Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
As part of the $1.7 Billion I-15 CORE highway reconstruction project in Utah, several new or enlarged large embankments were constructed adjacent to existing buried utilities. Lightweight fill was selected as the technology to limit distress to the adjacent utilities. In order to estimate the impact from new construction to the utilities, settlement estimates for the lightweight embankment were performed using traditional settlement estimating techniques. Numerical models using FLAC3D were then performed to refined estimates. Estimates of lightweight embankment foundation settlements from this construction were obtained from the finite difference modeling. Three-dimensional numerical modeling was used in order to evaluate the foundation settlements since numerical modeling can better estimate the induced stresses and deformations of subsurface soils for complicated geometry, loading history, and for locations outside of the loaded area. During and after construction of the embankments, foundation soil settlement was measured for the lightweight embankments. Settlement estimates from traditional engineering methods and the FLAC3D analyses were compared to the observed settlement data. Sensitive buried utilities were successfully protected by use of lightweight fills, and engineering settlement estimates were shown to agree well with measured settlement data. This case history shows how urban highway re-construction on soft soils, which will likely become more common in the future, can be designed and constructed to reliably protect existing structures.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Lingwall, Bret N. and Anderson, Scott, "Settlement of Large Embankment Construction Adjacent to a Buried Gas Pipeline — A Case History in Settlement Mitigation Using Lightweight Fill" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 29.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session_06/29
Settlement of Large Embankment Construction Adjacent to a Buried Gas Pipeline — A Case History in Settlement Mitigation Using Lightweight Fill
Chicago, Illinois
As part of the $1.7 Billion I-15 CORE highway reconstruction project in Utah, several new or enlarged large embankments were constructed adjacent to existing buried utilities. Lightweight fill was selected as the technology to limit distress to the adjacent utilities. In order to estimate the impact from new construction to the utilities, settlement estimates for the lightweight embankment were performed using traditional settlement estimating techniques. Numerical models using FLAC3D were then performed to refined estimates. Estimates of lightweight embankment foundation settlements from this construction were obtained from the finite difference modeling. Three-dimensional numerical modeling was used in order to evaluate the foundation settlements since numerical modeling can better estimate the induced stresses and deformations of subsurface soils for complicated geometry, loading history, and for locations outside of the loaded area. During and after construction of the embankments, foundation soil settlement was measured for the lightweight embankments. Settlement estimates from traditional engineering methods and the FLAC3D analyses were compared to the observed settlement data. Sensitive buried utilities were successfully protected by use of lightweight fills, and engineering settlement estimates were shown to agree well with measured settlement data. This case history shows how urban highway re-construction on soft soils, which will likely become more common in the future, can be designed and constructed to reliably protect existing structures.
