Water

Operating since 1972, Eel River, New Brunswick is home to the world's first commercial solid state High Voltage Direct Current converter station. This 320 MW interconnection facility, built by Canadian General Electric and NB Power, incorporates high current silicon solid state thyristors to convert alternating current from Hydro Quebec to direct current and back to alternating, allowing asynchronous, stable power transfers to serve New Brunswick's Power's customers.

This converter station was historically significant because it was the first that was designed and built from solid state high voltage, high current thyristors. Previously the medium was a plasma in a glass envelope using mercury vapor. These had more losses and were prone to re-strikes during transient fault events. Additionally, the mercury is considered a dangerous pollutant. Nelson River HVDC had used thyristors in a portion of the bridge to mitigate re-strikes but these were retrofits. The knowledge gained there served as a proving ground to give confidence for a full scale project at Eel River.

With this project, the march of solid state systems to higher current and voltage ratings was advanced another major step. In fact, the Eel River Station performance was such that the station ran at 10% overload for the first 15 years without difficulty. The project allowed surplus Hydro Quebec energy to flow into New Brunswick which is synchronized with the Eastern Interconnection, without the risk of loss of transmission if disturbances happened in either New Brunswick or Hydro Quebec. Indeed Eel River served to govern and stabilize both systems with its External Control System, a benefit to either system in case of disturbances. This economically advantageous energy imported to the benefit of New Brunswick customers, allowed more expensive NB Power generation to be exported to New England where energy costs were higher, an economic advantage to the parties on both side of the US border.

The electronic external control system enhancing governing and stability as a response to weighted system frequency and weighted system acceleration was a new feature which allowed both Hydro Quebec and NB Power to use the other system as a crutch during power system disturbances in either system. This feature has had a major beneficial impact on dynamic system performance. This is where a difference in frequency modulates the power transfer in a manner to assist the deficient system being governed back to safety. In the event of a difference in acceleration, the system slowing down is assisted by the other system while mitigating any power swings as quickly as possible to regain stability.

The triggering for the thyristors was achieved by using fibre optics to communicate the isolated trigger pulse to the thyristors at various voltage levels. This was an early application of another new technology, now ubiquitous.

Tags

Hydroelectric

Water

Solid State

Thyristor

Converter

Plasma

River des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:20:35 +0000

River des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works

Mon, 08/13/2012 - 14:20

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

38.538935, -90.269362

City

St. Louis

State

Country

USA

Zip

63109

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/River-des-Peres-Sewage---Drainage-Works/

Creator

Horner, W.W.

In 1915, a tropical storm dropped nearly 11 inches of rain on St. Louis in just 17 hours, causing a devastating flood. Claiming 11 lives and the homes of 1,025 families, the flood focused public and government attention onto the problems of the river.

In the early 1900s, St. Louis public health officials recognized River Des Peres as an open sewer that received wastewater and stormwater drainage. The River Des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works is a system of tunnels, pipelines, and canals built to provide proper disposal of sewage and relief from flooding, and to eliminate unsanitary conditions in the city.

The River Des Peres project solved the problems of both storm drainage and sanitary sewage conveyance, separating sewage from surface water systems. Among the many innovations associated with this project are advanced techniques of hydrologic computations and use of large diameter (32 foot), buried, reinforced concrete pipe.

Today, the River Des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works provides the backbone for the 110-square-mile St. Louis drainage basin.

Facts

The river runs through Forest Park - the site of the 1904 World's Fair. A portion of the western end of the channel was enclosed with a wooden box to hide the unsightly sewer. Cost estimates indicated that a more complete solution would cost millions of dollars, so officials did not pursue additional improvements.
In 1915, a tropical storm dropped 10.6 inches of rain on St. Louis in just 17 hours, causing a devastating flood. Claiming 11 lives and the homes of 1,025 families, the flood focused public and government attention back onto the problems of the river.
The St. Louis government named W.W. Horner engineer in charge in 1916. He immediately set about implementing plans that had been developed as early as 1910. Voters finally passed a bond issue in 1923.
It took nearly a year to conduct property surveys and acquire right-of-way. The project formally began on January 19, 1924, when Mayor Kiel took the helm of a steam shovel and began digging the first diversion ditch.

