MB Western Industrial Contracting Co.
MB Western Industrial Contracting Co.
MB Western Industrial Contracting Co.
MB Western Industrial Contracting Co.
Civil, Piling & Marine Construction
Civil, Piling & Marine Construction
Civil, Piling & Marine Construction
Civil, Piling & Marine Construction
Safety, Quality, Experience & Value
Safety, Quality, Experience & Value
Safety, Quality, Experience & Value
Safety, Quality, Experience & Value
“Safety Drives Our Success”
“Safety Drives Our Success”
“Safety Drives Our Success”
Phone: 281-487-5757
www.mbwestern.com
“Safety Drives Our Success”
Phone: 281-487-5757
www.mbwestern.com
Phone: 281-487-5757
www.mbwestern.com
Phone: 281-487-5757
www.mbwestern.com
grade prior to the scour. Majority of the
soils balanced was a sand and clay mix.
Another part of the project included
importing barge loads of crushed stone
to help prevent future scour of this beach.
Therefore, once the soils filled in the eroded
bank of the river, a fabric was laid over the
soft soils, and capped with 12 to 18 inches
of crushed limestone. Due to the next phases
of this project, we imported this rock a
little earlier than expected to provide a better
loading ramp for barges to deliver a 50T
drill rig. (But we’ll talk more about that in
the next phase.)
During the demolition phase, the interior
of the dock area began its descent,
about 24 feet. This elevation was the elevation
needed for the subsequent phase. It did
mean safety precautions, such as constructing
safety fencing and establishing measures
for preventing fall or fall on hazards.
During this phase, on 9/8/18, one flood
event occurred, bringing water to elevation
424 feet and forcing us to abandon operations
while the river crested and receded.
When the river allowed, we re-mobilized
and continued demolition.
Phase 2: Pile driving
This phase required the installation of fourteen
14-inch H-piles to a depth of about 79
feet. The goal was to ensure the H-piles were
socketed or embedded into the weathered
rock layer. We assumed drilling operations
would be the most dependable method to
ensure we could engage the weathered rock
layer. Therefore, we tactfully managed to
source a drill rig, tools and marine equipment
to allow us to land a large drill rig on
the drill deck, 24 feet below the roadway.
The drill rig was loaded at a nearby marina
and floated down river, and was carefully
moored against the newly constructed,
crushed stone pier we had built. Once the
drill rig was in place, we began drilling the
70-foot, 24-inch drilled shafts. As we drilled
the shaft, we used segmented casing to
prevent the soils from collapsing. Once the
soils were removed and we had a hollow
shaft with five to six feet of embedment in
the weathered rock layer, we would install
the H-pile from overhead with a 65T crane.
Once the H-pile was in place, we would
pump 8,000# grout into shaft, from the bottom
up. At that point, the casing would be
removed, leaving in the ground a 24-inch
drilled shaft with an H-pile in the center.
This system was just coming online, with
operations yielding one pile per day when
the river forecast showed another flood in
route. The Innovative Piering team kicked
it into high gear, planning an exit strategy.
It included establishing the last day that we
had to be able to successfully abandon the
drilling operation and make a speedy exit.
This included multiple tugboats, barges and
a marine crew supporting us from the river.
It included crane support overhead, assisting
us with removal of drill tooling. And
it took an aggressive action on part of the
team to grade the beach adequately to time
the barge deck aligning with the grade to
allow us to track the drill rig back on to the
barge. Unfortunately, however, only three
drilled H-piles were installed.
While it was unfortunate and disappointing
to have to shut down operations
for the second time, we did learn a couple
valuable lessons. The most important lesson
was once we discovered how soft drilling
the weathered rock layer was, the greater
our confidence became to attempt to
drive the H-piles, instead of drilling them.
We also had greater confidence in the
roadside retaining wall, as we had worked
MARINE: LESS THAN $5 MILLION
Continued on page 78
76 | ISSUE 3 2020 www.piledrivers.org
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