Innovations in Execution: El Puente De Santolea Dam

Manuel Cabedo, Civil Eng., Isolux Corsán Group—Corsán Corviam Construcción, Madrid, Spain; Jaime Gracia,
Geologist, Copisa, Teruel, Spain; Bernardo Roldán, Civil Eng., Isolux Corsán Group—Corsán Corviam Construcción, Teruel, Spain.
Contact: jsa@isoluxcorsan.com
DOI: 10.2749/101686614X13830788506369

Abstract protection area). Thus, a suitable order to prepare the corresponding

aggregate-processing method was Modified Project, works had to be dis-
El Puente de Santolea is a roller- designed together with a new blasting continued and could not be resumed
compacted concrete (RCC) tailing procedure for excavations during the until January, in contrast to the Project
dam built to regulate the flow of the breeding season. With these measures Technical Specifications which stated
river during the heightening works of and the use of the vacuum chute that October. This late beginning affected
the existing dam and to maintain a works by self-gravity, lower energy was the dam execution plans, which would
constant level afterward, guaranteeing consumed and dust and noise emis- last until winter, requiring storage of
environmental protection and offering sions were minimized. the RCC in severe cold conditions,
recreational uses. and blasting for excavations during
Keywords: RCC; vacuum chute; mix-
Unexpected initial complications the breeding time. But these problems
ture; cementitious; retardant additive;
(namely time limits and climate condi- were dealt by avoiding delaying of the
MEVR (mortar-enriched vibratable
tions) were faced requiring measures work until next October, for the social
RCC); covering time.
which guaranteed the dam execu- benefits of the irrigators.
tion. For this purpose, novel construc- Introduction
Under the new Modified Project, the
tion methods were developed in the
The project of Santolea dam over the dam axis was moved 33 m downstream
European area (vacuum chute), exe-
Guadalope River included the execu- and foundation level was 12 m deeper,
cution innovations (“open air” bottom
tion of two works: heightening of the to lay the dam on solid limestone rock.
outlet, RCC stepped creager) were
existing dam and execution of a new This design doubled the total concrete
proposed, and advantage was taken of
one, El Puente de Santolea dam, in the volume without extending the execu-
the versatile RCC technique to adapt
reservoir tail, which was the objective tion time. The ground plan (Fig. 1) was
to different climate conditions. All this
of this work. designed with two straight alignments
rendered great results in water tight-
forming an angle of 27º, connected
ness and finishing and reduced the At the time excavations began, the with an arch of circumference (50 m
execution time. foundations in the project site were radius), to close at the right abutment.
Execution also involved issues con- found to be inadequate by unexpect- To overcome these new difficulties, the
cerning environmental protection edly discovered at the facies utrillas following challenges were met: high
especially because the reservoir level, a combination of sand and clay speed of execution, labour safety, cost
is located in a birds SPA (special unable to hold the dam efficiently. In efficiency, environmental concerns

601,00 (ASL)

596,00
594,30 Conventional concrete (CC)
PA-10

PA-20

PA-30

PA-40

PA-50

Stilling basin
Dam axis of original project

R 50
Left stilling basin 27°
0,2 Roller 0,6 Right stilling basin
601

compacted
1 1 575,50 565
concrete Concreted
(RCC) rockfill
572,50 569
CC
2,00
2,70

