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By Shigenori Horikawa, Nobutaka Tanaka, Toshiro Hara, Kengo Yamamoto

"The CDM-LODIC method(Low Displacement and Control method), a modified the CDM(Cement Deep Mixing) method, reduces the ground displacement through the removal of in-situ soil equivalent to the amount of slurry injection using the continuous auger flight attached on the shaft above the conventional the CDM mixing tool. The reduction of ground displacement minimizes the impact on adjacent buildings and other infrastructures. Since the development of the CDM-LODIC in 1985, this method has been used for more than 900 projects with total volume of improved soils exceeding 5.3 million yd3 (7 million m3). The ground displacement that could be caused by deep soil mixing is controlled by balancing the volume of discharged soil and the volume of slurry injected for soil mixing. This paper presents the ground improvement work for the Sanriku Coast Expressway Project using the CDM-LODIC method to 1) control the ground displacement during ground improvement to minimize the impact to existing buildings and facilities and 2) utilize low height CDM-LODIC equipment to avoid potential damage to critical facilities in the vicinity of ground improvement area and avoid interference on the normal operation of the Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital.INTRODUCTIONSanriku Coast Expressway is a reconstructed highway, which is part of an early restoration program to recover from the Eastern Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. This highway extends 223 mile (359 km) and connects the Pacific Coast regions of three prefecture of North Eastern Japan as shown in Figure 1. Along a section between Yamoto - Ishinomaki road, the highway was expanded from two lanes to four lanes to mitigate traffic congestion for the adjacent city center and hospital and to serve as an efficient transportation route for emergency or disaster relief needs as shown in Figure 2. Deep mixing ground improvement with an area replacement ratio of 50% was designed to provide settlement control under the new fill embankment of the expanded highway as shown in Figure 3. The original CDM treatment layout using 5.2ft (1.6 m) diameter columns is shown in Figure 4."

Jan 1, 2015

By David White

When finished (projected completion in 2016) the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Project will comprise three cable-stayed span bridges and a 4.15 mile immersed tube tunnel - linking Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The design included two artificial Islands to serve as the transition structures for the tunnel to bridges, entailing a massive seaborne land reclamation project, and the use of thousands of sheet piles, and man-hours. The challenges of driving individual steel sheet in 100? of water are well known, let alone in the open waters of the South China Sea. In 2010 a joint effort between American Piledriving Equipment (APE) and Allnamics Pile Testing Experts convinced the Chinese contractor First Harbor Marine Group China that a massive multi-vibro hammer can be used to drive 130? long, 72? diameter steel pipe piles weighing 662 US tons each into the sea bed of the South China Sea for the Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau bridge artificial islands. Combining APE?s hammer design, production and operation know-how with the pile driving simulation and installation know-how of Allnamics made it possible to show the feasibility of driving these gigantic piles into bottom of the sea to the required depth.

By David White

"When finished (projected completion in 2016) the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Project will comprise three cable-stayed span bridges and a 4.15 mile immersed tube tunnel - linking Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The design included two artificial Islands to serve as the transition structures for the tunnel to bridges, entailing a massive seaborne land reclamation project, and the use of thousands of sheet piles, and man-hours. The challenges of driving individual steel sheet in 100’ of water are well known, let alone in the open waters of the South China Sea.In 2010 a joint effort between American Piledriving Equipment (APE) and Allnamics Pile Testing Experts convinced the Chinese contractor First Harbor Marine Group China that a massive multi-vibro hammer can be used to drive 130’ long, 72’ diameter steel pipe piles weighing 662 US tons each into the sea bed of the South China Sea for the Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau bridge artificial islands. Combining APE’s hammer design, production and operation know-how with the pile driving simulation and installation know-how of Allnamics made it possible to show the feasibility of driving these gigantic piles into bottom of the sea to the required depth.INTRODUCTIONThe challenges of driving individual steel sheets in deep water are well known, let alone in the open waters of the South China Sea. Often the challenges of construction are overcome with engineering or equipment. The challenges of China’s Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, on the drawing board since 1983, were to overcome both. The challenges of overcoming the skepticism of the Chinese Engineering community would be another story.The finished project will comprise three cablestayed span bridges and a 4.15 mile immersed tube tunnel linking Hong Kong on an eastern span to the China mainland cities of Zhuhai and Macau via two western spans."

