Jacob H. Douma
A:
Oh, they didn't present any major problems. There were small problems that were model
tested, but I don't remember any major problems.
Now, I recall one major problem at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. A
powerhouse, fish ladder, and a ship lift were located near the dam. It was desired to
enlarge the powerhouse by extending it on the south side, but then the fish ladder and ship
lift would need to be modified or moved and reconstructed.
The designers worked on several modified plans and developed one that was model tested
at the Bonneville Hydraulic Laboratory. It was decided that it would not work because
everything was too cramped. The fish ladder had to be moved elsewhere, but moving it
would make the fish ladder steeper and water velocities down the ladder would be higher.
There was serious concern whether the fish would be able to swim up the steeper ladder.
It was decided to abandon the above plan. Instead, the powerhouse enlargement was
constructed on the other side of the river as a separate building. The fish lifts, fish
ladders, and boat lift are still as originally constructed.
So that's where the decision to model led you to make significant changes in the
original proposal?
A:
That's right. That kind of model had never been constructed and tested before. There was
no way of determining what would happen without modeling it,
So it became pretty standard procedure for you to model about everything on these
projects?
A:
Yes, that's right. Problems that are not understood and for which there are no precedent
solutions are generally model tested to make certain that the proposed plan will work
efficiently and be the most economical.
So efficiency and economy are important, but good engineering comes first, doesn't it?
A:
Well, but sometimes you can't do good engineering without model studies. If you don't
have the criteria, expertise, or prior knowledge, you may not be able to do good
engineering until model tests show what will happen and you learn what's going to
happen.
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