569,00 Drains 568,65

570,00
565,00 CC Spillway
1,80

Perimetric gallery 33 m
557,00 Bottom outlet
2
1,50

1
1,00

Infill
Anchorages RCC

Fig. 1: Cross section at the spillway (left) and ground plan (right)1

82 Technical Report Structural Engineering International 1/2014

Dam type RCC gravity dam
Concrete volume 53 000 m3 of RCC and 22 000 m3 of CC (conventional concrete)
Reservoir volume 17,67 hm3
Total crest length 205,00 m (12 blocks between 6,0 and 23,00 m)
Top level of dam
601,0 m above the sea level
crest
Height of dam 44,0 m and 32,0 m to foundations and riverbed, respectively
Upstream slope 0,2H: 1,0 V (1,2 m height steps)
0,6H: 1,0 V below 593,6 m (1.2 m steps)—upright from 593,6 to
Downstream slope
601,0 m
Inspection galleries A perimeter one from the crest to level 570,00 m
Total length of 36,0 m, two spans, stepped all along the down-
Spillways
stream slope
At level 572,0 m, there are two pipes (30 m) and four Bureau
Bottom outlet
shutters (1,2 × 1,5 m)
Left one: 18,0 m width and 27,35 m length at level 569,0 m
Stilling basin
Right one: 18,0 m width and 29,20 m length at level 565,0 m
Water intakes None
Table 1: Main characteristics of El Puente de Santolea dam1
and adaptation to adverse weather problems. In January 2010, once the
conditions. Modified Project was approved, works
were restarted with excavations. In
August 2010, the execution of the body
Characteristics of the Dam dam began, raising the crest in January
El Puente de Santolea dam, across 2011. Execution was extended until
the Guadalope River, is located in March to finish the spillway and the
the village of Castellote (province of stilling basin. Finally, in July 2011, the
Teruel, northeast of Spain), within dam Load Test Program was success-
the Maestrazgo mountainous region, fully completed (Fig. 2); it was filled
essentially a Cretaceous limestone with 17,67 hm3 of storage capacity and
area. Its main characteristics can be performed without leaks (<2 L/min).
visualized in Fig. 1 cross section and
RCC quality during construction
Table 1. stages was controlled for workabil-
ity (Vebe times: 8–12 s), segregation
Execution (visual aspect), compacting (Troxler
density), compressive strength (test
Dam construction started in the sum- tubes tested at different periods: 7, 28,
mer of 2007 and one year later, having 90, 180, and 360 days), bonding of lay-
the river deviation works were defini- ers (covering time of 16 h, ASTM C403
tively suspended due to foundation standard), and evolution of hydration
Fig. 2: El Puente de Santolea dam with the Load Test Program completed in July 2011
Structural Engineering International 1/2014
temperatures (thermometers). For
assessing dam performance, a moni-
toring system was installed to control
meteorological variables, reservoir
level, absolute movements, movements
of block joints, structure temperature,
uplifts, leakage, and shutter degree
of opening. Then, an automatic data
acquisition system was installed in
the dam to process all the instrument
readings, according to the Ebro River
Basin Authority criteria.
Innovations
To meet some of the challenges men-
tioned under the Introduction section,
namely, high speed of execution, labor
safety, and cost-efficiency, some of the
measures adopted could be considered
as innovative progress.
Use of the Vacuum chute
To prevent contamination of RCC
layer, a transfer element that allowed
pouring of the concrete mix on site
while isolating it from the outside was
needed. The search included several
factors including high speed, reliabil-
ity, and environmental care. In this
case, as the dam had only 53 000 m3 of
RCC, usual options such as high-speed
belt conveyors and Creter Crane were
discarded, as the amortization was
excessive or the dam site topography
demanded highly complicated access
roads.
Therefore, the vacuum chute was
selected for El Puente de Santolea
dam, as a transfer element, to trans-
port RCC by gravity from upper
feeder level to the placing area. It
consisted of the following elements
(Fig. 3): receiving hopper (20 m3),
control gate, belt conveyor (15 m),
small hopper (3 m3), chute (42 m),
discharging device (3 m), and metal
framework. Vacuum chute assembly
took one month including tests. The
chute was a 45º sloped steel gutter of
semicircular section (0,65 m diameter,
8 mm thickness) covered by a flexible
cover tire and made of ten pieces that
are disassembled as RCC layer level
rose—which means that every 3 m
the layer rose, the bottom piece of the
chute and the discharging device were
disassembled and then, the discharg-
ing device was reassembled.
RCC transference process included the
following: (1) dump truck arrived from
the mixing plant with 9 to 12 m3 of
RCC and dumped it into the receiving
hopper embedded in the left abutment
of the dam (previously executed); (2)
Technical Report 83

