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By Darren S. Diehm

"Construction for the restoration and expansion of 102-year-old Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois began at the conclusion of the 2014 baseball season. This six year project involves structural upgrades to the Stadium, improvements to the facade, infrastructure, restrooms, concourses, suites, press box, and bullpens, as well as the addition of restaurants, patio areas, batting tunnels, video boards, an adjacent Office-retail Tower and a new Hotel. The Bleachers were demolished and replaced, and a new underground Clubhouse was constructed for the Chicago Cubs beneath a new open-air Plaza. The 1060 Project is privately funded, projected at $750 million (US). The work will be completed in phases during consecutive off-seasons, each with a maximum 23-week duration extending through the Chicago winter. Ownership mandated that on-going construction cause no disruption to the Major League Baseball season, have no impact on hosting concerts and other special events, and it should not adversely affect seating capacity, or diminish the fan experience.The 1060 ProjectAfter purchasing the Chicago Cubs baseball team in 2009 from the Tribune Company, the Ricketts family began planning the renovation and improvement of Wrigley Field and its near neighborhood surroundings in Chicago, Illinois. What came to be known as the 1060 Project was officially announced at the annual Cubs Convention in 2013. Construction began on the $750M privately funded project in October 2014 at the conclusion of the Major League Baseball season. In their vision, the Ricketts committed the 1060 Project to three primary goals. First and foremost as a MLB franchise, the work should provide a meaningful contribution toward winning the World Series and ending the championship drought which stretched to the last win in 1908. Second, the project should be focused on preserving and improving Wrigley Field. Finally, the project should be committed to outcomes that enable the team to be a good neighbor and provide economic and social benefit to the local community.Constructed as Weeghman Park in 1914 for an estimated total cost of $250,000, the stadium provided seating for 18,000 fans and a home for the Chi-Feds and Whales of the National Federal League. The Chicago Cubs were enticed to move from the West Side Grounds in 1915. In the next 100 years, the Wrigley Field would be sliced apart and expanded, double its seating capacity with the addition of double deck grandstands, be enclosed by bleachers (and an ivy covered wall), and, in 1988, experience its first nighttime baseball game with the addition of lighting.The 1060 Project has a total budget of $750M, with an expected construction value of $350M. It is projected to add over 2,100 jobs to the economy and be completed before the 2020 baseball season. The work will be completed in phases during consecutive off-seasons, each with a maximum 23-week duration extending through the Chicago winter. Ownership mandated that on-going construction cause no disruption to the Major League Baseball season, have no impact on hosting concerts and other special events, and it should not adversely affect seating capacity, or diminish the fan experience."

Jan 1, 1900

By Jim Glider, Noah Miner

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a project to build a cable-stayed bridge and border crossing across the Detroit River. With a span length of 2,800-ft (853.4 meters), the Gordie Howe International Bridge will have the longest main span of any cable-stayed bridge in North America. Each tower has two legs that are supported by six drilled shafts each for a total of 12. The tower shafts are 9.84 feet in diameter (3-m) and extend well into bedrock. 17 each, 6.6 feet (2-m) drilled shafts were built to support the aging river bulkhead and replace shipping bollards. In addition to shallow groundwater fed by the Detroit River, artesian conditions at depth result in a water head that is approximately 17.2-ft (5.2-m) above surface. At 95-ft (29-m) below grade Dundee Limestone, of the Detroit River Group, is moderately weathered and fracture density decreases with depth. The Dundee Limestone strength ranges from 8-ksi (55.1-MPa) to 12-ksi (82-MPa) and may carry hydrogen sulfide in fractures. Working through casing that sticks three stories out of the ground is less than ideal, but was necessary to maintain a positive fluid head and prevent artesian-related quality issues. The sheer scale of the bridge forces required a load test configuration that could impart an equivalent static load of over 38,000,000 pounds (170-MN). A suite of QA/QC tests was developed to ensure the shafts would meet the project plans and specifications to include critical base cleanliness criteria. Interesting CSL and TIP results obtained highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each test method. Cleaning drilling fluids with a centrifuge allowed recycling of product and reduced exposure to environmental contaminate exposure. Having large construction equipment working next to the river presented challenges in working pad design. A driven pile system was developed to support high oscillator forces and protect the aging seawall.