Tags

The River des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works, a 13-mile system of sanitary trunk sewers and drainage channels, was the largest undertaking of its kind when completed between 1924 and 1931.

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia/Millbrooky

Image Caption

Today, the River Des Peres Sewage & Drainage Works provides the backbone for the 110-square-mile St. Louis drainage basin.

Lacey V. Murrow Bridge and Mount Baker Ridge Tunnels

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:57:57 +0000

Lacey V. Murrow Bridge and Mount Baker Ridge Tunnels

Mon, 08/13/2012 - 12:57

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

47.58988, -122.2703

City

King County

State

Country

USA

Zip

98040

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/Lacey-V--Murrow-Bridge-and-Mount-Baker-Ridge-Tunnel…

Creator

Murrow, Lacey V.

Hadley, Homer

The 1.5 mile Lacey V. Murrow Bridge was the largest floating structure in the world and the first to be built of reinforced concrete when completed in 1940. The bridge consisted of typically 300-foot long pontoons floated to site and rigidly connected to form a continuous structure and incorporated a unique floating concrete draw-span to allow for passage of marine traffic. The original floating structure, constructed by Pontoon Bridge Builders, was accidentally sunk in 1990 during a major renovation effort and was replaced by 1993.

The twin 1466-foot long 29-foot wide Mount Baker Ridge Tunnels were the largest diameter soft-earth bores at the time. Bates and Rogers Construction Company was the contractor. The excavation methods developed led to the construction 49 years later of the adjacent 63-foot diameter soft-earth tunnel serving westbound I-90 traffic.

The original concrete floating bridge concept was developed by civil engineer Homer Hadley who spent more than ten years promoting the idea. Lacey V. Murrow, Chief Engineer of the Washington Toll Bridge Authority, studied and accepted Hadley's scheme and led the detailed design and construction of the project. Hadley was required to withdraw from further involvement because his close ties to the Portland Cement Association were thought to be a conflict of interest. Hadley would not receive credit for this innovative use of concrete until the parallel floating span was completed in 1989 and named in his honor in 1993, 26 years following his death.

Hadley and Murrow's floating bridge led to the construction of three similar bridges in the United States, two in Norway, one in Japan and one in Canada. The bridge and tunnel project were key in improving eastern access to Seattle, a major commercial port on the eastern rim of the Pacific Ocean.

Tags

When completed in 1940, the Lacey V Murrow Bridge & Mt Baker Ridge Tunnels constituted the world's first reinforced concrete floating bridge - the largest floating structure ever built - and the largest diameter soft-earth tunnels.

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia/Walter Siegmund

Image Caption

The bridge and tunnel project were key in improving eastern access to Seattle, a major commercial port on the eastern rim of the Pacific Ocean.

Lake Washington Ship Canal & Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:29:04 +0000

Lake Washington Ship Canal & Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

Mon, 08/13/2012 - 10:29

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

47.665647, -122.39776

Address1

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden

Address2

3015 54th St NW, Seattle, WA

City

Zanesville

State

Country

USA

Zip

98107

Website

http://www.asce.org/project/lake-washington-ship-canal---hiram-m-chittenden-loc…

Creator

Chittenden, Hiram

After more than 50 years of contention and debate, dredging began in 1911 on an eight-mile channel connecting Puget Sound, Seattle's gateway to the Pacific, to two inland freshwater lakes, Lake Washington and Lake Union. With the completion of the Lake Washington ship channel and Chittenden locks, coal and logs from the interior had a dedicated water route to the ocean, and the city's 4 1/2 miles of coastal harbor burgeoned into 100 miles of commercial, industrial and recreational piers and wharves.

The project transformed Seattle into a major metropolitan port city and advanced the practice of engineering on several fronts. The locks use an innovative drainage system to keep Pacific saltwater from damaging the inland freshwater ecology. They also incorporate one of the first fish ladders in the U.S. The project contributed significantly to the use of concrete in lock construction and to the development of cathodic protection systems to fight corrosion of steel members.

