Location
New York, New York
Date
15 Apr 2004, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Abstract
The use of a conventional shallow foundation system in the construction of a baseball stadium on the Delaware River waterfront was only possible by improvement of existing soils using deep dynamic compaction (DDC). Subsurface conditions at the site consisted of 5 ft to 15 ft of miscellaneous fill materials overlying up to 10 ft of soft river sediments over dense sand. Numerous obstructions and old foundations were found in the fill making pile driving difficult and extremely expensive. Several foundation designs and ground improvement alternatives were evaluated for building support. A deep dynamic compaction soil improvement plan was designed to allow for the use of a conventional shallow foundation and slab-on-grade system. Prior to construction, a full-scale plate load test was performed at a dynamically compacted area to verify soil behavior under maximum column loads. The load test was monitored using precise survey methods to determine settlements as well as using piezometers to monitor pore water pressure changes due to the DDC impacts. Soil borings were also drilled to verify soil improvement. Analysis of the load test and boring results showed that the soil improvement using DDC was effective and would allow the use of a shallow foundation system to support the stadium’s loads. The use of deep dynamic compaction proved to be an economical alternative resulting in significant savings in construction cost and a shorter construction schedule.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2004 University of Missouri--Rolla, 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
Alsamman, Omar M. and Kelley, George P., "Soil Improvement Using Deep Dynamic Compaction" (2004). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 3.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/5icchge/session08/3
Soil Improvement Using Deep Dynamic Compaction
New York, New York
The use of a conventional shallow foundation system in the construction of a baseball stadium on the Delaware River waterfront was only possible by improvement of existing soils using deep dynamic compaction (DDC). Subsurface conditions at the site consisted of 5 ft to 15 ft of miscellaneous fill materials overlying up to 10 ft of soft river sediments over dense sand. Numerous obstructions and old foundations were found in the fill making pile driving difficult and extremely expensive. Several foundation designs and ground improvement alternatives were evaluated for building support. A deep dynamic compaction soil improvement plan was designed to allow for the use of a conventional shallow foundation and slab-on-grade system. Prior to construction, a full-scale plate load test was performed at a dynamically compacted area to verify soil behavior under maximum column loads. The load test was monitored using precise survey methods to determine settlements as well as using piezometers to monitor pore water pressure changes due to the DDC impacts. Soil borings were also drilled to verify soil improvement. Analysis of the load test and boring results showed that the soil improvement using DDC was effective and would allow the use of a shallow foundation system to support the stadium’s loads. The use of deep dynamic compaction proved to be an economical alternative resulting in significant savings in construction cost and a shorter construction schedule.