Jan 1, 2017

By Daniel Ruffing, Charlie Krug

In recent years, the chain-style trencher has been proven a valuable tool for installing vertical walls on challenging sites where conventional methods may be less desirable. Like many tools, trenchers are most effective when used with the right application. Trenchers are commonly used for applications that could also be completed with conventional slurry trenching; low-permeability cutoff walls, collection trenches and permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). Drawing from a wealth of experience with conventional slurry trenching and the trencher, this paper compares and contrasts the technical considerations, treatability, installation, performance, and lessons learned for recent projects.

By C. Guney Olgun, Charles Elks, Sherif L. Abdelaziz, James R. Martin, Christopher Fox, Pier Luigi Iovino, Fatih Catalbas, Pierre Gouvin

"Energy piles are a new innovative renewable energy technology to access and exploit the relative constant temperature of the ground for efficient heating and cooling of buildings. Examples of energy piles include drilled shafts, continuous flight auger (CFA) piles, driven piles, and micropiles. A field test setup was installed at the Virginia Tech Geotechnical Research Facility to study energy piles. The field test consists of a total of five micropiles 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter, four of which were equipped with circulation loops. The test piles extend to a depth of 30.5 meters (100 feet) and are heavily instrumented with strain gauges and temperature sensors. Several observation boreholes were formed around the test piles to monitor ground temperatures. Thermal conductivity tests and field load testing were performed to investigate the behavior of Energy Piles. This paper presents results of the thermal conductivity tests and thermo-mechanical field load test performed as part of this field investigation.IntroductionThere is a developing trend around the world to explore alternative energy sources. The main driving forces are growing global energy demand, depleting natural resources and the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption. Geothermal energy is one of the promising renewable sources that can be utilized to offset such trends. However the use of geothermal energy has been limited mainly to certain hot spot areas where it is used either for district heating and/or electricity generation. Ground temperatures below a depth of about 6 meters (20 feet) remain stable compared to outside air temperatures, typically lying between 8-23°C (46-73°F) at most U.S. regions. The constant temperature and heat storage capacity of near surface soils in any region represent a tremendous potential of stored energy that can be used for heating and cooling of structures."

Jan 1, 2017

By John S. Pack

The application of square shaft helical piers in expansive soils is a standard of practice in many areas of the United States. Over 20 years of performance monitoring show exceptional performance and economy will result if proper design procedures, specification requirements and installation procedures are followed. This is true for new foundations and the repair of existing foundations, including lightly loaded wood-frame structures on expansive soils. Proper design includes: 1) site geotechnical characterization, 2) pier layout such that each pier is loaded to its maximum design capacity, 3) maximize spans between piers, 4) minimize the number of piers, 5) isolate the structure from the expansive soil with an appropriate void zone below all grade beams, slabs or other components that would otherwise be in soil contact and 6) utilize only single helix piers. Proper specification employs a performance specification that specifies: 1) the design load on each pier with a suitable safety factor, 2) the minimum installation torque, typically 4,000 ft-lbs (5.4 kN-m), or refusal, 3) a minimum pier shaft steel Fy = 70 to 90 ksi (483 to 621 Mpa) and pier helix steel Fy = 80 ksi (552 Mpa), 4) 1.5 to 1.75 inch (38.1 to 44.5 mm) square shafts, 5) smooth shaft surface, 6) the ICC Evaluation Report (ER) number of the manufacturer and 7) the manufacturer ISO 9001 certification for material quality control. Proper installation requires: 1) equipment with sufficient axial compression force (crowd) on the pier shaft so the helix engages the soil and advances to the specified minimum installation torque or refusal, 2) additional specialized techniques for expansive soils and 3) qualified specialty helical pier installation contractors experienced in expansive soils who submit and utilize pier configurations, techniques and equipment that will most effectively and economically meet the specified performance.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. Hesham El Naggar, Maged A. Abdlrahem