Facts

The Chittenden locks are the busiest in the U.S., The large lock alone ferries up to 200 vessels at a time between Puget Sound and the city's inland harbor.
Chittenden is the only lock system in the U.S. that separates salt and fresh water and that can accommodate tidal fluctuations. A sump upstream of the locks collects the heavier salt water, which pipes and gravity transport back into Puget Sound.
Chief engineer General Hiram Chittenden drove the decision to use concrete over wood, the key to the locks' longevity. He also insisted on two locks instead of one to handle large and small vessels more economically. And by lowering the level of Lake Washington, his design eliminated regular flooding from adjacent rivers.
Chittenden is equally renowned as a surveyor and author who pioneered the recording of Western history in books such as American Fur Trade of the Far West and Yellowstone National Park.
Before the channel was built, coal from inland mines had to be transferred 11 times before reaching Seattle, and timber had to be hauled by wagon over rough, muddy roads to the coastal mills.
Dredge material was used as fill to establish a botanical garden that today is one of the city's tourist attractions with 500 plant species from around the world.

Resources

Dodds, Gordon B.; Hiram Martin Chittenden: His Public Career, University Press of Kentucky, 1973

Tags

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, the largest and most heavily used locks on the West Coast, incorporated unique, parallel dual-sized lock chambers for water conservation and preventive measures to reduce salt water intrusion into Lake Washington.

Image Credit

Courtesy Flickr/gb_packards (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Image Caption

Lake Washington ship channel and Chittenden locks allowed for the transport of coal and logs and revitalized the coastal harbor.

Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal

Taiyuan Pai — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:25:55 +0000

Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal

Tue, 07/31/2012 - 10:25

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

56.002389, -3.852475

Address1

Forth to Bowling on the Clyde, Scotland

City

Glasgow

Country

Website

http://www.asce.org/project/forth---clyde-canal/

Creator

Smeaton, John

It took 22 years to complete the 35-mile waterway, as funding problems caused the work to shut down from 1777 to 1785.

The notion of creating a canal that crossed Scotland was conceived in the 17th century during the reign of Charles II, but would not be realized for nearly 100 years. The Forth and Clyde Canal, known as The Great Canal in its early years, was the first major transportation project in Scotland and the world's first man-made, sea-to-sea ship canal.

Envisioned to provide Scotland's first major transportation link between the east and west coasts, the canal stretches from Forth at Grangemouth to Bowling on the Clyde and provides a 3-mile branch to Glascow's Port Dundas. Crossing through cities, suburbs, and countryside, the route brought ships from the North Sea to the Atlantic. It was one of the first canals to provide transport for carts and railway wagons.

The canal prospered for nearly 100 years, but lost ground to road and railway alternatives by the end of World War II. The canal was officially closed in 1963, but restored and reopened in 2001.

Facts

It took 22 years to complete the 35-mile waterway, as funding problems caused the work to completely shut down from 1777 to 1785.
The system included 39 stepped locks and a series of bascule bridges and viaducts. Its most notable structure was the 400-foot-long Kelvin Aqueduct, which was the largest structure of its kind at the time.
The Canal Engineer was John Smeaton, well known for his design of the Eddystone Lighthouse.

Resources

Jean Lindsay, The Canals of Scotland, David & Charles, 1968.

Tags

The Forth & Clyde Canal is recognized as the world's first civil engineering designed and constructed public-works project, a sea-to-sea ship canal constructed with no natural waterways included on its route.

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia/Michel Van den Berghe (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Image Caption

The Forth and Clyde Canal, known as The Great Canal in its early years, was the first major transportation project in Scotland and the world's first man-made, sea-to-sea ship canal.

Embudo, New Mexico Stream Gauging Station

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:24:59 +0000

Embudo, New Mexico Stream Gauging Station

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:24

Society

ASCE

Main Category

Civil

Sub Category

Water Supply & Control

Era

1880-1889

Date Created

1888

Location Country

Coordinates

36.213056, -105.925

City

Embudo

State

Country

USA

Zip

87531

Website

http://www.asce.org/project/embudo,-new-mexico-stream-guaging-station/

Creator

Powell, John Wesley

A tiny village on the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico became the training center for the first American hydrographers and provided the first stream-gauging operations of the U.S. Geological Survey. To plan any water system, it is necessary to know the amount of water flowing in the stream or river at all times - including low, normal, and flood conditions.

