Rockscience has been busy soliciting feedback from their user base on news features for their settlement analysis software program, Settle3D. After receiving all of the feedback in the beta program, many of the user suggestions have been implemented by Rockscience in the Version 3.0 release of Settle3D. Some of these improvements include the ability to model non-horizontal soil layers, user interface improvements, new options for defining water level, enhanced graphing capabilities, and 64-bit parallel processing. [Source: Read more from Rockscience via Rockscience’s Settle3D page.. Image: Rockscience]
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The Curious Case of No. 57 Stone
The American Society for Testing and Materials, or ASTM, No. 57 stone is often used as sub base fill material below road surfaces and buildings. It is a fragmented stone with angular edges and is regularly utilized as a drainage layer when used with geotextile fabric. Although the material is touted by many as "self-compacting," excess voids left from zero compactive effort in locations with little confinement may not eliminate the possibility of future settlement. What happens when the environment above the No. 57 stone causes it to settle?
[Editor] Read on for the answer to this interesting question in the case of settlement of a structure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The contributed article by Katherine Witt describes how URETEK Mid-Atlantic used their high-density polyurethane resin to stabilize the No. 57 stone beneath a settled foundation as well as lift the surrounding slab back into place. [/Editor]
Grain Bin Settlement Problems Common to Concrete Foundations Solved with NCFI’s Geotechnical Polyurethane Foam Technology
New Solution Saves Money and Time Preventing Loss of Grain and Equipment Damage
MOUNT AIRY, NC—Soil consolidation and settlement happens. It’s a fact of farm life. Secondary consolidation slowly forces water out of the spaces between soil particles. As this happens, soil particles move close together and settling occurs. Floors drop and become uneven. Newer grain silos and bins are using concrete floors instead of metal, and as secondary consolidation occurs beneath them, depressed or “settled” areas, form within the bin. Grain accumulates in the depressed areas, but cannot be retrieved by the bin sweeper. In fact, the sweeper, a kind of auger that transports grain up from the floor, can become damaged from prolonged exposure to the uneven floor.
This is exactly what Kirk Roberts of CJGeo, a Williamsburg, Virginia-based commercial foundation repair and geotechnical contractor, found when he got the job to repair the foundation of a massive 106-foot diameter grain bin at a poultry processing facility on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. “Once they removed the hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain, we found the floor had dropped some three inches in one section of the bin leaving a large pocket of grain out of reach of the bin sweeper.”
[Editor] Read on for the rest of this press release from GeoPrac sponsor NCFI Polyurethanes. [/Editor]