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I-43/Fox River Bridge Green Bay 1

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I am currently watching a DOT press conference.

Here is what has been said:

A double hammerhead pier settled about 28".

The pier is supported on 40 piles.

It will be interesting to see what happened--how can a pier supported on piles settle???

DaveAtkins
 
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Sink Hole or an old cavern below? Geotechs will tell us...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 
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This also seems like drastic settlement to be any less than a sinkhole. 28" in under 24 hours? Especially after that many years in service.
 
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"The bridge is not in any danger of collapse," state Department of Transportation Secretary . . . .

The department needs to determine what happened, determine if any other part of the bridge is at risk . . . .

Hmmmmm.



It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
 
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I found that comment about no danger of collapse funny as well. If that kind of movement isn't predicating collapse I don't know what is.

We had a bridge pier fail here in however it was due to riverbank slope failure and the shearing of pre-cast hex piles. The government wasn't stupid enough to make comments like that in our case though.
 
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Thanks for the link imminentcollapse.

I'm on the other side of the world but I like to see these things when they happen. It does seem strange to have such an instant settlement occur so quickly. I'm not intimate with the details but I would raise punching shear of the pier cap. Glad that no-one was hurt.
 
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They showed the top of the pile cap on local TV (I live in Green Bay), and there was no evidence of piles punching up through the pile cap. The soil on the side of the pile cap looked like a perfect vertical wall of clay.

DaveAtkins
 
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I've been thinking about going to a Packer or Cheesehead joke here, but none comes to mind.
 
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Does anyone know if the piles were end bearing or friction? If end bearing, what type of rock is common in this area? Is it soluble?
 
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Maybe they found Jimmy Hoffa's grave?
 
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OK, I'll bite.

What are the special structural considerations of a foundation involving bearing on Karst?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 
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Karst = sinkholes and caverns. Karst landscape normally has lots of conical depressions.
 
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Makes a lot of sense here...

Thanks Hokie...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 
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I think with Karst... the only way to check is to drill down to a depth you are comfortable with to see if there is a 'hole'... I don't know if GPR is good enough for deep foundations...

Dik
 
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Also Karst can get worse with time. The rock dissolves and the cavities get larger.
 
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Sounds like a large cavity. Time to call in a Dentist.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 
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