Location
Arlington, Virginia
Date
14 Aug 2008, 2:15pm - 4:00pm
Abstract
This paper presents a case study of blast densification of a site underlain by a loose, saturated, natural sand deposit. Densification was performed to mitigate the risk of liquefaction from earthquake-induced ground vibrations. The work was implemented as part of the design-build construction of the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Following review of preliminary subsurface data at the site, the contractor retained a team to design and implement ground improvement by blast densification. The team, led by a geotechnical engineering firm, included a blaster, a driller, and a cone penetrometer testing firm. The team performed the analyses, design, implementation and post-densification testing to carry out and document the effectiveness of the blast densification. The paper presents the densification program and comparison of the pre- and post blasting data including settlement results. The project duration including pre-blasting evaluation, design, implementation, and post-blasting evaluation was less than two months. This demonstrates that deep blasting can be successfully implemented as part of fast-track, design-build procurement to execute a complex ground improvement program. It also demonstrates that while the technique is not commonly used, it is sufficiently well understood to provide a flexible and cost effective alternative to the more commonly used ground improvement methods under the right conditions.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
6th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2008 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
La Fosse, Ulrich and von Rosenvinge, Theodore IV, "Earthquake Mitigation by Blast Densification" (2008). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 14.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/6icchge/session07/14
Earthquake Mitigation by Blast Densification
Arlington, Virginia
This paper presents a case study of blast densification of a site underlain by a loose, saturated, natural sand deposit. Densification was performed to mitigate the risk of liquefaction from earthquake-induced ground vibrations. The work was implemented as part of the design-build construction of the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Following review of preliminary subsurface data at the site, the contractor retained a team to design and implement ground improvement by blast densification. The team, led by a geotechnical engineering firm, included a blaster, a driller, and a cone penetrometer testing firm. The team performed the analyses, design, implementation and post-densification testing to carry out and document the effectiveness of the blast densification. The paper presents the densification program and comparison of the pre- and post blasting data including settlement results. The project duration including pre-blasting evaluation, design, implementation, and post-blasting evaluation was less than two months. This demonstrates that deep blasting can be successfully implemented as part of fast-track, design-build procurement to execute a complex ground improvement program. It also demonstrates that while the technique is not commonly used, it is sufficiently well understood to provide a flexible and cost effective alternative to the more commonly used ground improvement methods under the right conditions.
