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By George J. Tamaro

The design and construction of foundations in the New York City area are usually dictated by the widely varying geologic conditions encountered in the five boroughs, particularly along the spine of Manhattan Island. Rock extends well above sea level at the northern reaches and falls to depths in excess of 250 m at the barrier islands at the southern extremities. These highly variable geologic conditions, significantly affected by glacial activity, dictate different design and construction approaches throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Extensive rock removal is required at the north while long piling is dictated in the south. Similar changes can occur within a project site on Manhattan Island. This paper will describe these conditions in general, will identify the various solutions used to solve these problems and will summarize various foundation types used in the New York City area.

Jan 1, 2000

By Adam Gerondale, David Hemstreet, Lisheng Shao, Kenji Yamasaki

"Foundation soils of a proposed single-span bridge over a busy railroad in Anchorage, Alaska included a layer of sensitive, non-plastic to low-plasticity silt. Slope stability analyses showed that, without ground improvement, the proposed abutments would not be stable immediately following the design earthquake due to the liquefaction of the sensitive silt. Wet soil mixing was selected to mitigate the liquefiable soils and assure abutment stability because: (i) it is a non-vibratory method and can be used for areas adjacent to the railroad tracks and underground utilities, as well as in areas not sensitive to vibration; and (ii) preand post-ground improvement testing, such as SPT or CPT, is not required. Eliminating the liquefaction hazard at the site also allowed for the abutments to be economically supported on shallow spread footings. A total of 511 soil-cement columns were constructed at the two abutments, each with a diameter of 8 feet (2.4 m) and an average length of 20 feet (6.1 m), extending from about 30 to 10 feet (9.1 to 3.0 m) below finished ground elevation. The columns were laid out in a shear wall pattern (in the longitudinal direction of the bridge) to increase stability under the loading by approach embankments.INTRODUCTIONAlaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (Alaska DOT&PF) is currently constructing West Dowling Road Overcrossing in Anchorage Alaska. It will be a single-span, steel box girder bridge approximately 200 feet (61 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) wide. It will have approach embankments, about 40 feet (12 m) high, on both sides. It will carry the new extension of West Dowling Road over double tracks of Alaska Railroad and Arctic Blvd. Foundation soils of the abutments consist of surficial fill and peat layer underlain by soft silt which is likely to liquefy and lose strength under shaking by a design earthquake. Both deep and shallow foundations were considered to support the bridge abutments. The design team pursued the option of improving the foundation soils and using shallow footings. Several ground improvement methods were evaluated, out of which wet soil mixing was selected as the best option.In situ wet soil mixing (hereinafter simply soil mixing) is mechanical mixing of soil in its location with cement slurry and produces soil-cement (soilcrete) columns that are stronger, less permeable, and less compressible than the original soil. Soil mixing is used for various applications including reinforcement of soft soils, excavation support, liquefaction mitigation, cutoff walls, etc. This paper presents a case history of soil mixing successfully used to improve foundation soils of bridge abutments to allow the use of spread footings."

Jan 1, 2015

By Wu Jie Mei, Li Yao Liang, Franz-Werner Gerressen, Arthur Bi

Diaphragm walls (D-walls) are known as underground structural elements commonly used for retention systems and permanent foundation elements. In addition, they are also quite often used as deep groundwater barriers, called Cut-Off-Walls (COW). Shanghai ranks third among the most densely populated metropolises in the world. In 1990, only eight million people lived there. Today, Shanghai has about25 million inhabitants. The increasing demand to accommodate the infrastructure of growing megacities like Shanghai pushes the required depth for subway, sewage and foundation projects to the limit. Future projects will demand excavation depths of more than 100 m (328 ft) on a regular basis. Already carried out reference projects will be described and a general outlook for upcoming projects will be given. The paper also explains the installation process in general focusing on the use of trench cutter technology. INTRODUCTION D- walls are known as underground structural elements, commonly used as retention systems for excavation pits and shafts as well as permanent foundation walls or elements. It is anticipated that, with the increasing trend of utilizing more and more underground space to accommodate environmental considerations and urban/suburban development, there will be an increasing requirement for diaphragm wall usage in even more difficult conditions and with increasing depth. The trench cutter is the most important tool for performing this work. The hydraulic grab, a well-known and valuable excavation tool for d-walls reaches its limits in terms of depth and when cutting rock. Therefore the trench cutter technology will be in the focus of this paper. The trench cutter itself is a reverse circulation excavation tool. It consists of a heavy steel frame with two drive gears attached to its bottom end, which rotates in opposite direction around the horizontal axis. Cutter wheels are mounted onto the drive gears. As they rotate, the soil beneath the cutter wheels is continuously broken up, removed, mixed with the bentonite slurry in the trench and moved towards the opening of the suction box of the pump? A centrifugal pump located right above the cutter wheels conveys the slurry via a hose system up to a desanding plant. There the slurry loaded with soil and rock particles is cleaned and returned into the trench.

