Substation Rehabilitation

JBW Consulting Engineers completed a project to rehabilitate several reinforced concrete foundations. Observations during a site visit on June 24th indicated severe deterioration of reinforced concrete caissons, particularly in the 115 kV outgoing eastern end of the substation. The degradation included severely cracked and eroding concrete and exposed rebar, with most affected caissons supporting overhead aluminum buses. Some lattice structure foundations also exhibited cracked and crumbling concrete.

JBW’s structural engineering services aimed to address these issues by providing necessary repairs through detailed construction drawings. The scope of services included site visits and coordination, structural engineering and design, and bi-weekly design review meetings to ensure progress and gather feedback. Specific tasks involved shoring existing bus details, designing new caisson foundations, detailing existing caisson foundation rehabilitation, and updating existing drawings if necessary.

The approach included a desktop review of the deteriorated caisson foundations, designing new ones for the most severe cases, and detailing surface repairs for other foundations with less severe degradation. JBW planned to create foundation repair drawings incorporating shoring information and details for new and existing foundations. These drawings would be sent for a 90% level review, and upon receiving feedback, JBW would incorporate comments and issue a final IFC set of construction drawings.