Snow. Jesse Hall. The Quad. Memorial Union. Tiger Plaza.
Miscellaneous

Mizzou Memorial Union Gets Lift from TerraThane Geotechnical Foam

Univ. of Missouri’s Historic Memorial Union, Built to Honor WWI Dead, Gets New Life with TerraThane Geotechnical Foam

Snow. Jesse Hall. The Quad. Memorial Union. Tiger Plaza.MOUNT AIRY, NC—The Univ. of Missouri’s iconic Memorial Union, with its Gothic architecture and central bell tower, was built to commemorate the 117 Mizzou alumni who lost their lives in WWI, and has been under silent attack. Like all buildings built atop the ancient dry riverbeds of the tributary valleys of the Missouri River, the soil beneath is a mixture of sand, clay, and fine rock particles and highly susceptible to erosion from water. So, while hundreds of thousands of students walked the hallways of the building, water escaping steam pipes far beneath caused severe drying of the soil and destabilized it enough so that erosion created voids, or cavities in the soil, some as large as four feet. In turn, this caused the concrete slab floors atop the voids to become uneven, and the eventual danger of even greater problems loomed large.

A team of engineers went after the problem, including MU alums, Matt VanderTuig, P.E., of Bartlett & West, Jefferson City, MO, and Mark Whitehead, P.E. with extensive structural design and environmental engineering management experience. They suggested to Chris Hentges, president of SIRCAL Contracting, Jefferson City, the general contractor in charge of the job, that instead of using the older method of mudjacking, a highly involved and intrusive process of drilling large holes in the slabs—sometimes removing the slabs entirely—and pumping “mud”, ultra-heavy Portland cement-based grout, into the void, then leveling the slabs, that the university might better be served by using the newer polyurethane foam system method called “foamjacking” or “polyjacking.”

[Editor] Be sure to click through for the rest of the interesting project from GeoPrac sponsor NCFI Polyurethanes and TerraThane! [/Editor]

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Underground parking garage in 'Uptown' area of Dallas that needed TerraThane polyurethane foam
Press Releases

Posh Dallas Parking Center Saves Millions with TerraThane Geotechnical Polyurethane Foam by NCFI

Underground parking garage in 'Uptown' area of Dallas that needed TerraThane polyurethane foam

MOUNT AIRY, NC—In-ground parking garages in Dallas, TX experience the same thing: erosion of the soil beneath them, and silt infiltration that overwhelms and clogs the drainage system, thus causing more and worse erosion. The keys are catching it early enough, and choosing the right solution to keep it from happening again.

The three-story, in-ground parking garage at McKinney Ave. and Worthington St., the main thoroughfare of the Dallas’ “Uptown” area and home to some of the poshest apartments, business addresses, shopping, hotels, restaurants and bars, had silt and water infiltration, so the owners called in Edens Structural Solutions, Bixby, OK, with 30 years experience of structural lifting and repair. David Edens, company president, says they studied the problem and decided on geotechnical polyurethane foam. “Our solution was to use void-filling TerraThane geotech foam. It’s simple to apply, expands and cures in place, and is an excellent water and air barrier,” says Edens.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from NCFI [/Editor]

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Press Releases

Nicholson Completes Emergency Response Grouting Operation on Major Missouri Interstate with Minimal Traffic Impact

Nicholson completed an emergency response jet grouting operation on Missouri's Gasconade Bridge, part of Interstate 44, in Laclede County.Pittsburgh, PA – June 2, 2011 – Missouri’s Interstate 44 is considered one of the most frequently traveled highways in the central United States. In early March of 2011, Nicholson Construction was contacted to perform an emergency response grouting operation on the Gasconade Bridge, part of I-44 westbound, over the Gasconade River in Laclede County.

During construction of the drilled shaft foundations for Temporary Bent No. 6, it was determined that voids were present both beneath and adjacent to the north footing for Intermediate Bent No. 6. Test borings by MoDOT indicated that the void varied in depth from zero to five feet, but the horizontal extents were unknown upon Nicholson’s arrival to the site. [Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from GeoPrac.net sponsor Nicholson Construction. [/Editor]

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Project Related

Voids Open as a Result of Tunneling Under Seattle’s Beacon Hill

image The Seattle Times (hat tip to ASCE SmartBrief) has reported that seven voids have been discovered above the Beacon Hill Tunnel with one opening up at the ground surface. The tunnel is being constructed by Sound Transit, the area’s transportation agency as part of a roughly $2.6 billion (yep, billion) light-rail project connecting downtown Seattle with the University of Washington and SEA-TAC airport. The voids were a result of running sand pockets in the otherwise stable clay units that were encountered by the tunnel boring machine or TBM. These voids migrated up like a chimney with one reaching the surface, almost 160-ft above the tunnel. This void was apparently 21-ft deep and opened up in a resident’s front yard and could have easily swallowed her up as she noticed it while gardening. The other voids were discovered at a depth of 20- to 65-ft below the ground surface. More after the break. (Illustration from Seattle Times)

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