Sep 8, 2021

By Martin B. Hudson, Andrew K. Cho, Rolff B. Knobel, Les R. Chernauskas, Jonathan L. Ernst

ABSTRACT The Bruce Museum, located in Greenwich, Connecticut, is home to an extensive display of art and natural history exhibitions. A large addition was designed to be constructed adjacent to the museum requiring new spread footings to be installed up to 16.5 feet below the existing foundations. The soil conditions at the site consist of highly variable sand and gravel overlying weathered rock and sound bedrock. The Contract Documents called for traditional foundation underpinning. Traditional underpinning techniques, however, presented two major challenges on this Project; (1) deep underpinning pits would be required involving multiple levels and staging with tieback support and (2) the highly variable soil and bedrock composition and elevations presented uncertainty in the design and construction of the pits. In lieu of traditional underpinning, Geosciences Testing and Research, Inc. (GTR) proposed an “active” soil nail underpinning system. A major reason that the soil nail underpinning option was feasible, related to the fact that the soil nails and facing could be installed slightly in front of the existing footings rather than directly underneath the existing footings. The soil nail wall design involved one to four rows of soil nails with nail positions and wall depth able to be adjusted “on the fly” as excavation progressed depending on the field conditions encountered. To create the “active system,” the soil nails were pre-loaded to mitigate wall deformations that would be associated with a standard passive soil nail wall design. To evaluate the performance of the active soil nail wall and confirm design assumptions, an extensive automated monitoring, on-site testing and inspection program was proposed and executed by GTR to monitor deformations of the wall and the museum in real-time, evaluate and confirm bedrock and soil bond stresses and ensure that each soil nail was pre-loaded and locked off. Careful analysis, planning, and use of the observational method illustrates the importance of collaboration between design and construction personnel and applying engineering judgement throughout construction. The use of the observational method includes the potential for modifying design based on conditions observed. This paper presents a unique case study of the “active” soil nail underpinning system to support and protect sensitive structures, close collaboration between design and construction facilitated by real-time deformation monitoring, and its successful application as a safe and cost-effective alternative to traditional underpinning.

Oct 1, 2022

By Roderic A. Ellman

The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge (WWB) will replace the existing bridge over the Potomac River to connect Alexandria, Virginia to Prince Georges County, Maryland. The new WWB will extend approximately 1.1 miles across the river, with a 367-ft long bascule span in the main river channel where the water depth is about 36 ft. The bridge is primarily comprised of fixed spans in relatively shallow water and a bascule span over the navigation channel. The subsurface soil profile was quite variable along the bridge alignment. In Virginia, there was fill over soft Alluvial deposits underlain by dense Terrace deposits, as well as remnant foundations from a former ship yard. At the bascule span, there was up to 50 ft of a soft organic silty clay layer underlain by a deep deposit of stiff Cretaceous clay. Along the Maryland approach, there were Alluvial deposits over dense Terrace deposits over stiff Cretaceous clays and dense Cretaceous sands. The variation in subsurface conditions led to the selection of alternative deep foundations that suited the specific conditions and were based on the design phase testing program, from which ultimate design capacities were determined. During construction, there were instances of unexpected pile performance, notably different than that experienced during the design phase testing, requiring changes to the contract installation criteria and re-design. This paper will present the types of deep foundations used for the project, the performance criteria assumed during the design, the measured performance and difficulties encountered during construction, and the resulting remedial actions, i.e., changes to contract installation criteria and/or re-design due to the unanticipated field conditions.

Jan 1, 2009

By Djk Arentsen

A new technique to drive tubular piles by impact hammer inside the pile has confirmed a dramatic reduction of noise and the opportunity to save steel. Also a reduction in driving time and a higher bearing capacity has been observed during a test program of this technique. As part of the so-called "Down-the-hole" driving technique, a wave equation analysis has been developed to calculate driveability and pile stress. The main feature of the new "Down-the-hole" technique is the development of a patented device allowing uncoupled penetration of pile tip and pile shaft, which makes it possible to drive both closed or open end piles and reduce the stress level induced in the pile wall. During a test program, a number of instrumented piles were driven and compared with traditional driving of the same pile with the same hammer on top (also instrumented). Also the stresses and performances were compared with precalculations. This paper, explains the technique and presents the test and noise results, in comparison with traditional top-pile-driving. The "Down-the-hole" driving technique is an interesting alternative for special applications where traditional pile driving requires a large wall thickness or in areas where noise is a hot item.

