Discrete or stochastically generated structures
- Stress history
- Groundwater pressures
- Crack propagation
- Creep and strain softening.
TAILINGS DAMS
PSM has extensive experience in providing a wide range of services related to tailings dams, including review, design, construction, operation, and closure. Our team of tailings dam specialists has a deep understanding of the unique challenges associated with the design and management of tailings dams, including the need to balance safety, environmental concerns, and economic factors.
Services include:
- Site investigation and testing
- Construction material selection
- Storage cut, fill and volume determination
- Water balance and hydrological design
- Storagedesign to ANCOLD and other guidelines
- Industrial dams for the storage of special fluids such as caustic soda
- In-pit and underground storage design
- Capping design, construction and monitoring
- Design and construction of liners such as clay or geosynthetics
- Operations manuals to achieve high strength, low emissions or reduced closure costs.
We have extensive experience with discharge systems, spillways, underdrainage and decant systems.
Our full range of dam construction services includes:
- Earthworks specification
- Material sampling and testing
- Material and method specifications
- Monitoring
- Sedimentation and consolidation testing
- Construction supervision
- Certification
- Construction and regulatory reporting.
Our tailings technical lead, Dr Gareth Swarbrick, has conducted extensive research into the behaviour of deposited tailings and leads our design team as well as conducts independent reviews for owners, operators and regulatory organisations.
HYDROLOGY AND HYDRAULICS FOR DAMS
PSM are experienced in the preparation of detailed hydrological and hydraulics studies. Our services include:
- Rainfall and runoff taking account of long-term inflow and seepage or evaporation loss patterns for reservoir sizing or yield analysis
- Historical or design runoff events for spillway capacity design
- Risk of dam overtopping
- Design of intakes, spillways, diversions and outlets and specialist hydraulic structures
- Specialist assessment of scour and erosion.
We draw from a range of published and in-house assessment techniques ranging fromfirst-principle calculations tomore complex numerical analysis (including 3D CFD modelling) or scale physical modelling techniques.
SPILLWAY SCOUR AND EROSION
Our sophisticated scour-prediction tools combine rock mass modelling with hydraulic models to assess spillway erosion.
Setting an industry benchmark, PSM developed these tools from Dr Steven Pells’ 2016 research into erosion (scour) risk in unlined spillways at over 30 large dam spillways.
DAM SEEPAGE
PSM capabilities include seepage analysis of leak discharges through embankments, low velocities and pore pressure.
For steady or transient flows, we use coupled modelling in both 2D and 3D, using Geostudio (Seep/w; Sigma/w; Slope/w); RS2; RS3, FEFLOW and Abaqus software.
Work with dam engineers and consultants who are committed to providing industry leading geotechnical and water engineering for dams
PSM has worked on projects of all sizes for clients of all types. PSMs work is highly regarded and utilises cutting edge technology and methodologies to get the most insightful and effective results.
Contact
Please contact Dr Gareth Swarbrick via email ([email protected]) or phone (02 9812 5000) for more information.
TALK TO OUR EXPERTS IN DAMS AND DAM SAFETY
Our team has extensive capabilities to provide solutions for complex problems. Reach out today to find out how we can help. Our experts in this field include Mark Eggers, Matthew Lowing and Gareth Swarbrick.
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