Photo By Brannen Parrish | A crawler dozer pushes material during construction of a coffer dam in the Verdigris...... read more read more
TULSA, Okla. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District began constructing a cofferdam in the Verdigris River below the main spillway at Oologah Dam in Rogers County, Oklahoma, on May 26.
“We're installing a new stilling basin and repairing an old stilling basin,” said Capt. Benjamin Lawrence, Tulsa District lead engineer for the USACE. “The stilling basin is a platform that is designed to reduce erosion as well as slow down the rapids directly out of the gate.”
During a 2022 inspection, engineers identified damage to the concrete and began planning and securing funding for repairs.
Each of the two 19-foot conduits that discharge into the main spillway can release up to 17,500 cubic feet of water per second. The force generated by one conduit releasing at half capacity exceeds 3.8 million pounds of force, more than twice the force generated by a Falcon 9 rocket during liftoff.
To offset these dynamic impacts, baffle blocks — large, dragontooth-like concrete structures — absorb the initial force and speed of the water. The stilling basin reduces or prevents erosion in the spillway, but dynamic forces generated from releases aren’t the primary driver of damage in Oologah’s spillway.
A study by the University of Iowa concluded that releases below 3,000 cubic feet per second can trap silt and sediment between baffle blocks.
“During the study, they found that it was the fine particles, sediment particles, that would get trapped within the stilling basin. That would cause ball milling in between the baffle blocks,” said Kaitlyn Line, a hydrologist and Oologah Lake water manager for the USACE Tulsa District. “Over time, just releases below 3,000 cubic feet per second were causing greater damage.”
Stilling basins are constructed lower than the stream bed elevation to offset water’s kinetic energy, so contractors constructed a cofferdam with heavy equipment and used pumps to dewater the stilling basin. Cofferdams prevent water from reentering the stilling basin.
Tulsa District engineers expect the project to take about 10 months.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2026 13:04 |
| Story ID: | 566847 |
| Location: | OOLOGAH, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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