To create streamflow measurement techniques, engineers designed gauging equipment and brought hydrographers to Embudo to learn to use these tools. The activities performed at Embudo led to the gauging of many of the nation's waterways, providing nationally consistent, prescribed standards for the scientific evaluation of surface-water resources and crucial data for land use and urban planning decisions.

Facts

To measure their first section of the Rio Grande, engineers built a raft, using four empty barrels for floats, and stretched a rope across the river to secure the raft for soundings and velocity measurements.
Since no current meters were available, the engineers initially designed various float measurement tools. Later, levels were run along the river to determine its slope and formulas were used to compute the discharge.
Each day a student would gather meteorological data. He would take barometer readings each hour, take the temperature of the river twice and day, and determine the amount of water evaporation by checking the level in the cook's bread pan.

Tags

The stream gauging system at Embudo, New Mexico, the first of its kind undertaken, led to the development of techniques that have been used extensively to collect essential data for water resources projects, land use, and urban planning.

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikicommons/Chris English (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Image Caption

Near Velarde, NM: U.S. Geological Survey Rio Grande Embudo Gaging Station, 2011

East Maui Irrigation System

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:30:35 +0000

East Maui Irrigation System

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 14:30

Society

Main Category

Era

Date Created

City

East Maui

State

Country

USA

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/East-Maui-Irrigation-System/

Creator

Henry Perrine Baldwin

The East Maui Irrigation System is Hawaii's most dramatic water story. It began with the construction of the Old Hamakua Ditch built between 1876 and 1878. This privately financed, constructed and managed irrigation system was one of the largest in the United States. It eventually included 50 miles of tunnels; 24 miles of open ditches, inverted siphons and flumes; incorporates approximately 400 intakes and 8 reservoirs. The aqueducts bring water from steep tropical forest dissected by many ravines on the Windward and wet slopes of Haleakala, a 10,000 foot high dormant volcano, to the fertile semi-arid central Maui isthmus. They provide half the irrigation water to the sugar growing area of Maui.

This irrigation system demonstrated the feasibility of transporting water from steep tropical forested watersheds with high rainfall across difficult terrain to fertile and dry plains. Over the years of the development of this system, many engineers gained experience in building irrigation systems. They used what they learned from the East Maui Irrigation System to develop irrigation systems for the Western United States. For instance, engineer M.M. O'Shaughnessey, in charge of constructing the Koolau Ditch in 1904 and 1905, subsequently built the San Francisco Hetch Hetchy water system.

Facts

Old Hamakua Ditch took two years (1876-1878) to complete at a construction cost of $80,000.
The completed Old Hamakua Ditch was 17 miles long and had a capacity of 60 million gallons per day.
The second ditch was the Spreckles Ditch. When completed at a construction cost of $500,000, it was 30 miles long with a capacity of 60 million gallons per day.
The sugar companies continued to build irrigation ditches. Before World War I, the New Hamakua, Koolau, New Haiku, and Kauhikoa ditches were built.
The largest ditch, the Wailoa Ditch, was completed in 1923.

Tags

Built by private enterprise, the East Maui Irrigation System was a pioneering example of irrigation technology. It consists of 74 miles of tunnels, ditches, inverted siphons, and flumes with a capacity of 455 million gallons per day.

Image Credit

Courtesy Flickr/Will Scullin (CC BY 2.0)

Image Caption

East Maui Irrigation Ditch

Eads South Pass Navigation Works

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:59:58 +0000

Eads South Pass Navigation Works Mon, 07/30/2012 - 12:59

Society

ASCE

Main Category

Civil

Sub Category

Water Supply & Control

Era

1870-1879

Date Created

1875-1879

Location Country

Coordinates

29.950175, -90.066834

City

New Orleans

State

Country

USA

Zip

70113

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/Eads-South-Pass-Navigation-Works/

Creator

Eads, James Buchanan

"Eads had to succeed in the face of conventional wisdom which doomed him to disaster. Entrenched authorities not only completely dismissed his theories, but pointed to the indifferent European experiences with what he proposed."
- ASCE Landmark Nomination Proposal, 1982

Eads South Pass Navigation Works
The mighty Mississippi River has long been a valuable lifeline for the country's transportation and commerce. In the late 1800s, though, the mouth of the ever-changing Mississippi was silting up, creating areas as shallow as eight feet. Eads South Pass Navigation Works opened a channel at the mouth of the Mississippi River that allowed large boats easy access to the Port of New Orleans.

