Buy some time, but go for high quality. I think that if they move to a new spillway, they can harden the present one so that it won’t tear up anything more. Then use the time that buys to build the new one.
It’s seemingly simple, but it really isn’t. There is tremendous force in the water and it has to be built to withstand that for decades.
Right.
What do you see now at the emergency spillway?
Quick and cheap but low quality.
Time, by necessity, had to be sacrificed.
Huge slabs like runways, giant aprons and roadbeds have special issues when placing.
It needs to be understood that if we disregard temperature expansion and contraction, which is not as severe in concrete as it is in steel and many other materials, then what we need to concentrate on is that concrete takes up the greatest volume the day it is placed. This causes reinforce concrete to have joint failure and to crack (and to curl) in almost all situations and minimization of that issue is what is attempted with good design and procedures. These involve continuous placements with very low slump mixes and/or checkerboard placements.
The spillway in the photos is very deceiving because it is actually much larger than it looks. Imagine a 12 lane interstate and you have a closer idea as to its width. This means you have longitudinal placement joints to consider as well as transverse.