Jan 1, 1996

By William (Bill) H. Walton

"I arrived in Chicago in 1993 with Dr. Ralph Peck’s University of Illinois bulletin titled Engineering Properties of Chicago Subsoils (Bulletin 429), which he published in 1954 with William Reed. Being an outsider, I wanted to learn from Chicago geotechnical practice leaders that included Clyde Baker, Jr., John Gnaedinger, Charles Pfingsten, Dr. Safdar Gill, Robert Lukas and Dr. Jorj Osterberg, who have influenced foundation designs for the structures that make up the contemporary Chicago skyline. One of my immediate goals was to get the Illinois Structural Engineering license to be on par with the likes of Eli Cohen, Mike Tylk, Stan Korista, Bob Halverson, Joe Burns, Ron Johnson, Bill Baker, Bob Sinn, Chuck Anderson and Dave Eckmann, who have led their structural firms in the design of the skeletal core and frames of many of Chicago’s iconic buildings (and for many other buildings around the world). From my time with GEI Consultants (GEI), then on with STS Consultants (STS, and now AECOM), and now back with GEI, I have had the opportunity to analyze and design foundations and, with the help of many skilled foundations and building constructors, to verify that predicted foundation performance matches actual movement data. The theme of Chicago’s foundation design practice is to assume and verify. In 1948, Peck published the History of Building Foundations in Chicago (Bulletin 373) that was updated in 1998 by Baker, Pfingsten and Gnaedinger, who meticulously documented hundreds of Chicago’s foundations, and have shown the value of advanced analyses and testing to advance the deep foundation design practice that includes a variety of high-capacity driven and drilled deep foundations. Mehmet Uyanik, Peck and Baker have made Chicago’s subsurface into a full-scale foundation test laboratory. They confirmed soil mechanics principles like Terzaghi’s 1-D consolidation theory when early foundations bearing on sand-clay crust over soft to medium silty clays (e.g., Auditorium, Masonic Temple, Monadnock Block and Old Board of Trade buildings) took 40 to 60 years to consolidate clay 1 to 2 ft (0.3 to 0.6 m). They also confirmed proven increases in bearing pressures based on measured performance of deep foundations bearing on the glacially derived hardpan clay till and in solid dolomite that underlies Chicago."

Jan 1, 2017

By Prasanta Paul, Aminul Islam

"Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Private Limited proposed to construct a container terminal yard, comprising a back-up area at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT), Uran, Maharashtra. The proposed container terminal yard is located on a recent reclamation on the Thane Creek, which was developed by land-based reclamation method. The underneath soft marine clay was treated, using vertical band drains and placement of surcharge upon.Settlement of the reclamation during its construction was monitored using settlement plate installed at +4.8m CD elevation which was above the highest high water level.This paper examines the settlement behaviour of the reclamation during the ground improvement works. The geotechnical parameters are back-analyzed by the authors from the field settlement results and the concerned preloading details. The back analyzed coefficients of consolidation due to horizontal flow (Ch) are compared with laboratory determined parameters and the estimated value, using Asaoka Method (1978). The authors also studied field compression ratio [CR= Cc/(1+e0)] vs. the compression ratio determined by laboratory test using back-analysis method.1. INTRODUCTIONNhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Private Limited proposed to construct a container terminal yard, comprising a back-up area of approximately 27 hectares, complete with associated buildings and services on a part brownfield/ greenfield site. The back-up area shall include a heavy duty block paved pavement with band beams for electric Rubber-Tyred Gantry Crane (eRTGC) alongwith surface water drainage system and other services including area lighting, provision of fire-fighting facilities , sources for potable water and power.Based on the Employer’s Requirement and the available geotechnical investigation report, ground improvement scheme is designed by the construction contractor. Ground improvement works included the installation of prefabricated vertical drains and subsequent placement of surcharge for accelerating the consolidation of the underlying soft marine clay."

