Tag Archives: Ground Improvement

Malcolm Drilling, Inc. and Dan Brown and Associates, LLC were the design-build team for a hybrid ground improvement system consisting of vibro-stone columns (VSC) and cutter soil mixing (CSM) panel grids to mitigate liquefaction and achieve target settlement performance criteria for a mixed-use development in Santa Cruz, California.

The development is being done by the Lincoln Property Company and consists of three separate 7-story buildings including 175 apartments and ground floor retail. The separate buildings provide public access from the street to the San Lorenzo River multiuse path. The project is an anchor for the City of Santa Cruz’s plan for revitalizing downtown with enhanced access to the river and increased density of affordable housing.

VSC were used on the interior of the site to densify granular soils while the CSM grids were designed to limit shear demand around the perimeter of the site where existing sensitive buildings and a USACE-controlled levee along the San Lorenzo River prevented the use of vibratory methods. The final project included 125 CSM panels for ground improvement and 558 VSC.

VSC probe and aggregate hopper supported by crane (foreground) with CFA piling rig on standby to predrill through refusal layers. San Lorenzo River levee visible in background

Cutter soil mix rig installing panel adjacent to existing structure at south site perimeter.

The hybrid ground improvement system supported a mat foundation beneath a single-level basement that spanned the entire site, atop which three individual seven-story mixed-use structures were constructed. The grade-level diaphragm resulted in combined seismic participation from the three structures which led to significant mat bearing pressures beneath shear walls and at the site perimeter.

In true design-build fashion, final geotechnical information was not available until after construction began and existing buildings on the site were demolished. This allowed access to install trial patterns of VSC with pre- and post-installation testing as well as additional exploratory CPT to identify the depth transition for the Purisma Formation bearing layer from about 60 ft in the northern portion of the site to about 20 ft in the southern portion of the site. VSC and CSM panel depths through the transition zone finalized while construction of the first production CSM panels was underway at the southern site edge.

Along with the Owner’s geotechnical engineer, Rockridge Geotechnical, DBA and Malcolm implemented multiple quality assurance and control measures. The CSM design and QA/QC program included a bench-scale study using soil samples from the geotechnical investigation, test panel installation using three different binder mixes with variable cement content to investigate soil mix compressive strengths, daily wet-grab sampling of production columns for strength testing, and coring of select columns for visual observation of mix continuity and sampling for strength testing of cured in-situ soil mix. Ground improvement through VSC was verified using post-installation CPT which were analyzed and evaluated on an individual basis against project performance criteria.

Pre- and post-VSC installation CPT profiles for liquefaction triggering.

The RiverRow project demonstrates the successful use of the design-build method to optimize site-specific ground improvement technologies to meet multiple project needs while safeguarding the interest of a wide variety of surrounding stakeholders, including sensitive structures and a USACE-controlled levee.

Bridge Foundations, Foundation Design, Foundation Testing, Ground Improvement, Research

NCHRP Report 697 – Design Guidelines for Increasing Lateral Resistance of Bridge Pile Foundations

May 5, 2014 Robert Thompson

We have added a link to the NCHRP Report No. 697 Design Guidelines for Increasing Lateral Resistance of Bridge Pile Foundations. This report was published in 2011 and authored by Kyle Rollins, Pd.D., P.E. of Brigham Young University and our own Dan Brown. Dr. Rollins is a Professor in Geotechnical Engineering specializing in earthquake engineering and soil improvement.

In the forward of the report, Andrew Lemer of TRB writes:

NCHRP Report 697: Design Guidelines for Increasing the Lateral Resistance of Highway- Bridge Pile Foundations by Improving Weak Soils presents design guidance for strengthening of soils to resist lateral forces on bridge pile foundations. Lateral loads may be produced by wave action, wind, seismic events, ship impact, or traffic. Strengthening of soil surrounding the upper portions of piles and pile groups—for example by compaction, replacement of native soil with granular material, or mixing of cement with soil—may be more cost-effective than driving additional piles and extending pile caps as ways to increase the bridge foundation’s capacity to resist lateral forces associated with these loads. This report presents computational methods for assessing soil-strengthening options using finite-element analysis of single piles and pile groups and a simplified approach employing commercially available software. The Additional resources and design guidelines will be helpful to designers responsible for bridge foundations likely to be exposed to significant lateral loads.

Be sure to browse all of the nifty reports and projects in geotechnical and foundation engineering at TRB here.

Also check out our Publications page regularly for new postings.

