Nuss Engineering, LLC

Nuss Engineering, LLC was formed in January 2012 when Larry K. Nuss retired from the Bureau of Reclamation with 36 years experience in the design and structural analyses (static, dynamic, and thermal) of concrete gravity, arch, and buttress dams. The Bureau of Reclamation was and is a tremendous organization and a wonderful place to have a career. The wide diversity of projects at Reclamation provided a range of experience from very large to small projects.

Nuss Engineering can provide the following services in the area of concrete dams:

• Consultant Review Board Member
• Design and structural analyses of concrete dams and spillway piers
• On-site classes and training
• Risk Analyses Facilitation or Member
• Potential Failure Mode Analyses Facilitation or Member
• Peer Review of existing designs and analyses
• Value Planning Member
• Comprehensive Facility Reviews
• Innovative Research Partner

Available Expertise

As with many organizations, engineers with 30+ years of experience are retiring. The following engineers and scientists have retired from Reclamation and have formed their own consulting businesses. They are listed here for your convenience in contacting them.

• Larry K. Nuss - Structural Engineer - Concrete Dams (39 years) RESUME

Structural Analyses of Concrete Dams

The structural analyses of concrete dams has progressed from the early years using the trial load method, to linear finite elements, to now sophisticated nonlinear analyses. Although, all these methods are still used today and are viable methods, their use should be tailored to specific events along potential failure mode paths being addressed for specific structures and loads.

Software codes used are TRUEGRID (pre-processor), LS-DYNA (non-linear finite element (FEM), GRAVDAM (limit equilibrium analyses), EAGD_SLIDE (2D gravity dam FEM) EACD3D96 (3D arch dam FEM), ADSAS (trial-load), MathCAD (Graphical spreadsheet). top