Jet Grouting for IHNC Hurricane Surge Barrier New Orleans, Louisiana

Project Highlight : Jet Grouting Project : A) IHNC Hurricane

Surge Barrier Construction Project

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The Inner Harbor Naviga-tion Canal (IHNC) Hurri-cane Protection Project in New Orleans, Louisiana involves the construction of a 2-mile long hurricane protection structure at the northwesterly extent of Lake Borgne.

The storm surge barrier will extend from the levee / floodwall at the Mississippi River Gulf Out-let (MRGO), across Bayou Bienvenue and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

(GIWW) to the north. The project is reportedly the largest Design-Build civil works project ever attempted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and is designed to protect New Orleans East, Gentilly, the French Quarter, the Upper and Lower Ninth Wards, and portions of St. Bernard Parish. Three navigation gates are incorporated into the struc-ture’s design. Once completed, the IHNC surge barrier will effectively replace approximately 30 miles of levees and floodwalls on the protected side of the structure.

Jet Grouting is specified for the project to improve the soils between the 66-inch diameter cylindrical concrete piles and the precast concrete closure piles of the massive floodwall at 2,500 locations. The floodwall alignment is approximately 7,800 feet in length. Jet Grouting is being performed in a marine environment with numerous operations and material barges. Jet Grouting work is being completed from a temporary work platform using an innovative “Double Head Jet Grouting System” in conjunction with state-of-the-art real-time monitoring of both drilling and Jet Grouting operations.

Jet grout depths extend from elevation -20 feet to a tip elevation -55 feet. Subsurface condi-tions range from soft to very soft silts and clays to dense silt and silty sand. Total volume of grouted soil mass is estimated to be approximately 600,000 cubic feet. Work is being per-formed concurrently from two headings to meet a fast-track project schedule.

Construction of the main flood wall essentially consists of driving a single line of 1,257 - 145-foot long 66-inch diameter precast cylindrical concrete piles, with a pair of 60-foot long, 18-inch square concrete closure piles placed on either side of the 6-inch interstitial separation between each of the primary cylindrical concrete piles. Each pair of closure piles is placed within a corresponding pair of freshly jet-grouted columns installed from elevation -55 feet to -20 feet,

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Volume 2, Issue 4 Winter 2009

IN THIS ISSUE

LAYNEGEO BULLETIN

Jet Grout Columns

66” Cylindrical Piles 18” Closure Piles

Alignment of Floodwall

Project Highlight

stiffening the foundation soils and providing a means of sealing the interstitial space. A series of 36-inch batter piles and a concrete cap will also be constructed.

Layne GeoConstruction constructed the jet grouted columns using state-of-the-art equipment and grouting techniques. Drilling equipment in-cludes the Casagrande B400 and B125 Dual-Head track-mounted drill rigs, and one Comacchio MC1500 and one Puntel PX 1200 track-mounted

drill rigs. Each drill rig is equipped with automated jetting timers to control step height, step time and drill rod rotation. Cementitious fluid grout is batched in automated high-speed colloidal mixing plants that are equipped with load cells to accurately proportion continuously during jet grouting op-erations. Grout is pumped at high pressures on the order of 450 to 500 bar (6500 to 7500 psi), using specially designed triplex jet grouting pumps manufactured in Italy by Tecniwell, s.r.l.

Relevant jet grouting parameters are monitored electronically and transmit-ted via wireless link from each of the barges to the landside field office over two miles away. These data are displayed on-screen in real-time and in-clude drilling penetration rates, grout flow rates, injection pressure, depths, inclination, time and rotation.

Working in extremely hot and humid conditions is one of the more chal-lenging aspects of this project. Canopy structures were constructed over the mixers and pumps to provide ample shade, and portable air-conditioned offices are maintained on each of the support barges.

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To schedule a technical presentation that is customized to address your specific project needs, please contact any of the following of-fices. For further technical information, please visit our web site at: www.laynegeo.com or contact us by email at:

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In our next issue :

Jet Grout Plug for Bay Area Rapid Transit — Track Excavation at Fremont Central Park Subway in California

IHNC Wall, New Orleans, Louisiana

View of jet grouting operation for IHNC Wall and Batter Pile installation in background

Casagrande B125 Dual Head Drill Rig on Work Platform