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Melih Demirkan, Juan J. Gutierrez, Raghav Ramanathan

"As the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi is one of the world’s fastest-developing cities. To sustain its significant growth rate, Abu Dhabi must surmount challenging engineering problems in the most efficient manner. One of the challenges facing Abu Dhabi is ground settlement caused by poor groundwater control practices in inherently difficult subsurface conditions. For construction projects in Abu Dhabi located near the Arabian Gulf, groundwater is frequently encountered and must be accounted for and addressed during design and construction. Abu Dhabi City CenterRecently, the Abu Dhabi government developed a geodatabase by digitizing, processing and qualifying an extensive amount of existing information (i.e., more than 26,000 borehole logs). Because of the evaluation and processing of the geodatabase, detailed maps of geotechnical and hydrogeological surface features were generated using 3D modeling. Ultimately, the geodatabase was used to develop risk maps indicating geohazards, such as sabhka (or salt flats), uncontrolled fill and cavities. This information identifies the location and extent of the areas vulnerable to surface subsidence. Dewatering can change pore water pressure, which, in turn, alters the effective vertical stress in a soil mass and can affect groundwater chemistry. Changes in pore water pressure and groundwater chemistry can significantly affect soil and rock. The potential effects of dewatering include:• Change in effective stresses and shear strengths in soils• Increase in seepage velocities and pressures• Erosion or transport of soil particles and piping• Settlement• Collapse of subsurface cavities or voids• Transport of groundwater containing contaminants• Dissolution of soluble materials, such as rock salt or gypsum"

Jan 1, 2017

By Colin C. West

On August 7, 1986, Barge 45, while being towed near the mouth of the Niagara River, was swept downstream and pinned against one of the central piers of the Peace Bridge. The barge rested against the pier with 125 feet overlying the Canadian border and 50 feet overlying the American border. The tug boat which was towing the barge was lost further downstream. Fortunately, the crew escaped and were rescued with no loss of life. There was serious concern about the potential erosion effects of the river currents on the foundation of the bridge pier as caused by the flow concentrations around the barge structure. Due to the time of year, with the approaching Fall and associated worsening weather conditions, it was imperative that the barge be removed as soon as possible. Donjon Marine of New Jersey, the United States Navy's Atlantic Zone Contractor, was called on to retrieve the barge. By this time the original owner had abandoned the wreck.

Jan 1, 1987

By Brian P. Waagner

Construction law in general and the law of deep foundations in particular continues to develop rapidly, particularly in the areas of risk allocation. Public and private owners are increasingly using contractual disclaimers to shift the risk of differing site conditions to contractors, and courts are increasingly willing to enforce these contractual devices. Perhaps also in an effort to control costs, public and private owners are turning to design-build contracting techniques. While design-build offers many advantages over traditional project delivery systems, it does not answer all of the risk-allocation questions that frequently arise. Even in design-build, problems with unanticipated subsurface conditions and defective design are not easily addressed. Finally, developments in electronic commerce present the potential to transform the construction industry.

Jan 1, 2002

By Marius B. Wechsler

A mathematical analysis is developed for the determination of the cases when HP-piles might be replaced by precast concrete piles. The analysis focuses especially on the "integral abutment-bridges" which are used on large scale in the Great Plains of the United States of America, The theoretical considerations are illustrated by a numerical example.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kent C. Werle

This brief discusses the installation and application of sleeved piles of two different types for two different projects, the W, Seattle to Harbor Island Swing Bridge Project and the Seattle Access Project. A description of these relatively novel piling systems is given, as well as some notes on their installation and application. As implied by the term "sleeved" these are piles which consist of two piles, an inner pile combined with an outer concentric sleeve pile. Background, Swing Bridge The Swing Bridge project is virtually unique in the world in that it is a "lift and turn" swing bridge. It is also a concrete, cast -in-place segmental bridge which is designed to be moveable.

