Industry Case Study: Munds Park Caisson Remediation
Challenge
Situation: A Contractor installed 70’deep by 6’diameter caissons for a freeway overpass. Testing revealed anomalies and voids at the 15’ and 70 depths. The Highway officials re-quired full consolidation before acceptance.
Challenges: The voids were filled with debris, dirt, and concrete particles. These needed to be cleaned out completely and demonstrated to the highway officials that they were clean. An additional challenge was that the 70’ deep void was under the water table and required grout that would not wash out underwater.
Solution
Solution: The voids were cleaned out using a combination of directed air and water using the various ports that were installed in various sequences. The cleaning was verified using a snake camera. Several sequences of cleaning and verifying were required before grouting could begin. Euco Tremie Grout was used to avoid washing out from the water in the voids.
Conclusion: The voids were cleaned out over a several-day period until the return water was clean, and there was good communication between cores that reached each void. Grouting was installed with the same communication requirements between core holes. Grout pressure was maxed at 300 psi.