Fall features and geotechnical Projects
It is hard to believe, but September is here and more than halfway gone, supposedly fall is upon us! Football is kicking off, eyes are turned toward the Gulf, prayers are said for rain, but not too much at one time. Soils are dry, and the earth is baked, but starting to cool just a bit. The dry soil started us thinking about geotechnical projects and geotechnical construction.
Geotechnical projects span an extensive range of different areas, they can be simple and straightforward, but can also be large and complex projects. There are strictly geotechnical projects in scope, such as a slurry wall, but there are also projects that simply have a small aspect of geotechnical scope in the project, such as a sheet pile wall to help conduct a deep excavation. We are barely going to scratch the surface of geotechnical issues, aspects, and projects here. The intent of this article is to explore a little bit about geotechnical aspects of projects and then to expand in the coming newsletters.
We should start with what defines a geotechnical project at IKON Environmental Solutions, LP (IKON). When we think about geotechnical activities that means the investigation, engineering, and/or evaluation of materials, including soil, rock, groundwater, debris, and human-caused materials. Diving deeper into it, we could also consider items such as amendments, stabilization, structural compatibility, and structural works as other areas of geotechnical projects.
The most specific and definitional projects that often fall into geotechnical projects are piling projects. Piling can comprise an entire project, but more often is an integral part of many different projects. Many civil firms advance piling for projects, but IKON often becomes involved in spaces where companies are advancing pilings into impacted soils, debris, or groundwater, or where there is an environmental project inside of the perimeter of the need for piling.
This is a good time to point out that when geotechnical projects happen, and especially where piling is involved, usually some geotechnical boring data is needed. This is to assess the structural competency of the underlying materials, to better understand how to construct the piling or project in general. Often, geotechnical data from soil borings for these projects is not procured ahead of time and is necessary for good project estimating purposes.
A project that IKON recently executed involved piling. IKON did not drive the piling, but the piling was driven into impacted materials by a civil contractor to help execute a public works project. IKON assisted in the removal of impacted materials, soil, and groundwater from the Site, during the piling work. Upon completion of the work, IKON assisted with the decontamination of the piling for the civil contractor executing the job.
If we wanted to refocus our lens on a more unusual geotechnical project, we could look at a recent wastewater reuse project requiring soil amendments. IKON assisted on a project where wastewater was used under permit to grow grass. It may seem like there is little to do with the geotechnical aspects described above, but when soil amendments are applied to the soils, to assist with chemical and physical characteristics of the soil to optimize grass growth, it can become a geotechnical project of sorts. Amendments were applied and tilled into the soil to help optimize the soil’s physical and chemical characteristics to aid in grass growth and ultimately increase evapotranspiration of the wastewater being applied to the soils.
As an aside on geotechnical projects, it is essential that two large issues are always addressed. First, is it paramount that a sufficient quantity and quality of geotechnical samples are collected from the Site to help accurately characterize the Site soils and groundwater conditions. Second, it is essential that a qualified geotechnical engineer is involved to assess and assist in the execution of the engineering and structural aspects of the project.
These are a couple of examples of ancillary geotechnical applications that IKON has recently assisted with. Join us in the coming months to see examples of more direct applications of geotechnical projects that IKON has executed or assisted clients in executing. Join our industry leaders on IKON’s upcoming webinar Geotechnical Environmental Construction. IKON Environmental Solutions will cover topics concerning the gambit of different geotechnical projects, and dive into some of the lessons learned. Register here for the Webinar. For additional information, or for help with Geotechnical projects contact Greg Blomquist or John Savage.
