Allentown PA arena will use micropiles to mitigate sinkholes

January 4, 2012 rockman Project Related Comments Off on Allentown PA arena will use micropiles to mitigate sinkholes
Geotechnical investigation at proposed Allentown Hockey Arena

Geotechnical investigation at proposed Allentown Hockey Arena

An arena being built for the Philadelphia Flyers’ minor league affiliate hockey team will be founded on micropiles to mitigate possible sinkhole problems in the limestone bedrock. The arena in located at the site of a catastrophic collapse of a building, Corporate Plaza, in 1994. The collapse was blamed on sinkholes under the foundation that caused settlement and the rupture of a water main, flooding the area and exacerbating the issue. The building eventually had to be demolished. [Source: Morning Call via AGC SmartBrief. Image: CHUCK ZOVKO, The Morning Call]

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Sinkhole in Karst Topography being used as a drainage structure
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Mitigation of Karst and Sinkholes for New Hospital Structure

November 24, 2008 rockman Journal Article Reviews Comments Off on Mitigation of Karst and Sinkholes for New Hospital Structure

Sinkhole in Karst Topography being used as a drainage structureThe site for the new Harrison County Hospital, approximately 25-miles west of Louisville, Kentucky had 15 sinkholes formed by limestone dissolution, a geomorphologic process referred to as Karst topography.  There were a number of geotechnical engineering and geological engineering challenges associated with the characterization, excavation, backfilling, foundation engineering and other mitigation measures as described by Peggy Hagerty Duffy, P.E. in her article entitled “Karst and Complications” in the August 2008 issue of Civil Engineering Magazine (Duffy, 2008b).

Mitigation measures for the sinkholes included use of graded filters with geotextiles, careful inspection of rock socket foundations along with pilot holes and careful geotechnical inspection throughout the construction process. One particularly interesting aspect of the project is that several of the sinkholes were used as drainage facilities to receive surface water runoff. Read on for a summary of this interesting article. (Photo of sinkhole in Karst Topography being used as a drainage feature, from Duffy (2008b), Civil Engineering Magazine)

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