Foundation Investigation at Hickory Log Creek Dam, Canton, Georgia

Abstract

Hickory Log Creek Dam is a proposed 55 meter high roller compacted concrete dam located on a tributary of the Etowah River near Canton, Georgia. The site characterization involved several approaches that facilitated the rapid foundation investigation schedule. These included identification of critical data needs, design of the program to collect these data, and selection of preferred data acquisition and evaluation. The foundation area of the dam is composed of fresh relatively unfractured mica schist in the stream valley and a mantle of residual soil and partially weathered rock on the abutment hillslopes.

Application of direct and indirect methods for predicting geotechnical dam foundation issues on weathered metamorphic rocks under tropical conditions

“…The third hypothesis would be related to a predominantly clay to sandy clay loam thick sediment pack deposited in the continental environment of an old closed basin, possibly associated with karst cavities, which could also have been developed when the regional base level of the Samaná Peninsula was well-below the current level. The fourth (karst marble and schist) (Ertunç, 1999) in Turkey, Tianhuanping (andesite) (Wang and Liu, 2005) in China, Porthimund (charnockites) (Ramana and Gogte, 1982) and Uri and Nathpa Jhakri (schist rocks) (Behrestaghi et al, 1996) in India, Hickory Log Creek (mica-schist) (Rogers et al, 2006) in the United States, Scott (shales) (Goodman and Ahlgren, 2000) and Clyde (schist) (Macfarlane, 2009) in New Zealand, and Mujib (limestone) (Wiesner and Ewert, 2013) in Jordan, with few publications for schist materials as foundations developed in tropical climate, mainly for projects of concrete gravity dams.…”

Stress-Strain Analysis of a Concrete Dam in Predominantly Anisotropic Residual Soil

“…In spite of these peculiarities, several dam projects have been developed on weathering profile, such as Obruk on basalt (Kocbay & Kilic, 2006) and Keban on karst marble and shale (Ertunç, 1999), both in Turkey; Tianhuanping on rhyolite and andesite (Wang & Liu, 2005) in China; Porthimund on charnockites (Ramana & Gogte, 1982), Uri and Nathpa-Jhakri on schists (Behrestaghi et al, 1996) all in India; Hickory Log Creek on mica-schist (Rogers et al, 2006) in the United States; and Clyde on schists (Macfarlane, 2009) in New Zealand. However, it is important to point out that there are still only limited scientific publications on schist materials as foundation, mainly for concrete-gravity dams, which often leads to a preference for the construction of earth or rock dams.…”