"Hollow bar micropiles have constructional advantages such as: fast and low-noise and low vibration installation process and small installation equipment, which allow access to tight places. In addition, they have efficient load transfer mechanism, which facilitates carrying considerable load in compression and tension. The common practice is to use diameter ratio of drill bit/ hollow bar (Db/Dh) around 2 in their construction, and they are typically designed assuming type B as classified by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In this paper, the performance and capacity of Hollow bar micropile with different (Db/Dh) ratios are investigated. Full-scale micropiles were installed at a site in Ontario, Canada, and were tested in order to evaluate the uplift performance of Hollow bar micropile with different(Db/Dh) ratios. Two micropiles with two different ratios 2.25 and 3 were constructed and tested. The total length of the micropiles was 6m with embedded length of 5.75m. The soil at the site was primarily medium dense to dense sand. The results of the load tests are presented and discussed. It was found that the uplift capacity of the micropile increased by about 19.5% as Db/Dh increased from 2.25 to 3.INTRODUCTIONMicropile is a small diameter, less than 300 mm, drilled and grouted pile and is typically reinforced according to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA, 2005). The technology of micropile was introduced in North America in 1970’s, but the growth in the east coast of United State was intense compared to all other cities around the globe (Bruce and Nicholson, 1989). Nowadays, micropile construction is used extensively worldwide as a viable solution that offers several advantages such as fast installation in low headroom, minimal disturbance to the adjacent structure efficient load transfer due to high grout to ground bond strength. As the method of grouting has major influence on the grout – ground bond strength, FHWA has classified the micropiles into four categories. Type A: the grout is placed under gravity and no pressure is required. Type B: The grout is typically pressurized under a pressure range from 0.5 to 1 MPa as the temporary casing is withdrawn. Type C: the grout is placed in two-step process. First, the grout is poured under gravity only as in Type A. Before the hardening of the grout, similar grout is pressured of at least 1MPa without the use of packer. Type D: Like Type C, it is a two – step process, the grout is placed under gravity as in Type A and sometimes pressurized as in Type B. After hardening of the initial grout, additional grout is pressurized between 2 to 9 MPa through sleeved pipe by using packers, as many times as needed. According to this classification, hollow bar micropile is usually designated as Type B. However, the construction technique is completely different from Type B. Recently; there is a trend to supplement the four types of micropiles by Type E as represent to hollow bar micropile (Timothy et al, 2012). The construction method of hollow bar micropile involves two main stages which can be performed in one–step process: advancing the drilling bit attached to a threaded hollow bar to the required depth; and pressurizing the grout through nozzles of the drill bit."

Jan 1, 2016

By I. D. Dayal, Anil Kumar Jain

"Cutoff walls are frequently used to slow down or prevent seepage of water through and/or around dams. Cutoff wall is a type of seepage barrier structure designed to reduce the flow of water underneath temporary or main dam. There are number of techniques for the construction of cutoff walls including concrete, Jet grouting and permeation grouting. NHPC LTD, a premier Govt. of India undertaking has been instrumental in the hydropower development within the country & in nearby countries like Nepal & Bhutan since last four decades. NHPC LTD has completed more than 20 hydro-electric projects with total installed capacity of 6587MW (including capacity addition by JV- NHDC). In all these projects, different types of dams and spillways were constructed in not so benign to extreme challenging geological set up. There has always been challenge associated with the temporary diversion works. The project sites sometimes incur huge river bed excavations in case of concrete gravity dam founded on rock foundation at large depth. The challenges for minimizing the seepage have been well taken care by constructing the dedicated seepage barriers. The construction of cut-off walls have progressed from “conventional continuous trench backfilled with conventional concrete or plastic concrete” to “grout curtain”, to “jet grouting” to the “concrete cut-off wall” , the last being the most sophisticated & credible seepage barrier.The efficiency of the cut-off walls are monitored by the seepage quantity observed (reduction of the seepage flow), uplift pressures or exit gradients after construction of cut-off walls. For construction of the main concrete dam, required space is created by the river bed excavation for placing the dam foundation on sound rock. Sometimes there is deep river bed excavation from 30 to 40 m depth or even more as per the available rock profile. Temporary coffer dams are constructed for diverting the river flow through diversion tunnels / channels etc. In deep river bed excavation; there are high chances of the significant seepage through the coffer dam foundation / river bed material due to high hydraulic gradients. Seepage and piping are the main causes of the failure / damage of the temporary coffer dams. If the seepage quantity is too high, then it becomes difficult to handle it by dewatering in the dam pit. Dam concrete is required to be placed unhindered to have a monolithic construction of dam blocks & to have faster construction in the working season. Cut-off walls increase the seepage path considerably thus reducing the exit gradient and further reduction of the seepage thus helping in maintaining the seepage free area for working."