Jan 1, 2015

By Paul M. C. B. M. Cools, Martin Th. van Staveren

In 2010, the 5-years joint industry programme Geo-Impuls started in the Netherlands. The ambitious goal of this programme is to reduce geotechnical failures in our civil engineering projects by half in 2015. In the Geo-Impuls programme over 40 client organizations, engineering firms, contractors, research institutes, and universities are involved. In a risk-driven way, and based on top risks and dilemmas, the participants defined three central development themes. These themes are (1) contracts, for dealing with legal issues, (2) geo-engineering, for dealing with technical issues, and (3) communication, for paying attention to differences in risk perception by the human factor. In total 12 Working Groups contribute to these themes by producing one or more specific tools. These provide practical solutions for how to deal with contractual, geotechnical, and communication issues. The tools include working processes, guidelines, best practices, as well as some instruments. The development of these tools, as well as the available results, will be presented in this paper. From the start, Geo-Impuls embraced geotechnical risk management (GeoRM) as the risk-driven way of working for geotechnical engineering and construction. Over the past years, GeoRM and its supporting tools were already successfully applied in several projects. Therefore, the paper also describes also the GeoRM implementation process, including the quality assurance and control. Finally, the effectiveness of GeoRM will be discussed, by summarizing an analysis of all published geotechnical failures and accidents in construction projects in the Netherlands, which decreased substantially over the past 4 years.

Jan 1, 2017

By Peter Middendorp, David J. Tara, Gerald E. Verbeek, Jan Fischer

"For pile driving simulation the model used must be accurate for the entire process, i.e. from the start of pile driving until the pile has reached its target depth. Of the various model components (hammer, pile and soil), the soil is the most difficult to characterize accurately. This is well known, but the aspect that is not as well understood (and therefore commonly misapplied) is the fact that the soil properties and thus the soil parameters do not remain constant during the pile driving process. Furthermore, this phenomenon of soil fatigue, mainly for skin friction, as a continual change of soil resistance during pile installation, is not implemented into all commonly applied pile driving simulation software and could therefore not be taken into consideration. In this paper the effect of soil fatigue will be described by numerous research results, showing that this effect will occur regardless. Different methods to consider the change of soil resistance during pile installation will be presented, some applying soil fatigue while others merely reduce soil resistances. Using currently available wave equation software that can take soil fatigue into consideration, the importance of doing so will be shown on the basis of the back calculation of a monopile installed offshore in Germany.THEORY BEHIND SOIL FATIGUESkin friction and toe resistanceTo simulate pile installation as accurately as possible, detailed geotechnical knowledge about the mechanical behavior of the soil surrounding the pile is necessary during each step of the installation process. Therefore, to ensure ""geo-mechanical correctness"" of a pile driving simulation, the shaft friction and the toe resistance have to be recalculated at each penetration level. For the skin friction parameters this is especially important since they change significantly during pile installation because of soil fatigue. Depending on the pile and soil type, the toe resistance can experience changes as well due to soil fatigue during to pile driving. However, in this paper the toe resistance values were kept constant over the entire penetration depth.In general, the unit skin friction can be derived from measured values (CPT, qs) or calculated as a function of the horizontal effective stresses dh acting perpendicular to the pile wall of a vertically driven pile. The horizontal stresses can then be converted into the unit skin friction qs using the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion:"

Jan 1, 2017

By Peter Middendorp, Gerald E. H. Verbeek

"This paper will describe a brief history of the method of characteristics as an accurate solution of the wave equation, and the author's experiences with the method of characteristics over a period of 30 years.As a result of the offshore pile driving activities associated with the development of the North Sea oil fields in the 1970's, two Dutch companies initiated extensive research efforts. Heerema started to research the dynamic behavior of soil during driving and HBG (Hollandsche Seton Groep) extended the method of characteristics with a straightforward theoretical solution for the shaft friction along a pile.The research institute TNO started the development of the wave equation program TNOWAVE in the late 1970's based on HBG's friction model extension for the method of characteristics. Today the program has a worldwide application in the field of pile testing. This paper will describe its development and application over time and its relation to today's applications for driveability studies for impact hammers (PDPWAVE) and vibratory hammers (VDPWAVE), signal matching for Dynamic Load Testing (DL TWAVE), Pile Integrity Testing signal matching (SITWAVE), and Statnamic simulation (STNWAVE).The paper will highlight that these developments have been the result of multi-disciplinary and multi-national efforts and encourage geotechnical engineers to seek further developments of the wave equation program in a similar manner. Finally, the paper will indicate some areas where such further developments are required."

