Earthwork, Piling, and Deep Soil Mixing and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Speaker: Kenneth Bell, PE, PhD, BC.GE, F.ASCE
Kenneth Bell is a Geotechnical Technology Manager at Bechtel Corporation, joining Bechel in 1980. Ken was the Manager of Geotechnical Services providing oversight to Bechtel’s Geotechnical Group worldwide. He is currently assigned as the lead geotechnical engineer for the Rio Grande LNG project in Brownsville, Texas.
The site grade elevation is below both the 100- year and 500 – year flood levels. As a result, an 11 foot high earthen levee, almost 3 miles long is being constructed around the entire site. The area inside the levee is divided into areas referred to Inside the Battery Limits (ISBL), which is the actual process area converting natural gas into liquified natural gas, and Outside the Battery Limits (OSBL). The project was recently expanded to four trains, and with the possibility in the future of expanding to 10 trains.
The foundation support for all structures in the ISBL are on Deep Soil Mixing. This includes over 1700 – 4 auger DSM elements that extend from the ground surface to depths of 55 – 65 feet. The structures in the OSBL are all supported on 14” x 14” precast, prestressed concrete piles. The high-capacity piles are 80’ long and support the LNG tanks, while the remaining piles are 65’ long. In total there will be close to 19,000 piles driven for Trains 1-4.
The presentation will discuss these three main geotechnical aspects of this multi-billion-dollar project along with the requirements that need to meet and be approved by FERC.
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