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Meckkey El Sharnouby

In this paper, the results of full-scale field testing of reinforced helical pulldown micropiles (RG-HSP) installed in clayey till soils and resting on sandy soils are presented. Piles were tested under monotonic and two way cyclic lateral loadings. Effect of different loading setups on the results is demonstrated. The factors affecting the piles' performance are discussed. It was found that under monotonic loading the piles were able to sustain displacement up to 50% of the grout shaft diameter. Under low cyclic loading levels, the piles did not suffer degradation in the performance. Also, the degradation rate during cyclic loading increased with the increase of the load level. The experimental results show that the reinforced helical pulldown micropile is a reliable foundation option for lateral monotonic and cyclic loading applications.

Jan 1, 2011

By Giovanni Lombardi

In order to get a clear overview of the grouting works carried out, to avoid misinterpretations of the data and functions shown on the display of the grout monitoring device, it is recommended to keep the flow rate as constant as possible. Obviously, at the beginning of the process, the flow rate will increase from nil to the selected "basic" value. An important question frequently addressed is also how to reduce the flow rate in nearing the GIN limit so to finally reach the target intensity. Depending on the actual conditions, there are different manners to proceed. However, the following one appears to be the most convenient. It is represented on Figure 25. Being GIN the target intensity, two new limits at, let's say, 0.95 GIN and at 1.05 GIN as shown in the figure should be defined. The selected basic grout flow rate "q0", is kept as constant as possible all along the grouting process until the 0.95 GIN limit is reached. The flow is then reduced step wise to 2/3 q0, 1/3 q0 and zero at crossing each of the three limits. A similar rule can be used in respect to the maximum pressure, while for the maximum volume the process can be stopped at one time. Obviously the number of successive limits and thus the number of steps in reducing the pressure, as well as the width of the fringes defined in said way may be adapted to the local conditions.

Feb 10, 2003

By Douglas G. Baker, Jason K. Braund-Read, Megan R. Sheffer

"Mica Dam, owned by British Columbia Hydro, is an 820 ft high earthfill embankment dam that was completed in 1973. The dam consists of a thin central impervious till core supported by upstream and downstream compacted sand, gravel and cobble shell zones, founded on bedrock and valley bottom alluvium deposits. In 2012, a project was started to install new piezometric instrumentation within the dam’s foundation and downstream shell zone.Deep drilling in large embankment dams is very difficult and requires careful planning to select a methodology capable of reaching the target locations, while ensuring that no damage is done to the surrounding dam fill zones. At Mica Dam, the drilling could only be carried out from the Dam Crest and drillholes had to be carefully oriented to avoid intersecting any existing dam instrumentation. The drilling work therefore required angled drillholes, at depths of up to 855 ft, through heavily compacted sands, gravels and cobbles, and to significant depths below the standing water table.During the planning stages for the Project, in early 2013, the preferred drilling method was selected and a drilling contractor was engaged for the drilling work. Critical dam safety concerns were identified and addressed during the design stage of the Project with the drilling contractor, so that risk mitigation measures and response plans could be effectively developed.This paper explains how background information and prior drilling experience influenced the final design and implementation of the drilling techniques used in 2013 to successfully drill the deep holes and carry out the piezometer installations in Mica Dam. Drilling procedures, instrumentation design and installation methods, as well as risk mitigation measures, are discussed."

