2005 – RCC Construction & Quality Control for Burnett Dam

José López1, Tim Griggs, Robert J. Montalvo, Richard Herweynen and Ernest Schrader

The Burnett Dam is a 50m high Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dam with a total RCC volume of
400,000 m3. It is located on the Burnett River, approximately 50km inland from the town of Childers
in Queensland, Australia. The design of the dam commenced in 2003, construction started in
November 2003 and the dam will be completed by the end of 2005.

This paper discusses the construction processes, the extensive quality control program and the
innovations developed for the RCC dam construction.

Key features of the project discussed in this paper are:

• The low cement RCC mix design and its optimisation during the construction stage.
• Thermal issues and elimination of the need for cooling.
• Performance of the ‘all-in-one’ aggregate stockpile.
• Dual pugmills for RCC production.
• RCC delivery in different areas of the dam undertaken by conveyor, Creter crane and trucks.
• Extensive laboratory and field testing used to evaluate and improve production and quality
  control procedures including an analysis of the Lift Joint Quality Index.

During construction, special emphasis was given to the inspection of the processes of production,
transportation, delivering, placement, compaction and curing of the RCC.