An excessive amount of rain causing flooding issues prompted the city of Asheville, North Carolina, to proactively develop a critical infrastructure plan to ensure the safety of the city, and its residents. Included in the plan was a North Fork Dam improvement project to create a safer dam reinforced for seismic stability and with greater capacity to hold water from the reservoir. The North Fork Reservoir and Water Treatment Plant serve as the primary water source for the city – providing 70% of Asheville’s water.
The two-year project involved many complexities, including raising the dam wall, building 30-foot radiused walls with a batter, and replacing the original spillway with a flip bucket that also has a radius sloping top. To ensure the intricacies of the project were addressed, PERI provided engineering services from bid to preliminary drawings, developing unique solutions using PERI’s existing formwork, scaffolding, and shoring portfolio of products and technologies.
DOMINO handset was used for the thick mat foundation pours, and TRIO crane set panels were used for the spillway and dam walls. PERI’s unique design for the spillway walls allowed for forming up the extreme wall batters. Also, the versatility of the BFD alignment coupler on TRIO ensured no additional accessories or walers were necessary, facilitating faster working operations and reducing the number of components.
The flexibility of the RUNDFLEX radius wall panels allowed for quick, on-site adjustment to meet the various required radii and enabled the production of the curved walls for the buttresses located beneath the bridge. Additionally, MULTIFLEX and FB 180 Folding Platform were used for shoring and safety scaffold throughout the project.
Beyond supplying formwork, scaffolding, and shoring products, a dedicated team of PERI engineers spent hundreds of hours analyzing the specific requirements and plans, utilizing PERI CAD to design and conceptualize the project with 3D visualization. Also, PERI supported the project with sequencing and coordination of material shipments and returns to ensure the project was executed successfully.
Phillips & Jordan, Inc.
