Hillsborough County Florida is using a mix of expanding polyurethane foam and conventional cement grout as a more cost effective means of filling sinkholes. Officials say the mix uses 30 to 40% less grout adding up to a 30% cost savings. The article in the Tampa Tribune did not indicate the contractor or product name that they are using but apparently several agencies in California and other states are using the same material. Story via ASCE SmartBrief.
Press Releases
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]
Geologic Hazards
What Makes a Sinkhole a Sinkhole?
The Florida Geological Survey probably deals with more sinkholes than most agencies. The most frequent geologic cause of sinkholes is dissolution of limestone and other soluble rocks and the collapse of the soil cover over […]
Failures
Man swallowed by a Sinkhole in Shenzhen city, China
A frightening moment was captured on video when a security guard in Shenzhen city, China was swallowed by a sinkhole. The video indicated that residents complained of vibrations or tremors from a nearby construction site […]