Jan 1, 2017

By Lance Rasband, Richard Hanke, John Starcevich

"The 17.4 meter (57 ft) diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM), the world’s largest at the time of her launch in 2012, locally referred to as “Bertha,” is stuck. Incapacitated due to mechanical failure approximately 36 meters (120 ft) beneath downtown Seattle, situated precariously between the deteriorating Alaskan Way Viaduct and the failing Seattle Seawall. Accessing Bertha with a vertical shaft provides the best approach to address all facets needed for repairs and will allow the full removal of Bertha’s cutter head and related inner workings. Limited area above the tunnel alignment and the physical restrictions of existing infrastructure, create significant challenges for the design of an otherwise symmetrical shaft, requiring special attention to design and layout. Consequently, the access/recovery shaft design required a combination of 3m, 2.5m, 2.2m, 1.5m and 1m diameter unreinforced drilled secant piles coupled with various ground improvement techniques and dewatering, to fully satisfy the shoring design requirements. This paper will describe the shaft installation procedures, equipment used and pitfalls encountered while undertaking access shaft construction of this magnitude.INTRODUCTIONTunneling on Seattle’s SR99 tunnel project began in July of 2013. After slowly mining through a 4.5 m (14.76 ft) thick fiber-reinforced concrete headwall and the first of three stabilized “safe havens,” Bertha would proceed along the proposed alignment through 122 meters (400 ft) of jet grout improved soil at a rate of slightly over 1.6 m (5.25 ft) per day. Once past the improved area, it was planned that “Bertha” – would be moving at a rate of about 11 m (36 ft) per day. By the end of October 2013, Bertha had mined roughly 131 m, (430 ft) averaging 1.4 m (4.6 ft) per day and had begun mining within native soils. By December 2013, tunneling had reached the 244 m mark and Bertha was averaging 3.6 m (11.8 ft) per day, achieving as much as 12.8 m (42 ft) of progress on given days. Unfortunately, on December 6th, 2013, Bertha began to stumble and all progress quickly came to a halt.It was initially reported that an obstruction had stopped Bertha in her tracks. The preliminary investigation involved installation of 10 deep dewatering wells to reduce the hydrostatic pressure around the TBM, and allow visual inspection of the cutter head from within the TBM, and also to investigate for the presence of obstructions at the face of the cutter head. During this inspection, fragments of steel pipe were discovered entangled in the cutter head. The fragments were apparently from an abandoned 254 mm (10 in.) diameter monitoring well casing, previously installed by WSDOT to monitor ground water conditions for the design and planning of this tunnel project. After the steel was removed from the cutter head and cleared from Bertha’s path, tunneling resumed. It was then discovered that Bertha was only able to generate a slow crawl."

Jan 1, 2016

By Richard Berry

The spacing of grout injections is typically about 2 to 2 V½ meters if the purpose of the grouting is densification of the in-situ soils. Hole spacing will vary with the in-situ soil properties and the grout injection rate; faster rates requiring closer hole spacing.

Feb 10, 2003

By Mark Spence, Tom Lardner, Matthew Janes

"IntroductionThe design-build method streamlines project delivery through a single contract between the Contract manager and the design-build team. The design-build method places emphasis on collaborative project management between design and construction disciplines to minimize project schedule, reduce costs, encourage balance risk amongst the design-build team. Since 1985, the percentage of nonresidential design and construction projects has increased from 5% to 45%.1A project carried out in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada will be used as an example to illustrate the challenges of the design-build project delivery method and the merits of establishing a GBR. The project involved a complex slope stabilization as part of an extensive freeway widening. At the project location the roadway was being widened within the base of a historic stream valley into a steep slope with a history of a previous slope failure. The slope was to be steepened through the installation of a series of 14 interlocking arc structures constructed half way up the slope. Access and schedule proved critical to the successful completion of the project.Geotechnique and Site HistoryThe geotechnical investigation undertaken for the site included six boreholes drilled at the crest of the slope to depths ranging from 14.5 m to 30.2 m. Laboratory testing of the soil samples included direct shear tests, Atterberg limits and grain size analysis. The geotechnical report also referenced a previous geotechnical investigation that was carried out in response to a failure of the slope in 1971."