Dump truck from plant
Hopper foundation
Fig. 3: Scheme of vacuum chute elements (copyrights: FOSCE Consulting Engineers)
Fig. 4: RCC transfer through vacuum chute to dump truck on the layer
RCC was transported by the conveyor
belt up to the small hopper; (3) RCC
slid down by self-weight between gut-
ter and cover tire generating negative
pressure to reduce speed and avoid
segregation until it reached the dis-
charging device; and (4) the device
poured into the dump truck placed on
the layer (Fig. 4). The cycle took 2 or 3
min, which allowed transferring a rate
of up to 250 m3/h. However, a 90 m3/h
rate (plant capacity) was enough to
complete the average layer (480 m3) in
8 h, leaving eight extra hours of contin-
gency reserve until the time of cover-
ing lapsed.
The following conclusions were drawn:
1. RCC quality was guaranteed by
avoiding segregation of aggregates
during the whole placing process,
verifying that the RCC mixture was
adequate and “chutable”.
2. An environmentally sustainable
and more economic RCC transport
84 Technical Report
Receiving hopper
Control gate
Small hopper
Belt
Metal framework
Base nuts
system was developed in Europe,
which means lower cost due to a sim-
ple structure, less energy consumption
and emissions as it works by self-grav-
ity, and less maintenance costs.
3. Labor accident risks have been
reduced by focusing on dump works
along the same vertical line.
4. From the execution experience, a
few improvements are suggested
for future use in favor of greater
dumpability:
• Place the Chute such that the
RCC concreting method can be
used up to the crest.
• To prevent interference with
the receiving truck on the layer,
place the Chute on the bottom
outlet opposite the hillside and
avoid gallery overlap.
• Increase steel thickness of the
discharging device to mitigate
abrasion caused by RCC
aggregates.
Pieces of chute
(detachables)
Piece length 4,2 m
Discharging device
Hosepipe
Dump truck over dam layer
• Install vibrators on the discharg-
ing device to help dumping in
case of concrete jams.
“Open Air” Bottom Outlet Execution
The dam’s deviation block contains
two tunnels previously constructed
to regulate the river flow through the
dam during construction and to hold
the bottom outlet afterward. Once
the dam has reached the crest, it was
originally planned to shut off the water
flow in one tunnel to work inside it,
and then to proceed similarly in the
other one. The complexity of this inner
work, as projected, lied in the accurate
placement of long and heavy metal
pieces, the delicate welds, and the hard
concrete filling against the ceiling. All
this needed high-quality standards of
execution to assure proper operation.
In order to simplify, economize, and
shorten the execution time of bottom
outlet , and for the first time, the conduits
made of two metal pipes (30 m long) and
four Bureau shutters were assembled
and conventional concrete (CC) was
placed in “open air” conditions (Fig. 5).
This procedure avoided making the dif-
ficult staged work inside the narrow tun-
nels (2,75 × 5,60 m2 and 30 m long) left in
the deviation block, as the project stated.
Meanwhile, the river ran through two
0,90 × 15 m2 cutouts left in the dam
body by the end of the first phase of
RCC concreting. The result was opti-
mal as the expensive and uncertain
second-phase injections, necessary to
fill the bubbles formed while concret-
ing the tunnels against the ceiling, were
avoided, not to mention the improve-
ment in personnel labor and inspec-
tion conditions.
Structural Engineering International 1/2014
RCC Execution of Stepped Creager
Profile and Stilling Basin Foundation
The stepped creager execution was
intended to be done using CC because
of its complex finish, which consists of
a beveled step with progressive short-
ening until reaching the top with a
curved guideline (Fig. 6). Also, CC was
planned for the stilling basin founda-
tion, which should absorb the excava-
tion irregularities.
In order to economize works, to shorten
the deadline, and for first use world-
wide, the art of execution was modified
from CC to RCC, using mortar-enriched
vibratable RCC (MEVR) against form- Fig. 5: First phase of “open air” bottom outlet concrete placing to avoid floating while
works. This was justified because MEVR Guadalope River flows through cutout left in RCC dam body
allowed for a vibratable RCC, which
could adapt to more complex forms
(bezel formwork or rock irregularities). 0,60
596,00 (NMN)
595,60
The advantages achieved were as

R2,1
595,10
follows: Conventional 0,28 0,12 × 0,09 Downstream

5
0,30 0,12 × 0,095

0,23
concrete face
• Quality improvement by simplify- Upstream 594,30 0,33 0,12 × 0,10