Drilled Piles, Ground Improvement, Industry News and Events, Terzaghi & History

Charles J. Berkel 1925-2013

November 29, 2013 Robert Thompson

A pioneer of the deep foundations industry has recently passed. Charles J. Berkel, 88, Chairman of the Board and Founder of Berkel & Company, one of the largest piling contractors in the U.S., passed away November 4, 2013. From DFI:

Berkel graduated from the University of Illinois in 1946 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. A year later he began his career in deep foundation construction working for Intrusion-Prepakt in Chicago. While there he was the project engineer for the first commercial project supported on ACIP piles in the U.S. In 1959 he resigned from Prepakt and started his own company, Berkel & Company Contractors, specializing in pressure grouting and the installation of Auger Pressure Grouted (APG) piles. Over the decades, he grew the company to become one of the largest piling contractors in the U.S.

Funeral services were held Friday, November 8, 2013, in Lenexa, Kan. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Berkel’ s name to the University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth, Kan., the Sister Servants of Mary, Kansas City, Kan., or Sacred Heart Church in Shawnee, Kan.

Mr. Berkel was a Charter Member of Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), Berkel was the recipient of the 2007 DFI Distinguished Service Award, and a major donor to the DFI Educational Trust Scholarship Program.

Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Foundation Design, Ground Improvement, Miscellaneous

Hastings Update and Photo Album

April 1, 2011 David Graham

Well, I, David, have survived my first (and hopefully last) winter in Minnesota. I spent most of January and February observing the installation of the Pier 5 drilled shafts at the new Hastings bridge project in Hastings, Minnesota. In addition to the drilled shafts, there has been a lot activity at Hastings since Aaron last blogged about this project in January. A link to his post is here. All of the ground improvement piles for the column-supported embankment have been installed and approximately 75% of the caps have been poured. The 42-inch piles and pile caps for Piers 8, 9, and 10 are also complete. Piles for the north embankment retaining wall have been installed and construction of the wall has begun. Excavation for the rock bearing spread footings that will support the south land piers is in progress. Work at Piers 6 and 7 and on the north shore are currently on hold as the Mississippi River is experiencing its annual spring flood. The water level is about 14 feet above normal elevation.

I have taken the pictures Paul and I have collected over the last few months and uploaded some of the more interesting ones to a Picasa web album. The pictures are generally in chronological order and cover most of the construction process from November of 2010 right up to the end of March 2011. A link to our our video of a Statnamic load test at Hastings that Aaron blogged about is here.

Ground Improvement, Load Testing

Ownensboro Hospital Ground Improvement Project Photos and Webcam Online

January 17, 2011 David Graham

Last spring, DBA designed a composite ground improvement system for a new hospital as part of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Medical Health System specializing in legal steroids, funded by roids co, although some people prefer not to take steroids so they can order Kratom online and other natural supplements that are good for the body. Numerous medications are available to help affected people manage the infection and STD Testing Made Easy to delay or prevent progression of the illness. Tim performed most of the ground improvement design for the design-build project with Berkel & Company Contractors, Inc. The design is a composite ground system with a layer of compacted gravel above lightly reinforced cast-in-placed displacement piles (known commercially as CGEs). Spread foundations placed on the compacted gravel distribute the structural load to the soil and CGEs. The construction of the composite ground system began and was completed in the summer of 2010. The project has a designated webcam that allows the public to view the entire construction process. The webcam can be viewed here. We have also uploaded some photos of construction and testing of the CGEs here.

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Drilled Shafts, Ground Improvement, Load Testing, Site updates

Geo-Florida 2010 Papers posted

May 11, 2010 Robert Thompson

Papers by Dan, Steve, and Tim that were included in the GeoFlorida 2010 conference have been uploaded to our Publications page. Dan and Steve co-authored a paper on the test program of the base grouted drilled shafts for the Audubon Bridge. Tim co-authored a paper with Willie NeSmith of Berkel and Company Contractors, Inc. on plate load testing of displacement grout columns. Dan was also a co-author with several others on a paper on jet grouting for improved pile lateral capacity.

Dapp, S.D. and Brown, D.A. (2010). “Evaluation of Base Grouted Drilled Shafts at the Audubon Bridge”, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp1553-1562.

Rollins, K.M., Herbst, M., Adsero, M. and Brown, D.A. (2010) “Jet Grouting and Soil Mixing for Increased Lateral Pile Group Resistance”, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp1563-1572.

Siegel, T.C. and NeSmith, W.M. (2010). “Large-Scale Plate Load Testing of Ground Improvement Using Displacement Grout Columns”, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp2398-2405.

Miscellaneous

Soil Inclusions in Jet Grout Columns – DFI Journal Volume 3, May 2009

August 17, 2009 Robert Thompson

Paul was a co-author of another paper on jet grout columns based on a project at Tuttle Creek Dam near Manhattan, Kansas. This was a project Paul worked on when he was with the Corp of Engineers (Kansas City District). The extensive work performed at the site is yielding a lot of valuable information for the geo-engineering and geo-construction professions.

The paper is in the latest issue of the DFI Journal, published by the Deep Foundations Institute. Click on the image below or go to our Publications page.

Dan Brown and Associates, LLC