Jan 1, 2015

By Naoyuki Hanawa, Takeo Asanuma, Tatsuo Nagatsu, Sachihiko Tokunaga, Daisuke Nakagawa, Yoshiyuki Morikawa, Kazuhiko Ueno

"In the cement deep mixing (CDM) method, one approach to joint construction is creating a surface-contact joint. In this study, an unconsolidated-undrained triaxial compression test was performed on cement-treated soil specimens with joints artificially created by successive pouring. The effects of the presence or absence of such successive pouring joints on the strength of the specimens were then examined. The results showed that the compressive strength of the specimen decreased by approximately 0%–30% with a successive pouring joint.INTRODUCTIONIn the block type and wall type improvement patterns of the CDM(Cement Deep Mixing Method) application, an integrated body of soil-cement columns is constructed by partially overlapping individual treated soil columns. The overlapping operation should be implemented before the hardening of soils by cement progresses and thus, this operation is routinely performed in construction sites usually within 24 hours or within 48 hours at a maximum. However, when the operation is forced to be interrupted on account of a typhoon or any other adverse weather conditions, it is impossible to carry out the overlapping operation within the above time limitations. In such a case, it is necessary to improve the integrity between the treated soil columns solidified first and the treated soil columns to be constructed later.One of the methods that can be adopted is to prior agitate the target area by mixing blades “without cement”, integrating the preceding treated soil columns and the subsequently treated soil columns at construction joints. This method has been adopted so far in numerous sites because no additional materials or equipment are necessary. However, its effectiveness has scarcely been evaluated quantitatively in conventional studies.In the circumstances, the authors investigated in the present research the effect of the presence or absence of construction joints on the specimen strength by performing unconsolidated-undrained triaxial compression tests using specimens of cement treated soil artificially provided with surface-abutting construction joints.Therefore, this study examined the effects of the presence or absence of artificially created successive pouring joints on the strength of cement-treated soil specimens through an unconsolidated-undrained triaxial compression test."

Jan 1, 2015

By Dileej M. Dewaikar, Poonam A. Patil

"In this paper, the ultimate lateral resistance of a long, flexible, unrestrained vertical pile in a cohesive soil is computed under static loading condition using py curves. A simple and improved method for the construction of hyperbolic p-y curves for a cohesive soil is proposed for static loading conditions. An iterative analysis is employed with secant modulus approach, using a matrix method known as moment area method developed by Sawant and Dewaikar. The loadground line displacement relationship is obtained for different load eccentricities using p-y curves developed by Matlock, Georgiadis et al. and the proposed hyperbolic p-y curves for different eccentricity ratios. These values are compared with the values computed from model test performed by Rao et al. and with the limit equilibrium solution given by Broms. The comparison shows that, the results obtained using hyperbolic p-y curves shows a better agreement with the model test data with the maximum difference within 15% using other methods; whereas Broms' limit equilibrium solution shows some agreement with the results based on Matlock's p-y curves.INTRODUCTIONPile foundations are used for jacket type offshore structures, which are subjected to large magnitudes of lateral loads due to lake or ocean waves, winds and ice forces. The failure of a pile-soil system is catastrophic and excessive deflection of the pile creates operational difficulties. In the view of this, bending moment in the pile is required to be predicted in a rationar manner. The p-y concept developed by Reese and Matlock (1956) is popularly being used to estimate the pile top deflection and bending moments.The ultimate lateral load which causes collapse of a pile-soil system is generally estimated using Broms' (1964) method, which is based on limit equilibrium considerations. The p-y curves are basically nonlinear in nature and include ultimate pressure at the depth where they are generated. Therefore, if the lateral deflection of pile top against different magnitudes of lateral load is obtained, it should be possible to obtain the ultimate lateral load from this load-deflection relationship."

Jan 1, 2005

By Jim Bruce

This paper presents details of a slope stabilization scheme built in late 2003 at a 16m-high railway embankment in southern Ontario, Canada. The owner, faced with continuing maintenance and safety issues arising from numerous nuisance slides, and residential neighbors in close proximity to the slope, sought new proposals to replace a previous recommendation to cut down all trees and undertake a deep soil nailing scheme. A non-reticulated micropile array with surface cap beam was proposed and built on the south side of the embankment with no tree removal required. A detailed FLAC analysis was completed, using multiple iterations to arrive at the eventual, optimized micropile depth and spacing. Analysis predicted an 18% increase in the factor of safety. Short term inclinometer monitoring and performance evaluations in the months since construction so far corroborate the prediction.