Jan 1, 1990

By I. Stanculescu

The consolidation of thick and very compressible soil deposits by stone columns associated with cast-in-place plain concrete columns, has been performed for shallow foundations of some heavy industrial structures. The reduction of settlements and increase of soil bearing capacity were thus ensured as a result of soft soil interaction with stone and concrete columns. The results of model tests and in situ large scale applications are presented. A calculation procedure is also suggested for foundation bases improved by the proposed method.

Jan 1, 2010

"The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) in Missouri, the country’s fourth largest sewer system, is upgrading its storm and wastewater infrastructure in a 23-yearlong, $4.7 billion initiative called “Project Clear.” Historically, during times of intense precipitation, the current sewer system becomes overwhelmed. The primary goals of this project are to improve water quality and to alleviate many wastewater concerns in the St. Louis region by planning, designing and building community rainscaping, system improvements and an ambitious program of maintenance and repair.Part of the system renovation has focused on constructing underground tunnels for storm water storage, permitting controlled drainage of runoff, and preventing overflows into rivers and streams. Construction plans for these storage tunnels called for eight vertical intake and ventilation shafts to be bored from the ground surface. These shafts will then be intercepted in the bedrock at a depth of about 150 ft (45.7 m) during the excavation of the 3,000 ft (915 m) long underground tunnel that will be about 28 ft (8.5 m) in diameter. According to John Deeken , a geotechnical engineer with Black & Veatch Corp. and construction manager for the Maline Creek project, the drilling and blasting technique for creating the shafts was ruled out because the project was located in a residential neighborhood. “We could have used rock coring or a cutter head, but the drop shaft for this project is constructed within 10 ft (3.05 m) of an existing 108 in (274 cm) diameter sewer main,” Deeken said. “We had to take precautions to avoid damage to it.”A primary planning mandate of all MSD Project Clear phases requires minimized impact on traffic and residents. The canister drilling method enabled work to be confined to the median of a residential boulevard running perpendicular to the side street without detouring traffic. In addition, canister drilling offered a highly-precise means to create the shafts, leaving a smooth-sided borehole, right on target. Ground conditions in this 132 in (3.35 m) diameter intake shaft were wet due to the high groundwater levels and close proximity to the Mississippi River. “They’ve been finding shale in 2 to 6 ft (0.6 to 1.8 m) layers between weathered layers of Mississippian limestone,” said Dan Spiecher, technician at Center Rock (CRI). “The 2 ft (0.6 m) layers we can punch through. The 6 ft (1.8 m) layers slow us down.”"

Jan 1, 2017

By W. Sondermann

"AbstractThe construction of a distribution centre of minerals for a global mining and resources cooperation demanded the control of deformations and displacement of the stack reclaimer facilities on very inhomogeneous subsoil conditions. The variation of quality from soft clay with CPT values below 1 MPa up to rock formations were the challenge in design and execution of all the foundation works.The advanced design considerations were resulting in a barrier wall system to limit the deformations of the up to 40 m deep bored pile of the stacker-reclaimers, whereas the layout of the barrier wall and the stiffness of the elements had a major impact on the residual lateral forces to be absorbed by the bearing structure.IntroductionA large international raw material distribution organisation is currently building an iron ore and pellet distribution centre on the north-western coast of Malaysia. The distribution centre will handle around 90 MTPA (million tons per annum) of iron ore and includes accompanying plants for loading and unloading iron ore and pellets, pelletizing plants as well as corresponding storage space for these raw materials. The total storage space extends about 800m north to south respectively 1400m east to west and is about 200m from the coastline. The project area is located in a wide valley basin, bounded by a range of hills to the north. The existence of soil with low bearing capability in the area designated for the plant meant that measurements for ground improvement were required in the storage areas, in order to combine the needs of iron ore and pellet storage areas with requirements of the loading facilities as the overall project demand.Project LayoutThe iron ore distribution centre and the pelletizing facility both consist of an import/export jetty, material handling facilities, pellet plant and the associated infrastructure. This publication describes the execution of ground improvement and foundation works for the loading and storage system, which consists of five rows of stockpiles and four intermediate rows of stacker-reclaimers. The total area of these systems comprises 278,881 m2 (Fig. 1)."