Jan 1, 2005

By J. Gniel, L. King, C. Gaudin, C. O’Loughlin

"This paper presents some recent advancements in centrifuge modelling, which enable the installation of displacement piles to be performed in-flight while measuring ground responses. Details and results are provided from a series of experiments where 21 full-displacement piles were installed into a sample of consolidated kaolin clay at 40g. The piles were pushed into the sample at a constant rate of penetration, with installation reaction loads and pore pressures measured. Insight into the installation effects of the full-displacement piles was obtained by undertaking in-situ testing pre- and postinstallation of piles. The findings show that centrifuge testing has the potential to play an important role in furthering the current understanding of displacement pile behaviour and installation effects.INTRODUCTIONDisplacement piles and displacement ground improvement columns cause soil to undergo significant distortion and shearing during installation, which alters the soil properties. It is essential to consider these changes in soil properties to estimate the behaviour of pile foundations with higher degree of accuracy. However, the installation effects of displacement piles are widely considered as one of the most difficult geotechnical mechanisms to model, both analytically and numerically, and experimental data is needed to advance the current state of knowledge.Theories, analytical and semi-analytical, have been developed to describe the displacement pile installation process. Randolph et al. (1979) applied the cylindrical Cavity Expansion Method (CEM) to model the installation of a displacement pile in a fine grained cohesive soil. However, cylindrical CEM only considers the field variables in radial coordinates, and hence the soil-pile interface can only be modelled as a frictionless material. Baligh (1985) introduced the Strain Path Method (SPM), which assumes soil flows around the tip of a displacement pile. SPM was shown to model the stress and strain fields, particularly within close proximity to the pile, more accurately compared to the cylindrical CEM. While these methods account for the installation effects of a displacement pile and can be used to estimate a resulting ultimate bearing capacity, they are unable to describe the load-settlement behaviour of such piles. With the added complexity of group effects, existing analytical methods do not provide a means to accurately calculate the ground response to the installation of a group of displacement piles in a cohesive soil.The advancement of computational power, numerical techniques and constitutive models has improved the accuracy of numerical analysis, particularly in regard to modelling pile installation. However, even with advanced techniques, Finite Element Method (FEM) suffers a number of disadvantages due to the large deformations, which results in mesh distortion and tangling. Mesh-free methods such as Discrete Element Method (DEM), Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Material Point Method (MPM) are the next generation of computational techniques that are able to deal with large deformation problems. However, these advanced techniques are computationally expensive, complex and yet to be incorporated into commercial packages. Such methods are considered to still be in the development stage and are yet to provide a complete solution to pile installation problems."

Jan 1, 1900

By William B. Conway

This paper will describe the large caisson pier foundations for four of the bridges crossing the Mississippi River in the New Orleans area; and will discuss some of the unusual problems encountered during their sinking. Certain settlement phenomena experienced during their service life will also be related: The four bridges in order of their construction: The Huey P. Long Bridge, River Mile 106.1, completed in 1935 The Greater New Orleans Bridge No.1, River Mile 96.0, completed in 1958 The Hale Boggs Bridge, River Mile 121.6, completed in 1983 The Greater New Orleans Bridge No.2, River Mile 96.1, completed in 1988 Each of these bridges employed large open-dredged concrete caissons as foundations for one or more of the river piers, with the smallest being the 65ft by 102ft caissons for Piers I and II of the Huey P. Long Bridge and the largest being the 99ft by 214ft caisson for Pier II of the Greater New Orleans Bridge No.2. The Huey P. Long caissons are founded in a dense fine sand at -170 while all of the other bridge caissons are founded in hard preconsolidated clay at elevations varying from -150 to -185. The Huey P. Long Bridge is currently being widened without increasing the caisson foundations under any of the river piers; and the design reasoning that led to this decision is presented.

May 11, 2007

By Gust Van Lysebetten, Monika de Vos

The objectives of monitoring geotechnical structures can be very diverse, including optimisation of the design, quality control, long term performance assessment, and approval of innovative execution techniques. In this context, new measurement techniques, based on optical fibres, offer the possibility of accurate strain and temperature monitoring with very small sensors and limited numbers of cables. This paper briefly presents optical fibre sensing techniques and illustrates their application to geotechnical structures by means of some projects, carried out by the Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI).

