Bonneville Lock & Dam

The stunning beauty of the Columbia River took me into another world. To hike in the Mt. Hood region of Oregon, and to see Triple Falls was inspiring and relaxing at the same time.

At the same place, some 76 years ago, in 1938 the Bonneville Lock & Dam was built.

I walked into this dam on the Washington shore wanting to see jumping salmon. So, I was standing there, looking down on the water and waiting to see fish jump. Well, they didn't jump, at least not here.

Stephanie Lange and Ryan Braaten

But something better happened. Park ranger Ryan Braaten came by and asked if I wanted to see the salmon. Yes! He took me below into a big room which looked like an aquarium. The dam consists of a fish observatory including fish counting which is constructed in this manner that the visitor can see the traveling fish under water. And there were so many of them! Ryan explained everything about salmon, hatchery, wild ones, chinooks, and so on. In a little dark corner, shielded from the visitor room, sits one person counting every fish. The counting of the fish goes into how much salmon is there, how much wild ones are there, and how much is allowed to be caught. It is not allowed to catch real wild salmon. When a restaurants menu says "wild salmon" it is probably from a hatchery.


What was even more exciting than to see the salmons was the fact that Ryan gave a short tour around the dam itself. The Bonneville Dam is one of 14 dams of the Columbia River. It was built to improve the river navigation and to generate hydropower for the Pacific Northwest and parts of California. To react to the rising need for energy, a second powerhouse was built in 1981. Ryan showed the turbine cavern with 8 hugh power generators. This cavern was so impressively big, the workers looked like little ants next to the mammoth machinery. Thanks to Ryan, we walked onto a generator, looked into it from above to see the copper coils and the rotating Kaplan turbine. To see these energy generator in reality is impressive and I suggest to everyone to see it at least once to get an idea what kind of effort has to be taken to produce all the electric energy we use in our everyday life.

Thanks to Ryan Braaten, who loves to bring specific objectives and themes closer to visitors and audiences and explains it in a way everybody understands - from accountant to geotechnical Engineer. No wonder he received the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' highest agency national award for interpretation in 2013 - Hiram M. Chittenden Award for Excellence in Interpretation.

2014 Geotechnical Symposium at UW - Student Research

The Geotechnical Symposium at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle was a successful event to connect and exchange research done by graduate students in the Pacific North West (PNW).

Lisa Dunham

Lisa Dunham, PhD student at University of Washington:
The goal of her research is to map possible landslides along roads in Alaska. This map could be the basis for future risk management and road improvements. In her research, she combines geomatic analysis using LiDAR with geological features and a risk analysis to determine relative risks alongside Alaska's roads. Her findings are going to be visualized in form of a map. 
The work is a cooperation of the University of Alaska, Oregon State University, University of Washington, PacTrans, and Alaska Department of Transportation & Pubic Facilities.

Michael Huber

Michael Huber, master student at University of British Columbia in Canada:
District heating is used to transport hot water or to heat/cool public buildings. Thermal expansion of the pipes and the soil-pipe interactions must be taken into account. Michael's research project analyzes soil-pipe interactions of district heating pipes and investigates different methods to handle the stress of the pipes due to thermal expansion by building lyres and low-loss pipe connections.

Panel Discussion

The Symposium ended with a panel discussion about education at universities in the PNW. Questions about the structure of education were asked between students of each school to discuss similarities, differences and possible improvements.

To summarize all, most of the universities have similar education structures from the length of study, use of laboratory equipment, type of classes like Geology, Seismology, Hydrology, Foundations, Soil Mechanics ... , and student associations, who invite guests from the industry every week or month to give lectures. The education at all universities mainly contributes to the field of research.


"Wish-List"

From student's perspective, some points were mentioned, which could improve the education at the universities in the PNW. Let's say, it is the “wish list” of the students: 

• Introductory classes in rock mechanics,
• Classes about presentation techniques and report writing,
• Complete case studies throughout an academical term or year, and 
• More hands-on experience outside the class room in form of field trips.

I hope the Geotechnical Symposium in the PNW is going to happen again in the near future. It is a great opportunity to present ones research objectives, exchange ideas and - most importantly - make connections for future work.