AECOM Shimmick staff had 90 days to rebuild the Lagrange Locks and the dam’s dewatering lock chamber.
During the final weeks of the rebuilding of the Lagrange locks and dam, two crane barges were used to pour concrete.
In 1939, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Lagrange Locks and Dam were completed on the Illinois River near Beardsville, Illinois, just north of where Illinois meets the Mississippi River.It is a key transport point for the flow of goods to all points south of the Great Mud.
After 81 years of service, with only minor repairs in 1986 and 1988, when AECOM Shimmick began a $117 million restoration last year, the 600-foot lock and dam had expired.
“LaGrange Major Rehab/Major Maintenance is the largest single construction contract executed by the Rock Island District,” said Col. Steven Sattiger, USACE Rock Island District Commander and District Engineer.“In the past 20 years, only one Rock Island project has exceeded the size of the Lagrange project, but that project was split into multiple contracts and took nearly 10 years to execute, which is in contrast to the Lagrange project. Unlike the Grange project, the Lagrange project is basically completed in one construction season.”
Frequent flooding and extreme temperatures and high usage rates lead to significant deterioration of locked concrete and reduced performance and reliability of mechanical and electrical systems.The locks even grew grass in the old concrete.
The AECOM Shimmick was tasked with dehydrating the lock, removing its lock face, installing new prefabricated panels and rebuilding the lock face with embedded armor panels for durability.
“The way the Corps is set up, it’s going to be a very tough job,” said project director Bob Wheeler, who also worked on the Olmsted Locks and Dam.”Before the summer closures, we had the locks open and were just doing construction activities around the locks, which could disrupt river traffic. It’s really hard to get things done that way.”
The 90-day lockout and drainage work began in July, but AECOM Shimmick was supposed to do multiple lockouts throughout the two-year project.Flooding in the spring and summer of 2019 meant Wheeler and his team needed to compress work activities into a reduced single shutdown window of 90 days from July to October 2020.In such a tight window, Wheeler said he knew it would be “incredibly difficult.”
The AECOM Shimmick team needed to install new miter door anchor points and a new programmable control system to open and close the miter door.Due to flooding at the site, the Corps wanted to replace traditional hydraulic cylinders with new technology.
“When they go underwater, [hydraulic cylinders] tend to leak, and that’s going to be a problem,” Wheeler said.”It’s a cost and maintenance issue.”
Instead of hydraulic cylinders, the new lift mechanism uses a rotary actuator with spindle technology, which was not previously used in locks in the United States.The Marine Corps adopted this technology for locks on submarines that used spindles to open and close hatches and torpedo bays.
Rotary actuator manufacturer Moog provides detailed installation instructions.For the actuator to work properly, the implementation needs to be accurate.
“They take up a lot less space than traditional cylinders,” Wheeler said.”When we measure the shaft and splines where the rotary actuator is mounted, it has to be within a thousandth of an inch – basically in locks and dams like this, if it’s within an eighth of an inch, you’re good. ”
Heavy equipment within the compact footprint of the river lock and dam includes a 300-ton crane on the landside, a 300-ton crane upstream and a 300-ton crane downstream of the bulkhead and lock.A 150-ton crane is located on a barge outside the river wall, and two 60-ton cranes are in the cabin.There are two 130-ton cranes and a 60-ton crane on the land wall.These cranes are used to place the chain mail as well as new concrete for the lock walls, and the cranes are placed using buckets.
AECOM Shimmick staff recorded 200,000 hours in three and a half months.At peak, heavy equipment coordination and communications included 286 personnel working six 10-hour double shifts in a 600-foot-long and 110-foot-wide lock room.
“We work down from both sides of the lock,” Wheeler said.”Both sides at the same time. It’s amazing. We have a great planning system where we plan all these things up front. It’s similar to Lean, but more focused on involving field and craft workers and providing feedback on a daily basis.”
Underwater construction subcontractor JF Brennan from La Crosse, Wisconsin provided marine plans and divers.Wheeler said they had to dive on bulkhead slots, which had to be cleaned and removed.All contamination valves must also be repaired.The 1939 dam had a fixed weir for dredging and clearing.Brennan and AECOM Shimmick filled it with concrete so that it would no longer function and would not be liable for shipping.Modern cleaning systems are fitted with a new control system.
“You can’t pour concrete where there is a formwork as you normally would, then place it within three screen lines and finish. It has to be very precise,” Wheeler said.”Then, the structural system from the anchorage is in the concrete. We cut it out, then we drilled down about 6 feet with the anchors, put the structure in, and put this mini shaft in and bolted it to the Structurally, and then put the rotary actuator on it. It’s really like machining — the work you usually do in a power plant, but in the middle of the lock on the outside.”
Despite completing all the locks in a 90-day period, AECOM Shimmick completed the project on time, and the Illinois River has been open to barge shipping since mid-October.Five of the eight locks and dams along the Illinois River have been completed.
<ilayer src=”https://industry-jobs.enr.com/api/regionalcareercenter/?&searchregion=all&jobpostings=3&layout=4 ” width=”300″ height=”150″scrolling=”no”></ilayer>
Post time: May-16-2022