May 1, 2022

By Craig M. Shillaber

On any given day, a simple check of the news will turn up stories related to sustainability, resiliency, climate, or human or natural disaster. In recent years, the winter power grid failure in Texas, the Surfside Condo collapse, unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michi- gan, the Oroville Dam spillway failure, wildfires and flooding (to name a few) have appeared in the U.S. news cycle. As a result, young people are aware of the problems and challenges facing the nation and the world and want to be part of creating sustainable solutions for society. Many choose to major in civil engineering because of a desire to make a difference, address climate change, and develop sustainable and resilient infrastructure for the future. Sustainability is at the core of modern civil engineering practice. In its Policy Statement 418, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) explains sustainability is a set of conditions where human society can indefinitely keep and enhance quality of life without deteriorating economic, environmental and social resources. Sustainability is an integral part of the technical outcomes identified in the ASCE Body of Knowledge and features prominently in the ethical responsi- bilities of engineers based on the latest version of the ASCE Code of Ethics. Thus, to prepare graduates for successful and ethical engineering practice, civil engineering programs must provide instruction in how to account for social, environmental and economic con- straints in design. Since the deep foundations industry is integral to the broader civil engineering and construc- tion fields and is responsible for supporting critical infrastructure on which human society depends, sustainability should be a key con- sideration in foundations projects. Given the importance of sustainability within civil, geotechnical and foundation engineering, it is worthwhile for the deep foundations industry to consider where and how engineers are trained in sustainability topics through higher education at the undergraduate and graduate level, and what is driving sustainability content in civil and geotechnical engineering curricula.

Nov 1, 2022

By Nick O’Riordan, Kaitlyn L. Fleming, Michael Riemer, Youssef M. A. Hashash, Stephen McLandrich, Mohamad Jammoul, Pierre Gouvin, Andrew Yeskoo

"To accommodate urbanization, cities are developing more underground space as a means to house public transportation systems and other entities. Underground developments often require construction of deep excavations in an environment dense with infrastructure. The success of such a project is related to the amount of impact imposed on adjacent structures and economic activity; impact should be limited to insignificant amounts in order to mitigate damage and disruption. Thus, large-scale urban construction projects require extensive monitoring of ground movements and installed support performance to facilitate informed decisions for adjustment of construction activities and support design when necessary.In downtown San Francisco, a unique large-scale excavation in saturated soft soils was constructed for the Transbay Transit Center (TTC). Construction of the excavation began in April 2012 and was completed almost two years later in February 2014. To monitor ground and structure response to construction, the project team used an extensive instrumentation network that included automatic inclinometers, piezometers, strain gages and total stations paired with survey markers. Innovative imaging techniques developed a record of construction in order to relate measured deformations to construction activity.Transbay Transit CenterThe Transbay Transit Center (TTC) is being constructed as a modern day transportation hub in downtown San Francisco to replace the former Transbay Terminal. The project is located in the South of Market area, less than half a mile from the San Francisco Bay. The final center will connect eight counties in the Bay Area through 11 different transportation systems, some of which will be housed in the TTC including Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit and California High Speed Rail. The aboveground structure will consist of two levels for retail and a third level with a bus terminal beneath a rooftop garden. There will be two subgrade levels to serve as a lower concourse and the train platforms. This structure required construction of a deep excavation closely surrounded by buildings and roads in an area thriving with economic activity."

Jan 1, 2015

By Theodore von Rosenvinge

Large diameter (2.4 meter) drilled shaft foundations were installed to depths of over 62 meters through soil into Arkose bedrock for Connecticut?s Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (I-95 over New Haven Harbor). The project involved many ?firsts? including the first ?extradosed? cable-stayed bridge in the US, and for Connecticut, the deepest drilled shafts, the first use of a rotator to install shaft casing, and the first use of the Mini-Sid technology for rock socket bottom inspection. Design utilized both friction and end bearing for rock sockets. O-Cell testing was employed to maximize performance factors during design and to allow adjustments to socket lengths during construction. Favorable test results permitted a reduction in socket lengths and significant cost saving.

Jan 1, 2011

By Filippo Leoni, Wesley Schmutzler

"The LPV-111 East Back Levee Improvement Project lies along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) in Orleans Parish of New Orleans, La., and is an essential component of the New Orleans Hurricane Protection System. The Hurricane Protection Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) attributed failure of the New Orleans East levees system to overtopping, erosion and subsequent breaching of LPV-111 along the GIWW, as well as other sections of flood protection during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The existing levee suffered extensive damages from Hurricane Katrina, such that the USACE elected to provide earth stabilization and to rebuild the levee sections. Due to the adverse geotechnical properties of the foundation soils, the Corps deemed ground improvement necessary to stabilize the new levee and to limit its footprint. Wet Deep Mixing Method (DMM) was selected as the most suitable technology for this task.ChallengesDesign: This reach specifically protects East New Orleans and the Bayou Savage National Wildlife Refuge, the largest urban wildlife refuge in the U.S. and home to several threatened or endangered species of birds as well as many reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. The Corps chose DMM due to the sensitivity of the protected marshlands and because the method limits the footprint of the raised levees. The increase in the load bearing capacity of the treated soil significantly decreases the footprint necessary to attain the required height increase. This limitation required the new levee to have steep slopes, drastically increasing the surcharge on foundation soils characterized by overall poor geotechnical properties (soft clays and peats). The design also considered the increased horizontal stresses on the levees due to the extreme storm surges during a hurricane.The design of the 1.6 m diameter (5.25 ft) DMM elements called for overlapping them to form a double auger element that formed buttresses perpendicular to the levee alignment. The contractor installed the buttresses at a maximum on center spacing of 4.7 m (15.5 ft). One additional double auger DMM element was midway between consecutive buttresses at the centerline of the levee to further help prevent settlement (Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2013

