After more than half a century of performance at Summersville Dam a second fixed cone valve is being replaced. The new valve costing around $800,000 and weighing 35 tons will be put into service by a team composed mechanics of the Marietta Repair Station, contractor crain operators, project engineers from the Engineering and Construction and Operations Divisions staff, Summersville staff all overseen by Toby Wood, Summersville Resource Manager."It's great to be working with such a group of professionals," said Wood.
Huntington District called upon the Regional Rivers Repair Fleet's Marietta Repair Station Crew to replace 1 of its 3 valves, the crew will also swap a second valve in the process.
Fixed cone valves, also known as Howell-Bunger valves have been in wide use for many years for flow control. These valves may face different types of damages and failures due to vibrational stresses during operation.
Howell-Bunger valves provide controlled discharge of water while protecting the downstream environment. The valve breaks up the water into a large, hollow, expanding spray and can be used in most situations, including sub-merged applications.
An additional steel stationary hood concentrates the discharge spray into a "jet" for a more controlled flow stream. Howell-Bunger valves are ideally suited for low level outlet works for power projects, turbine bypass, gate surge relief, flood control systems, irrigation facilities, and draining reservoirs or ponds.
Summersville Dam was built under the supervision of the Huntington District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1960 and 1966 at a cost of nearly $48 million. The dam is on Gauley River near the town of Summersville in Nicholas County, W.Va. and controls a drainage area of 803 square miles. At 390 feet high, 2,280 feet long and made of more than12 million cubic yards of earth and rock, it is the second largest rock-filled dam in the eastern United States.
During summer, the lake is raised to elevation 1,652 feet above sea level which provides 2,790 surface acres of water for recreation. During late fall and winter it is lowered to elevation 1,575 to provide maximum space for storage of floodwaters.
The Marietta Repair Station is part of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division's Regional Rivers Repair Fleet (R3F). The Marietta Repair Station was brought in to lift the old valve out, replace it with the new valve and then prepare the old one for storage. "The Repair Station workers are the ones who are truly making this happen," said Wood.
The Marietta Repair Station crew on hand include: Station Chief David Bennett, Superintendent Joe Caprio, Maintenance Worker Eddie Lamphier, Welder Arnold Houser, Maintenance Mechanic Damian Galish and Welder Mike Russell.
In June 2016, Summersville held back its second highest pool during heavy flooding that saw 23 people lose their lives and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Once the flooding had subsided the dam began releasing water as part of its flood risk reduction mission.
Water is released from the lake through a 1,555-foot long, 29-foot diameter tunnel controlled at the lower end by three 9-foot diameter Howell-Bunger valves. It took a little over a week to reduce the lake back to its summer pool with the three valves releasing at nearly 15,000 cubic feet per second.
The old valve lasted 50 years and the new valve is expected to last even longer. Toby Wood explained, "Originally the fixed cone valves were the only way to release water from the dam, so with daily operation, they received more wear and tear. But since 2001 when an 80 megawatt hydropower plant went into operation, water releases are mostly through the plant."
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