Jan 1, 2014

By Huw Williams

"Power companies are always looking to increase the carrying capacity of existing transmission lines, and the preferred method is to string heavier capacity conductor lines. However this results in higher wind loading and the potential for towers overturning, if the existing foundations do not have the tensile capacity. On older lines, there is often a lack of information on construction type and dimensions and in practice the as-built foundation can differ considerably from design drawings, due to unforeseen ground conditions along the line route, and no record of the resulting change in design being made.Following successful trials in New Zealand, integrity testing with Frequency Response and impedance profiling techniques is now being used in the region to check concrete foundation properties in-situ and are enabling power companies to get the most out of their assets. INTRODUCTIONIn most regions of the globe, the US included, there is generally a requirement to upgrade transmission line capacities, to cope with increasing power consumption. Problems with under capacity only come to light for the public when blackouts occur, even in developed countries.A large number of transmission line towers are designed with a certain capacity redundancy and will be able to carry greater loads than originally designed for. Power companies are therefore looking for ways to assess their assets and to minimize the costs of upgrade work.Re-assessment of tower foundation capacities using design drawings may not be valid , as constructed foundations may differ considerably from design drawings, to accommodate local difficulties and in some instanced, particularly with earlier lines, there is no information whatsoever. This complicates efforts to determine the capacity of foundations considerably."

Jan 1, 2005

By Robert Bittner

The following is a report on the development of two unique and separate cofferdam systems used in the construction of the marine foundations for the I-205 Columbia River Bridge at Portland, Oregon for the Oregon Department of Transportation. The first of these two systems utilized interlocking H-pile 100 ft long to form a cofferdam 145 ft by 58 ft in plan and 100 ft deep. The second system consisted of two immense bell shaped steel forms. The larger of the two forms was 83 ft by 66 ft in plan, 62 ft high and weighed 450 tons. This form was externally stiffened for a designed hydrostatic head of 54 ft. Both forms were designed, except for the top 14 ft, to be set and stripped in one solidly welded unit. The supporting geological formation for the bridge foundations is the Troutdale, a cemented sand and gravel. This formation is at the ground surface on the Washington Shore and slopes downward to a depth of 115 ft below normal high water at about mid-channel. In this area the Troutdale formation is covered with a layer of fine to medium sand 90 to 100 ft thick. It was the variable depth of the Troutdale which determined the two types of foundations and the corresponding to the two cofferdam systems.

Jan 1, 2013

By Amalia Giannakou

This paper utilises 3-D finite-element modeling to study the static and dynamic lateral harmonic response of inclined piles, in a homogenous and a non-homogenous soil, modeled as a linear hysteretic medium. The results of a comprehensive parameter study are presented in the form of dimensionless plots of: (a) static and dynamic swaying and rocking stiffnesses and damping ratios, and (b) distribution of internal forces (bending moment, shear and axial force) with depth. These plots can be readily utilised in practical applications and they offer insight on the role of the inclination in the response of flexible piles.

Jan 1, 2006

By Josef K. Alter

Crosshole Sonic Logging (CSL) of drilled shafts requires 1.5-in (38-mm) or 2-in (51-mm) I.D. sonic access tubes to be installed inside the steel reinforcement cage. The sonic access tubes do not contribute to the structural capacity of the drilled shaft. The proposed use of Ischebeck TITAN T73/56 CSL/Hollow Threaded Rebar for Cross Hole Sonic Logging Access Tubes Combined with Longitudinal Concrete Reinforcing in Drilled Shafts (patent pending) is discussed as an alternative method of construction and CSL probe access. The T73/56 hollow threaded rebar/sonic access tube performs as a high strength rebar while at the same time creating a 2.2-in (56-mm) I.D. sonic access tube. The deformed high strength hollow bar provides better adhesion to concrete thus reducing the problem of debonding associated with smooth PVC and steel pipe. A cost comparison using conventional rebar with added sonic access tubes is discussed. The use of T73/56 CSL/Hollow Threaded Rebar as a value engineering alternative can reduce both material and labor costs for drilled shaft construction and can provide an advantage where anchor bolt cages and longitudinal reinforcing create congestion.

Jan 1, 2011

By Jean Balech

This paper presents some results of dynamic loading tests performed on concrete piles driven in soft clay formation. The load transfer mechanism, measured in the dynamic increasing energy test (DIET), under blows of growing energy, is described in terms of mobilized normal forces diagrams and unitary local friction and displacements. It was observed that the lateral skin friction grows up to a maximum, in the soft clay layer and, gradually diminishes to a residual value when the system presents the maximum mobilized resistance. It may be concluded that the rupture load is not equal to the maximum mobilized point resistance plus the maximum mobilized local friction as suggested by most of static bearing capacity formulae.

