15 Jun 2021

Red River Structure Physical Model Study: Bulkhead Testing

Abstract: The US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, and its non-federal sponsors are designing and constructing a flood risk management project that will reduce the risk of flooding in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. There is a 30-mile long diversion channel around the west side of the city of Fargo, as well as a staging area that will be formed upstream of a 20-mile long dam (referred to as the Southern Embankment) that collectively includes an earthen embankment with three gated structures: the Diversion Inlet Structure, the Wild Rice River Structure, and the Red River Structure (RRS). A physical model has been constructed and analyzed to assess the hydraulic conditions near and at the RRS for verification of the structure’s flow capacity as well as optimization of design features for the structure. This report describes the modeling techniques and instrumentation used in the investigation and details the evaluation of the forces exerted on the proposed bulkheads during emergency operations for the RRS.