Structural section with high ground water
Structural section with high ground water
(OP)
I have a client wanting to develop industrial storage on a site with groundwater less than 1.5' below the surface. Soils are sandy loam, AASHTO class A-4. Where do I find guidance on a minimum surfacing structural section?





RE: Structural section with high ground water
If you are dealing with a largly loaded area, adding a few feet of fill will do little to mitigate the potential for a large areal load. It may provide improve the near-surface strength to help with the industrial slab design but the loading of the industrial floor. The "set of settlement" is what is critical for this design.
Provide some additional information and I'd be glad to further assist.
f-d
¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
RE: Structural section with high ground water
The site will be used for pipe storage, with alleyways for equipment access, and bunks for pipe to be stored on. The bunks will probably be railroad ties, to raise the pipe above ground enough for the forklifts to stack and retrieve it. It will not be large uniform loads, and it will be open storage, not covered.
Groundwater is seasonally high. Soil section is sandy loam to about 12", fine sand to 24"±, and what looks like muck below. The client wanted to lay fabric and about 8" of 3.5" minus rock.
Is that enough info to start with?
E
RE: Structural section with high ground water
Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.
WWW.amlinereast.com
RE: Structural section with high ground water
On the other hand, if the subgrade doesn't proofroll, you may want to use a geotextile. I'd consider a woven geotextile (e.g., Mirafi 500x) and then place a minimum 12 in subbase.
Just out of curiousity; how much slope is there on this site? If there is no slope, infiltrating rainwater will just fully soak into the open-graded aggregate. Not sure how rapidly the water will soak into the sandy loam layer (I could guess, but then again. . . ) but if there is construction traffic on a saturated subgrade, you'll loose strength. If you can't provide internal drainage to the subbase, I'd use the geotextile whether you pass a proofroll or not.
Good luck.
f-d, c.p.g., p.e.
¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
RE: Structural section with high ground water
E