GROUND & SLOPE STABILISATION
On contaminated land
A recent foundation
project in So Paulo,
Brazil, encountered
heavily contaminated
soils. Ground
Engineering
Operations (GEOs) G3
system helped contain
the contamination
during drilling using
stabilisation slurry,
writes Jorge Frade
new residential building
A
is being developed in So
Paulo by Gafisa, one of
Brazils largest real-estate and
construction companies. The pro-
jects foundation design included
a total of 1,332m3 of diaphragm
walls (D-walls) and barrettes; the
thickness of the D-walls and bar-
rettes ranged from 400mm to
1,000mm, with an average depth
of 23m for the D-walls and 33m
for the barrettes.
The company that installed the
foundation elements was Drilling
do Brasil. The main challenge
faced by the foundation contrac-
tor was that the building is being
erected on the previous site of
a gas station.
Due to leakage from the fuel
storage tanks, the soil layer
April 2017
29
between 3m and 9m depth from
street level was contaminated
with benzene, a known carcino-
genic compound, as well as other
toxic hydrocarbons. The contami-
nated soil from that layer, after
the excavation to install the
D-walls and barrettes, could not
be disposed of as it was, and
had to be separated for special
treatment.
An effort had to be made
to assure that uncontaminated
layers were kept intact, due to
the high cost of treating benzene-
contaminated soil. This is where
GEOs main stabilisation polymer,
Polymud, came into play.
SOIL CHARACTERISATION
Soil-contamination studies of the
site were conducted by CGA, a
lab that specialises in environmen-
tal and geological issues,
in order to identify the types of
elements present in the soil, if any.
The following substances were
identified: benzene, ethylben-
zene, xylene and toluene (BTEX),
the most relevant being the
benzene.
According to Brazilian law, for
soil to be considered contami-
nated with benzene, its isocon-
centration in underground water
circulating in the soil should be
higher than 5g/L. Here, values
of >1,000g/L were registered.
CHALLENGES AND GOALS
Identifying benzene and other
contaminants in the layer
between 3m and 9m had an
immediate impact on the cost of
D-wall excavation
the project. The excavated soil and casting
would require specific disposal
procedures that included special
transportation and using specific
sites willing to accept contami-
nated soils. These sites not only
accept these soils but apply
specific treatments to them.
Considering that the cost of
physical or chemical treatment
for this kind of contaminated soil
in Brazil can range from US$40
to US$200 per tonne of soil, in Identifying
addition to the regular disposal benzene
costs, the direct costs of soil and other
disposal for the project could
have increased at least sevenfold. contamin-
The D-walls and barrettes had ants in
to be installed using stabilisation the layer
fluid, which could cause the
between
contaminated water in the soil to
interact with the free water in the 3m and
stabilisation fluid. This contamina- 9m had an
tion would then be transmitted to immediate
the slurry, and as a consequence,
to the rest of the excavated soil,
impact on
increasing the already high costs the cost of
of soil disposal. the project
Accordingly, the stabilisation
slurry solution had to prevent this
from happening.
Basically, the stabilisation slurry
properties should not be affected
by the contaminating elements
found in the soil and jeopardise
the excavation stabilisation. On
top of all of this, the average
concrete overbreak could not
surpass 15% without affecting
the structural integrity of the BETEX and PAH
concrete poured into the dia- sampling and
phragm walls and barrettes. testing
30 GROUND & SLOPE STABILISATION
The exposed
D-walls
POLYMUD
Polymud is a highly concentrated
polymer and has been specifically
designed to interact chemically,
GEO after being properly hydrated/
mixed with water, with different
estimates types of soil.
that by During this project, adjust-
preventing ments were made to the concen-
the conta- tration of Polymud in a given
volume of slurry, to prevent free
mination of water in the slurry, which in turn
all the other decreased the risk of passing the
existing contaminating elements into the
slurry. This strategy helps isolate
layers of the contamination and prevents
soil, the it from spreading.
project Another big consideration
achieved relied on slurry membrane
development over the excavation
savings of sidewall, yielding a water-
at least repellent effect that prevents
US$44,500 the infiltration of groundwater
into the slurry column, once
again preventing the spread
of the contaminating elements.
Project results
For the entire project, in every
excavation, the contaminating
elements were contained in the
Slurry samples
to test for
contaminants
Jorge Frade is technical team leader at Ground Engineering Operations
The properties of the slurry
were adjusted to neutralise
and isolate the contaminating
elements from having a negative
effect on the performance of the
Polymud stabilisation slurry.
The slurry was adjusted on site
to follow even stricter specifica-
tions than the project require-
ments and local laws demanded.
CONTROL AND TESTING
The CGA lab was responsible for
monitoring the contaminating
elements throughout the project,
and verifying that the soil contami-
nation was kept isolated and
within boundaries. The work
focused on measuring and
detecting 6 BTEX and 16 PAH
(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)
in all soil and surroundings. All
areas with contaminated soil were
kept isolated until collection.
If the presence of any of these
elements was in concentrations
layer ranging from 3m to 9m depth.
Average concrete overbreak of
the foundation elements for this
project was 8.37%.
Slurry viscosity monitoring
proved that the slurry didnt lose
its properties while in the presence
of the contaminating elements.
Analysis of the contaminating
elements in the slurry at the end
of the project proved that the slurry
was within specifications for disposal
in local water-collection points.
April 2017
above the maximum allowed for
normal soil disposal, the exam-
ined soil layers would be classi-
fied as a Class II contaminated
soil, and be transported to a
special treatment plant.
Samples for testing were made
on all the excavations in the
following soil intervals: 1-3m,
3-6m, 6-9m and 9-20m.
As for GEO, quality control is
always performed on the execu-
tion of each foundation element,
with particular focus on D-wall/
barrette integrity and excavation
stabilisation.
Besides verifying and guaran-
teeing that the slurry parameters
were kept according to GEOs
specifications, a viscosity check
on a sample of the used slurry
was made when reaching 50% of
the project depth of the excava-
tion, to guarantee that the
contaminant elements werent
affecting the slurry stabilisation
characteristics.
A variation of )5s between the
fresh slurry sent to the excavation
and a sample of the slurry from
the bottom of the excavation,
after reaching 50% of design
depth, was considered regular.
If the variation was >5s, it would
be necessary to check for the
presence of contaminant ele-
ments in the slurry.
In addition, because GEOs
slurry is reusable through the
entire project, an analysis of the
presence of contaminants in the
slurry is required before the
disposal of the slurry at the end
of the project. If any of the
contaminating elements were
present in the slurry, a special
treatment of the slurry would also
be necessary.
CONCLUSION
Considering the average specific
weight of the soil in wet condi-
tions on this site, GEO estimates
that by preventing the contami-
nation of all the other existing
layers of soil, the project
achieved savings of at least
US$44,500.