Additional areas of technology and expertise available from Ontario Hydro Technologies. (See earlier UFTO Report for general background on OHT — October 28)

Civil & Geotechnology Services

As a result of many years of providing expert opinion and applying leading edge technology to Ontario Hydro’s 7000 MW hydroelectric generation system, comprised of 69 generating stations and over 200 dams, as well as its fossil and nuclear facilities, OHT has developed expertise in the following areas:

CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY
Durability Studies
Inspection of Concrete Structures, Life Cycle Management
Concrete Repair Projects (Leakage, Surface, Structural)
Development of Specialised Concrete for Specific Applications
Concrete Inspection, QA/QC System Design & Audit
Concrete Repair Materials Formulation & Testing

GEOTECHNOLOGY
Specialised Drilling for Rock, Concrete or Soil
Drain, Pipe and Tunnel Inspection & Cleaning
Geological & Soils Monitoring & Assessment
Instrumentation of Rock, Concrete & Wood Structures
Risk Assessment
Geographic Information Systems

General Contact:
Mr. C W Dawson, Tel 416-207-6307, Fax 416-234-1511
dawsoncw@rd.hydro.on.ca
Mr L E Milton, Tel 416-207-5405, Fax 416-234-1511
miltonle@rd.hydro.on.ca

– Concrete Durability Studies.
An exposure facility is located at the Kipling Site in Toronto, and provides climatic conditions typical for Southern Ontario. An extensive database, going back over 30 years is available from this facility. Laboratory facilities are also available for testing concretes under a variety of temperature and humidity conditions, as well as providing standard testing services.

– Inspection of Concrete Structures.
Extensive experience in the inspection of concrete structures is available. This would normally go through the steps of visual inspection leading to non-destructive ultrasonic inspection, core drilling of suspect locations and physical testing and evaluation of the cores. Testing would normally cover, adsorption, air content, density, alkali aggregate reactivity, compressive strength and carbonation.

– Specialized Concrete & Grout Repairs.
OHT can provide a comprehensive knowledge of repair products and approaches to their application. We can provide mix designs for special applications and small to large scale testing of the mixes in our laboratories prior to application. We also provide construction and repair specifications and can provide application supervision and quality management.

– Specialized Concrete Development.
OHT has been extensively involved in the development and testing of specialty concretes. This has included standards development for fly ash concretes, flowable backfills with custom designed strength characteristics, guidelines for the use of fly ash and bottom ash as structural fills and the development of high density concrete for nuclear waste containment.

– Specialised Drilling Services.
OHT has acquired and developed experience with both computerized and directional drilling technology. This technology has been used in conjunction with wire line saw cutting for stress relief of concrete structures, and investigation of problematic geological structures through the extraction of rock cores (along the axis of a tunnel for example). The technology can also be used for post tensioning cable retrofit, instrumentation installation and piping, sewer, cable installations through rock.

– Drain Inspection & Cleaning.
Considerable experience has been developed in the inspection and cleaning of drains as a result of an ongoing program in Ontario Hydro’s own hydroelectric facilities. OHT owns two sets of high pressure waterjetting equipment and a number of sets of down hole TV camera equipment.

– Geological & Soils Monitoring & Assessments.
OHT has comprehensive capability and equipment for carrying out geotechnical monitoring and assessments, including contamination assessments. This includes a mobile soils assessment rig, as well as rock coring capability. OHT also has experience in the use of instrumentation for monitoring the movement of rock and soil formations, as well as concrete and wood structures. Instrumentation has been widely deployed throughout our hydrelectric system, but especially at our Saunders plant, where problems with AAR are being experienced. OHT also has the capability to carry out hydrogeological investigations as they relate to the suitability of a given location for a structure.

– Risk Assessment.
OHT can also provide complete risk assessment services for a structure. This would include an evaluation of the condition of the structure, an assessment of the magnitudes and probabilities of hazards that may affect and threaten the structure, a complete analysis of the risks associated with those hazards and recomendations of ways in which those risks could be managed.

– Geographic Information Systems.
Ontario Hydro and OHT have considerable experience with the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to utility problems, such as land use planning, infrastructure mapping, natural resource management, route and site selection etc. We are therefore in a position to provide other potential users with advice on the merits of various commercial systems, and optimal infrastructures and applications for GIS.

UFTO Note – Civil & Geotechnology Services-Ontario Hydro Fri, 07 Nov 1997