James Buchanan Eads created a self-scouring channel through the South Pass by constructing wing dikes, perpendicular to current flow, which forced the current into a narrower cross-section. The current scoured the river bottom, pushing the silt far out into the deep Gulf waters. This created a nearly permanent channel that required only periodic dredging to maintain navigability.

The channel is no longer maintained for deep-draft traffic due to a decline in maritime shipping. But the principles which guided construction on the South Pass made possible the high performance of the Southwest Pass, currently the predominant seaward approach to the ports of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Facts

A T-dam at the head of the South Pass deepened the channel. He used wing dikes, perpendicular to current flow, to force the current into a narrower cross section, thus scouring the channel more completely.
Sill dams of horizontal timber were placed at the mouth of the river to force the current to further scour the channel.
Once pilings had been driven, mattresses of interwoven willow branches were submerged and attached to the pilings. Then alternating layers of broken stone and willow mattresses formed the base upon which a railroad line was constructed.
Initially, the project was completed with funds furnished by Eads and a group of investors. Only if the design succeeded would Congress provide reimbursement.

Tags

Thumb

The Eads South Pass Navigation Works enabled the entire Mississippi River basin to have direct deep draught marine access to the oceans of the world. Today it is still a classic of hydraulic engineering.

Chesbrough's Water Supply System

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:07:47 +0000

Chesbrough's Water Supply System

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 12:07

Society

Main Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

41.87902, -87.63319

City

Chicago

State

Country

USA

Zip

60604

Website

http://www.asce.org/project/chesbrough-s-chicago-water-supply-system/

Creator

Chesbrough, Ellis

Constructed to provide a safe, potable water supply for the citizens of Chicago, Ellis Chesbrough's Chicago Water Supply System was the first major system to utilize offshore intake systems. The system includes the landmark Chicago Water Tower and the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station. Its subaqueous tunnel was a pioneering effort in American civil engineering.

In earlier years, settlers either carried water in buckets from the Chicago River or bought water from peddlers who delivered water in horse-drawn wagons. A cholera epidemic stormed Chicago in 1849, claiming one out of every 36 residents. Many successive years of cholera and dysentery epidemics finally prompted the Illinois State Legislature to create a Board of Sewerage Commissioners to address the need for safe water.

Tags

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia/Wickdrew

Image Caption

Ellis Chesbrough's Chicago Water Supply System was the first major system to utilize offshore intake systems.

Ohio Canal System

Taiyuan Pai — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:37:15 +0000

Ohio Canal System

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 11:37

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

40.296287, -83.082276

City

N/A

State

Country

USA

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/Ohio-Canal-System/

Creator

Ohio, State of

Between 1825 and 1847 the State of Ohio constructed 1,000 miles of canals and feeder canals, 33,000 acres of reservoir surface area, 29 dams across streams, 294 lift locks, 44 aqueducts and many smaller structures at a cost of about 16 million dollars. The network of navigable canals provided a system of economical transportation where none had previously existed; the young state, with its isolated frontier lifestyle, was transformed almost overnight into a thriving segment of the nation's economy. The canals opened many markets for its agricultural and industrial products, and drew thousands of immigrants to Ohio.

There were relatively few problems to overcome in the construction of the canal system because there were no mountain ranges to "lock" over and most of the route was fairly level. Supplying water to the summit points required building dams across rivers to create reservoirs at levels higher than the canals.

Today a few deep excavations, high earthen embankments, and large structures of timber and cut stone are all that remain of Ohio's first transportation system.

Resources

Shank, William H., PE, Towpaths to Tugboats, American Canal and Transportation Center, , 1982.

Tags

The engineering of the Ohio Canal System, a complex system of canals, bridges and dams totaling over 1,015 miles in length, produced the largest manmade lake in the world at the time, and was one of the greatest civil engineering feats of the early 1800s.

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia

Image Caption

A part of the Ohio Canal System in 1902.