Was a Geotech involved here in the initial design of the port on these soils? Makes me wonder as apparently the behaviour of this type of clay has been documented elsewhere in the past. Personally, I have never heard or seen it before. Expensive mistake for someone.
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
Mike, I assume there must have been some stabilization when it was built if a backhoe can start it now. You know how it goes, safety goes out of sight out of mind, until disaster happens. If it has been there a while, there may be nobody who remembers.
Michael.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
Do quick clays exist in Brazil? Some articles have speculated about that being the cause, but my initial suspect is very loose hydraulic fill (NP silt and/or fine sand perhaps) placed to create all the flat land for the port facilities.
Thanks, Oliver, that made my morning. There is an awful lot of good information available on the internet, and some of it is true!
Still hoping one of my Brazilian acquaintances will have something. One responded to my email this morning, but he's in Switzerland right now. Says he will get back to me later this week. I did speak with an American geotech who has worked down there some, and he didn't believe the right conditions for formation of quick clays ever occurred in that area.
