Patent ID: 7214003

Claim:
A bulkhead assembly for dry isolation of water passages of a dam, said bulkhead assembly comprising: at least two floatable caisson members bound together to form a bulkhead assembly, at least one of said caisson members comprising: at least two HSS steel tubes, at least one of said HSS steel tubes having a rectangular cross section; at least one of said HSS tubes sealed to form at least one sealed chamber; a side plate welded to said at least two HSS steel tubes, said at least two HSS steel tubes and said side plate defining at least one intermediate space between said at least two HSS steel tubes; at least one pair of intermediate space end plates secured to said at least two HSS steel tubes and side plate within said at least one intermediate space; at least one intermediate chamber plate secured to said at least two HSS steel tubes opposite said side plate, said intermediate chamber plate sealing at least a portion of said at least one intermediate space to create at least another sealed chamber; and at least one of said sealed chambers having at least one sealable aperture to selectively flood said sealed chamber.