Project Highlights

ACEC/TN Engineering Excellence Award

S&ME was hired by Waupaca Foundry to perform the geotechnical engineering and construction monitoring services for a new Waupaca Foundry Plant in Etowah, Tennessee. The geotechnical exploration included the drilling of over 60 soil test borings. The overburden soils at the site were generally stiff to very stiff residual silty clay soils. The project site is located within the Knox Group geologic formation.

S&ME services included recommendations for high-bearing capacity shallow foundations, site surcharging, design of a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) slope, remediation of a major spring and several sinkholes, and a multi-node electric resistivity survey. Due to the potential for settlement in a proposed warehouse area, we recommended the area be surcharged. The purpose of the surcharge was to preconsolidate the soils and reduce the settlement potential. The surcharge consisted of approximately 23 feet of fill. Settlement plates were placed at the base of the surcharge fill to monitor settlement. Due to the magnitude of loading, some foundations required high allowable bearing capacities to enable the use of shallow spread footings. Settlements were estimated for spread footings at the site under various combinations of foundation loadings and soil conditions using data from one-dimensional consolidation tests. An allowable bearing capacities of 5,000 psf was recommended for the design of highly loaded footings.

An MSE slope was designed using geogrid reinforcement which eliminated construction of a major retaining wall. A large spring was located on an area of the site in which a rail spur was to be constructed. S&ME lead negotiations with the State which resulted in the State accepting the changes to the spring remediation plan, allowing construction in the area of the spring to proceed. The occurrence of three small dropouts near proposed building areas and the noted existence of a large sinkhole in the vicinity of a proposed truck scale initiated a request for a study to identify anomalies and areas of potential sinkhole development. S&ME utilized electric resistivity profiling to evaluate subsurface conditions and assess the risk of sinkhole development.

This project won an Engineering Excellence Award in the State of Tennessee for outstanding and innovative approaches to solve engineering problems (in 2001).