Jan 1, 2002

By C. Michael Morgano

Static tests are costly and time consuming, so they are not always the best answer [ ]

Jan 1, 2005

By Donald J. Murphy

Longevity of structural units, as compared to the planned useful life of a facility, always is a design consideration. Typical concerns include slow decay due to environmental factors, and changes in constitutive relationships governing the performance of the material involved. With respect to foundations, the usual items of interest are corrosion of steel and concrete, and time dependent behavior of the soil/structure system. For piles, as with other foundations, deterioration is precluded, mitigated or otherwise accounted for by assessing properly the ambient situation (sulphates, pH, stray currents, resistivity) and providing safeguards, such as resistant construction products, oversizing, coatings, and/or cathodic protection. On the other hand, long term performance of the pile foundations, as affected by time dependent characteristics of the supporting soil or rock, can be predicted and controlled only with a synergetic coupling of analyses and field tests. The history of a project for which this approach was followed forms the basis for this paper.

Jan 1, 1986

By R. J. Yan

There was a plant equipped with a 32000t Hydraulic Press to be built, under which a box foundation of 22.5m x 15m x 14.25m (depth) with a base slab of, varying thickness was proposed. The subgrade reactions, bending moments and settlements needed to be determined by means of in-situ model test. A model of the same materials as the prototype scaled to l/10 was embedded in-situ with simulated depth in the bedrock. A lot of data obtained from 39 bench marks, 32 elongation measuring points, 30 couples of electric resistance strain gauges and 24 pressure cells attached to the model foundation enables all the quantities required to be found out. Since it was put into operation, the settlements measured has reasonably agreed with the test results and the foundation has been in good condition.

Jan 1, 2010

By Elizabeth Varghese, Sanket Rawat, Prachuryya Kaushik, Ravi Kant Mittal

"Geo5 Software is gaining popularity worldwide due to its expediency in analysis and design of pile foundation. The analysis is based on various theoretical, empirical and semi-empirical methods available in existing literature and various country standards. Moreover, the ultimate resistance of pile in the software is based CSN 73 1002, Fellenius method, NAVFAC DM 7.2 and Tomlinson method. Due to the specificity in calculation of ultimate resistance, it becomes necessary to validate the results arrived using the software for better accuracy. Furthermore, the above-mentioned methods are not necessarily popular in every design offices. Therefore, an attempt has been made to predict the efficiency of Geo5-v15 software to analyze the pile foundation by comparing it with the results obtained using the analysis based on Indian Standard IS 2911:2010, performed with spreadsheet specifically designed for the same purpose. The accompanying outcome of the comparison and several shortcomings found in the design part associated with the software has been highlighted in the later part of the paper. Besides, the optimization tool present in the software is also described for the more efficient and economic design of pile foundation, hence contributing as practical aid to structural engineers.INTRODUCTIONThe analysis of individual pile foundation and pile in groups can be said to include the three main important parameters – Ultimate bearing capacity, Settlement and Structural Design. The first two parameters are to be evaluated to check the reliability of foundation against ultimate limit state and serviceability limit state. The third parameter includes the analysis of pile against both horizontal and vertical load. This parameter mainly intends to evaluate the size of foundation and the amount of reinforcement. Geo5 is a software which can expediently compute the above mentioned three parameters just by the mere input of the necessary factors. The ultimate bearing capacity analysis in Geo5 is based on various theoretical, empirical and semi-empirical methods available in existing literature and various country standards depending upon the drained and undrained condition of soil (Bowles, 1968; CSN 73 1002,1987; Felenius,1991; NAVFAC DM 7.2,1984; Tomlinson,1977). However, the method mentioned in IS 2911 (2010) is not the same and have slight variations in way of evaluating the parameters which affect ultimate bearing capacity. Therefore, it becomes necessary to evaluate the efficiency of Geo5 with respect to the value of ultimate bearing capacity and therefore, asserting the confidence in the software based method for the convenience of the designs in Indian Scenario. The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of Geo5 v-15 software in predicting the ultimate bearing capacity of pile foundation. The results of the software are compared with the bearing capacity calculated using IS 2911 (2010) with the help of excel sheet. Moreover, as the software is frequently put under revision, therefore a comparison of this version has also been made with the latest version of Geo5 (2017) to check whether the latest revision has accounted for the discovered shortcomings. The design steps performed in the software is also shown. As Geo5 make use of IS 456 (2000) for the design purpose, hence it can be considered as reliable with respect to the estimate of the third parameter. Furthermore, the optimization process is also shown in the later part of the paper to emphasize the simplicity of the software in economizing the design cost."

Jan 1, 2017