Dams and related features serve a critical role in providing water supply, hydropower, flood control, recreation, and other benefits. Given their importance, we have a dedicated team of experts focused exclusively on dam, levee, and water resource projects throughout the United States. This group represents over 30 percent of our business and continues to grow, in part a result of several of our projects winning prestigious awards from peers and professional societies.
We provide a broad range of services including dam safety inspections, engineering analyses, hydraulic modeling, project planning, design, and construction oversight. We have met our clients’ needs with all types of dams, including earthen, concrete, and roller-compacted concrete structures.
Schnabel’s dam engineering solutions include:
Existing Dams and Levees
- Dam safety assessments
- Risk-informed decision making
- Geotechnical and geostructural analyses
- Seismic hazard studies
- Slope and shoreline stabilization
- Spillway expansion design
- Dam removal and replacement
- Emergency remediation
New Dams and Levees
- Site selection and feasibility studies
- Geotechnical and geophysical investigations
- Hydrology and hydraulics
- CFD modeling of hydraulic structures
- Design of dams, spillways, tunnels, penstocks, conduits
- Instrumentation programs
Emergency Action Planning
- Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling
- Dam breach scenario development
- 2D, 3D, and hybrid hydraulic modeling
- Downstream routing and inundation mapping
- Emergency action plans and training workshops
Construction Support Services
- Bid and procurement support
- Resident engineering
- Construction inspection and QA/QC testing
