Patreksfjörður Avalanche Barrier
The project involved the construction of an avalanche defence at Patreksfjörður, Iceland. The defence comprised 2 structures. The first was a long catching dam immediately above the village that was nearly 700m in length and at its highest 13m tall. The second structure was a deflecting dam that was shaped in a large ‘V’ formation with the tip of the ‘V’ on the up slope that effectively protects structures below from avalanches. At nearly 500m in length and 10m in height this structure also had the lower half sections that were steepened to give more room to houses below. The earth dams at both sites comprised a lower half constructed from rock fill materials at a slope angle of 34° and a steep reinforced earth upper half with a slope angle in excess of 76°. This upper half was formed using a galvanized steel mesh facing with robust galvanized steel high adherence reinforcing strips. The lightweight components were shipped to Iceland during the COVID pandemic with no impact to programme. With initial on-site technical assistance provided by RECo, erection of the catching dam progressed between earthwork seasons over the next two years. As part of the design process RECo performed a dynamic analysis on the structure during snow impact as well as the usual internal stability (static) design.
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