Jan 1, 2004

By Michael Arnold, Robert Bachus, Michael Bracher, Jamey Rosen, Robert Roff

"For a high hazard USACE facility, the Center Hill Dam in Tennessee, several disparate streams of data were compiled into a single geospatial and relational enterprise data management system to store, analyze, visualize and distribute the data collected during installation of a deep cutoff wall. These data streams included historical drawings and pre-construction plans and grouting records; geological data from boreholes; attributes of barrier wall elements; element verticality data analyzed from multiple measurement methods; and concrete field and laboratory analytical data. A previously developed data management system developed by the authors, WallTracker, was extensively modified to also include manually collected and real-time measurements from several types of dam monitoring instruments. The system now uses enterprise database technologies with Geographical Information Systems capabilities to manage and relate these data streams into a common platform and allows access to the raw and interpreted data via web and desktop-based interactive tools, including interactive map and cross-sectional viewers and other graphical and tabular reporting tools. One of the primary benefits of this system is the neartransparent interaction that is possible with the Nashville District of USACE on the project. These techniques can now be effectively incorporated into systems that address the unique construction and data management tracking requirements for dams, dikes, and levees.IntroductionThe Center Hill Dam rehabilitation, as with other deep foundation installations, requires the contractor to collect a substantial amount of information over the course of the project, both for internal quality control of construction progress and methods, and for demonstrating compliance with owner specifications. This paper discusses techniques used at Center Hill Dam for consolidating, visualizing and analyzing construction and instrumentation data using relational database and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, collectively referred to as an Information Management System (IMS).The remainder of this paper presents the needs and objectives of the IMS, the components and data flows involved, the capabilities and user interfaces of the systems, and the benefits for the end users."

Jan 1, 2017

By Lisheng Shao

Soil mixing and jet grouting have been widely used to support heavy structures such as tanks, cement silos, and storage buildings. Although the installation methods vary between soil mixing and jet grouting, the end product of soil-cement columns behaves similarly in supporting structure loads. In many cases, soil-cement mass treatment offers the owner savings over driven/drilled piles. This paper discusses the design methodology, production work, and quality control, with supporting figures, of a recent large complex tank farm project. The project consisted of constructing six above-ground steel storage tanks and an approximately 700-foot-long fill slope. The tank farm site is located in an industrial area of southern California, with highly variable subsurface conditions consisting of compressible soils and buried construction debris. The compressible soils necessitated that the new tanks be supported on deep foundations. A test pile program performed previously at the site showed that conventional driven concrete piles were not feasible because of buried construction debris, therefore a soilcrete system was proposed. Site design included evaluating the total and differential settlement and column group bearing capacity under both static and seismic loads. Extensive field and laboratory testing confirmed the design soil-cement strength and modulus of both the soil mixed and jet grouted soil-cement columns. The project operation and quality control programs are also included in this paper.

Jan 1, 2010

By Dario Libano, Armando Caputo, Francisco Caputo

"UHE Peixe Angical is a 452 MW hydroelectric power plant located on the Tocantins River in Tocantins, Brazil. In 1999, geologists began feasibility studies to estimate the river’s hydroelectric potential, and the decision was made to proceed with the construction of a power plant. In 2002, after extensive investigation, the studies indicated geological homogeneity at the site for the dam, except for an anomaly detected on the left margin, and construction began on the $1.2 billion project.As the work began, the complex ground conditions presented several serious difficulties. The solution was unlike any undertaken before in Brazil— a 100-m-long secant cutoff wall, with 76 1.8-m-diameter piles of up to 78 m deep. All were placed in a six-month period.In the preparation for the detailed construction plans, further studies in the area of the anomaly better defined the geology so that a treatment program could be developed. The feasibility study had detected silicified rock with high permeability in one area, and an injection curtain was designed with five injection lines. In the other area with an anomaly, further investigation revealed a permeable marble formation that was 50 m thick. Here, a specific injection program with three injection lines was developed.The injections started in February 2005 in the marble formation area. By July of that year, only the primary and secondary holes were drilled from the three lines, resulting in a space between injections of 1.50 m. By the end of July, the drilling was halted. The contractor had identified a thick area of heterogeneous material below the transition zone that was characterized by a mixture of soil, fractured rock and hard fractured rock. The anomalies were detected while drilling, and both the general contractor and the designer concluded that the phenomenon of “piping” was taking place.Constructing a positive cutoff wall became a priority."

Jan 1, 2009