0,27
face

0,32
0,36 0,12 × 0,11
ing the stepped and beveled creager 0,39 0,12 × 0,12

0,37
execution. Vibration is always per- 0,43 0,12 × 0,13

0,45
formed in an “open air” condition 0,2 0,48

0,54
0,12 × 0,14
against formwork, improving face 0,54

0,66
1
finish, avoiding horizontal joints, 0,12 × 0,15

and contributing to personnel safety. 0,62

0,85
Roller
• Economic and time saving by allow- compacted
0,12 × 0,17

ing RCC placement (Fig. 7) from concrete 0,72

1,03
one dam abutment to the other and 0,12 × 0,19
1,20

all along the stepped creager height Theoric surface

creager profile

1,20
(6 m). This procedure helped to avoid 0,6
the common gap left by CC spillway y
= 0,5 · x
in the RCC area, which would have 4 4 0,6 1
prevented the entrance of pouring,
spreading, and compacting machin- Fig. 6: Creager profile cross section showing the RCC advancement until the last step1
ery on the other side of the spillway.
• Economic and time saving in basin
foundation by avoiding the com-
mon phases associated with form-
work joints to prevent cracks due to
shrinkage in CC (3200 m3 of RCC
was poured in 3 days).
• Mixture saving and lesser shrinkage
when changing from CC to RCC by
increasing the cementitious fly ash
proportion from 50 to 70%.

Technical Achievements
To meet the rest of the challenges men-
tioned under the Introduction section—
high speed of execution, and adaptation
to adverse weather conditions—some
of the measures adopted could be con-
sidered as major technical achievements. Fig. 7: RCC blanket protection at night and RCC stepped creager allowing machinery pass
between abutments
Mixture Design Variation Depending
on Cold or Hot Weather Conditions
and covering time lasted 16 h. This is 16 h generate hot joint with each other.
The mixture design was fixed after the key for RCC dam quality because RCC dam is made of layers of 300 mm
the test slab as summarized in Table 2, spreading the next layer and covering thickness, and to guarantee the hot
Vebe time was settled from 8 to 12 s, completely the previous one before joints (i.e., right bonding) between