By Jeff Wilkinson, Brandon Walter

"A&N Electrical Cooperative provides electrical service to the counties of Accomack and Northampton along Virginia’s Eastern Shore and to Smith Island in Somerset County, Md.A&N recently worked to improve the efficiency of power distribution to a small island community and marina on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. This improvement consisted of upgrading the existing distribution substation with a new 25 kV 2-bay box distribution structure. Earth Contact Products (ECP) collaborated with PowerServices, Inc. (PSI) to design and install a helical foundation support system as part of the substation upgrade. Feasibility EvaluationThroughout the design process, A&Nworked with its partners PSI (design) andT&D Solutions (installation) to identifycost-effective alternatives. Foundationsystems considered included cast-in-placereinforced concrete caissons, precastconcrete foundations, driven steel piles and helical piles. In evaluating all of theoptions, the greatest concern was gettingthe material onto the island, followedclosely by the availability of the equipmentto install the foundations. Clearly, cost,more specifically the installed cost, was asignificant consideration and decisionfactor throughout the process.There were several limiting factors that had to be considered during the design process, the most significant of which was that all of the material had to be barged to the site. With traditional reinforced concrete deep foundations in mind, the cost for installing these piles was projected to be nearly $2,000/cu yd ($262/cu m) of installed concrete. Given that approximately 5 to 6 cu yd (3.8 to 4.6 cu m) of concrete would be required for this structure, the cost was significantly high for this project. What’s more, because the components of the concrete mix would have to be barged and then hand mixed on site, there was concern regarding both the time required to complete the piles and the quality of the installed concrete. For the driven pile alternative, the availability, or lack thereof, of equipment and material cost resulted in a total cost estimate that was more expensive than that of the concrete piling alternative. The high material cost for the piles, which was more than double than the cost of concrete, was due to the number and size of piles needed to resist the overturning moment. Ultimately, the team selected the helical pile alternative. The decision to a use helical pile foundation system was based on many factors, not the least of which was the remote location of the project site and the difficulties associated with getting material, equipment and construction personnel to the project site."

Jan 1, 2017

By Edmund J. Cardoza

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) provides water and wastewater services to the Greater Detroit Metropolitan Area. Sewerage is treated at the DWSD Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located at 9300 W. Jefferson Street south of the City of Detroit, Figure 1. PARTICIPANTS Engineering and design of the project for the DWSD was performed by Harza Engineering Company, Inc., C.C. Johnson & Malhotra, P.C. and their sub-consultants, including Worley Engineering and Wade Trim. The Prime Contractor is a Joint Venture of Traylor Brothers, Inc. and Jay Dee Construction. The shaft drilling and riser installation was performed by The Millgard Corporation in joint venture with the Prime Contractor (MTJD). The selection of specialized drilling equipment and the supervision and performance of the access shaft and riser installations was primarily the responsibility of The Millgard Corporation (TMC).

Jan 1, 2001

By James S. Graham

Marine design and construction methods are presented on the caisson foundations for the tower piers at the Brooklyn, Ben Franklin, Delaware Memorial 1st, Tappan Zee, Walt Whitman, Throgs Neck, Verrazano Narrows, Delaware Memorial 2nd, and Newport Bridges. All of the bridges are founded on caissons, bearing on bedrock, soil, or piling. Caissons at the Tappan Zee Bridge are partially supported by piling and partially by buoyant forces. General subsurface conditions for each are provided. The purpose of this paper is inform engineers how bridge foundations using caissons were built over major waterways in the Northeastern USA in the past, anticipating a surge of new bridge construction in the near future.

Jan 1, 2013