The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) recently supported a major step toward modernizing one of the Ohio River’s oldest navigation structures, successfully validating specialized mass and underwater concrete mixtures needed to construct a new 110-foot by 600-foot lock chamber at Montgomery Locks and Dam.
The work represents years of collaboration between ERDC, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, the Inland Navigation Design Center, contractors and material suppliers. A key milestone in the project was the successful completion of field trial batching at the new on-site concrete plant.
Replacing the aging infrastructure will improve operational reliability, reduce delays for commercial navigation and strengthen the transportation network that supports the nation’s economy and moves goods throughout the United States.
“Our team at ERDC developed and validated the mass and underwater concrete mixtures that will be used to construct the new lock chamber,” said Dylan Scott, a research engineer with ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory. “We evaluated contractor-selected materials, optimized the mixture proportions through laboratory testing, and performed extensive materials characterization and durability testing to ensure the concrete meets the project’s demanding performance requirements.”
Unlike standard concrete mixtures, those developed for Montgomery Locks and Dam were engineered specifically to meet unique construction challenges facing the project. The mass concrete mixtures were designed to provide the strength and long-term durability required for a structure expected to serve for decades, while also controlling heat generation during placement, improving constructability, and reducing material costs where possible without sacrificing performance.
The underwater concrete mixtures were optimized to maintain exceptional workability and washout resistance, allowing them to be placed reliably below the water’s surface. Researchers also evaluated alternative materials to provide flexibility in sourcing and help minimize potential supply chain disruptions during construction.
The trial batching, conducted at the project’s newly constructed on-site batch plant, confirmed the concrete mixtures can be produced under real-world construction conditions while meeting the rigorous performance standards required for the massive infrastructure project and verified that the ERDC-developed mixtures could be successfully produced using the project’s materials, equipment and batching processes before major construction begins. It also confirmed material compatibility and fresh concrete performance under field conditions, allowing the project team to identify and resolve any potential issues before full-scale concrete placement.
By validating the concrete mixtures early, the team significantly reduced technical and construction risks, helping avoid costly delays and providing confidence that production will meet project requirements throughout construction.
The project’s success depends on close collaboration across multiple Corps of Engineers organizations.
The Pittsburgh District is leading project delivery and construction, while the Inland Navigation Design Center provides specialized navigation engineering expertise. ERDC contributes multidisciplinary technical support through hydraulic modeling, environmental assessments and concrete materials research, laboratory testing and field validation. Working alongside contractors and material suppliers allows the team to identify technical challenges early and make informed engineering decisions that support successful construction.
The Montgomery Locks and Dam expansion demonstrates the value of integrating research into construction planning from the earliest stages. By developing, testing and validating concrete mixtures before large-scale placement, ERDC researchers reduced uncertainty and ensured the materials will perform as intended once construction begins.
“One of the biggest takeaways is the value of involving research and engineering early in the construction process,” said Scott. “By developing and validating the concrete mixtures before large-scale placement, we were able to reduce technical uncertainty and provide confidence that the materials will perform as intended in the field. The approach used on this project — from evaluating local materials to validating production at the project batch plant — can serve as a model for future navigation and Civil Works projects across the country.
The approach used on this project from evaluating locally available materials to validating production at the project’s on-site batch plant provides a model for future navigation and Civil Works infrastructure projects across the country. As modernization efforts continue across the nation’s aging waterways, the partnership between ERDC, USACE districts and technical centers will remain essential to delivering durable, resilient infrastructure that serves the public for generations.