Structural Engineering International 1/2014 Technical Report 85

General mixture composition/m3
Cement I 42,5 (kg) 60
Fly ash (kg) 140
Aggregates: 6/15, 15/30, 30/50 (kg) 1448
Natural sand 0/6 (kg) 216
Artificial sand 0/6 (kg) 447
Water (l) 108
Retardant additive (l) 1 after the heightening of Santolea dam
*
Some days working daytime shifts.
**
Only working daytime shifts.
Table 2: RCC mixture composition and rates following weather conditions
them, the monolithic behavior of the
structure and indeed its impermeabil-
ity are ensured. Then, retardant addi-
tive, the cement type, and others had
been adapted according to “outside”
temperatures to maintain high RCC
rates (Table 2) by keeping the harden-
ing start time above 16 h and the end
of the hardening less than 21 h to help
formworks and anchorages.
For execution during hot weather,
efforts were made to avoid desiccation
of layer surfaces by keeping the work
area continuously moist. The mixture
used was 200 kg of cementitious (140
kg ash, 60 kg cement I 42,5) and 1,5%
of retardant additive, according to July
2010 test slab results. Since November,
with the start of the cold weather, the
mixture was changed to 200 kg of
cementitious (140 kg ash, 60 kg cement
I 52,5) and 0,5% of retardant additive.
This thinner cement and the smaller
proportion of retardant compensated
for the lower ambient temperature
(between 4 and 17 ºC) and kept the
covering time around 16 h.
Mixture Design Adaptation to Extreme
Cold Weather
Specially in cold months (December
to January), with day temperatures
between 3 and 9 ºC and night temper-
atures between −5 and 0 ºC, concrete
was poured during daytime shifts,
increasing cement on cementitious
(120 kg ash, 80 kg cement I 52,5). More
additive (1,5%) was added only to the
last layer of the day, which was also
protected with blankets (three geotex-
tile sheets of 200 and 400 g/m2) during
the evening to guarantee hot joints
the next morning and work continu-
ity (Fig. 7). In this way, the covering
time of the last layer of the day was
increased to 20 h, and the first one was
decreased to 10 h.
The adaptation of the mixture design
to different seasons allowed for work
86 Technical Report
RCC rates/weather (m3/day)
August 1002
November 937
December* 487
January** 157
Average 860
continuity and shorter execution times
in the months during which work with
RCC had not been planned in the
project.
Mortar-Enriched RCC
The decisive trials on test slabs showed
that the mortar added to enrich and
make the RCC mixture vibratable
(MEVR) was the most adequate tech-
nique to use against formworks and
rock contacts as it eased execution
and supported the position (the other
option, the grout, got scattered). The
200 kg cementitious enriched formula
(88% cement Type I and 12% fly ash)
improved face finish and water tight-
ness, reinforced the anchorage zone,
and minimized the push toward the
formworks.
The MEVR execution involved pour-
ing a bead of mortar against the con-
tacts before spreading the RCC layer
and mixing it with the RCC using a
vibrator system until the paste flowed
back.
In addition to the MEVR, mortar was
used in cold joints to favor layer bond-
ing and to improve impermeability
Fig. 8: Gravel sieving without dust emissions
Structural Engineering International 1/2014
with the same amount of cement and
fly ash used in RCC (bonding mortar).
Environmental Protection
and Social Aspects
One of the main objectives of this proj-
ect was to maintain a constant level
to guarantee environmental protection
by avoiding the aggressive oscillations
of the reservoir water level to safe-
guard wildlife. Care of social aspects
was taken as well, by suggesting recre-
ational uses afterward, and with all the
efforts mentioned to reduce the execu-
tion term.
The execution staff was concerned
about environmental protection espe-
cially because the reservoir is located
in a birds special protection area
(SPA). For that reason, a singular and
simplified gravel extraction and wash-
ing system was designed. The gravel
processing was reduced by sieving
operations (80%), taking advantage to
the fact that the gravel of the quarry
was made of very well-graded calcare-
ous pebbles and sand. Minimal crush-
ing in the sand mill (20%) was needed
to produce artificial sand. With these
measures, compatible with the optimal
mixture aggregates grain size curve, we
consumed lower energy and minimized
dust and noise emissions (Fig. 8).
During the breeding season of pro-
tected birds of prey (February to
June), special care was taken by reduc-
ing the machinery usage to extract the
gravels and continuous noise controls.
Excavations were planned to begin in
October, but the Modified Project was
approved in December and this delay
forced execution of excavations during
the breeding season, when blasting was
forbidden under the Environmental
Impact Statement. A new excava-
tion through blasting procedure was
designed and tested at another loca-
tion to evaluate the noise and vibra-
tions. Once this was established that
those emissions were not large enough
to disturb birds nesting, the procedure
was approved and utilized for dam
excavation. It basically consisted of
replacement of detonating cords and
electronic detonators by detonators
with very low explosive power, increas-
ing the number of them but minimizing
noise and vibrations and indeed reduc-
ing each blasting volume to 2000 m3.
All works were controlled by an
ornithological monitoring proce-
dure, and its successful evaluation
proved the efficiency of the measures
implemented.
Conclusions
Due to the delayed beginning, works
needed to be accelerated twice: first,
because of the increase in concrete vol-
ume (100%) in the Modified Project
37th IABSE Symposium Madrid, September 3-5, 2014
The Spanish Group of IABSE
Structural Engineering International 1/2014
without extending Original Project
term, and secondly, for the delay itself SEI Data Block
at the beginning, which motivated Owner:
compromise of execution in low rates Ministry of Environment - Ebro River
periods (excavations during breeding Basin Authority
season and RCC placing in winter).
Structural design:
All the measures related were taken to
Intecsa, AcuaEbro and Cygsa
finish dam works as early as possible
with the respective social benefit of Contractor:
the irrigators in the area in mind, and U.T.E. Presa Santolea, consortium
as a result, the dam was rapidly exe- of Corsán Corviam (Isolux Corsán
cuted, overcoming winter problems Group) and Copisa
and doubling the original project RCC (m3): 53 000
output. 3
CC (m ): 22 000
Overall, the dam quality is optimal Characteristical
as it presents no seepages and sat- strength (MPa): 17,5 at 180 days
isfies its main purpose, face finishes 3
Cementitious (kg/m ): 200
are very good, and the contractor
has successfully innovated in several Cement/Fly-ash proportion (%): 30/70
aspects, achieving cost-efficiency, Excavation (m3): 78 000
improving workmen safety, and tak-
ing due care of environmental and River gravels extracted (m3): 100 000
social needs. Estimated cost (EUR million): 16,9
Service date: July 2011
Acknowledgment
The contractor thanks the personnel involved
in the construction of the dam and Fosce
Consulting Engineers for their advice.
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Technical Report 87