Case Studies in Geotechnical Engineering (Joint Meeting with the S.A. Footings and Structural Groups)

Various

Richard Herraman: Assessing the Performance of the Footings on the Commercial Road Railway Viaduct at Port Adelaide
The loads on transport infrastructure are continually increasing. How can we determine whether the footings of old bridges will perform satisfactorily under proposed load increases? What is a cost to effectively upgrade the footings? We also know that footing design methods used in the past were often conservative. All this justifies a careful assessment of existing footings when increased loads are proposed.

Peter Mitchell: Footing Solution for the Burswood Resort Extensions, Perth
The $75 million extensions to the casino and convention centre at the Burswood Resort in Perth, WA involved construction over reclaimed land on very soft Swan River Valley alluvial soils. The project offered the challenge of requiring precast concrete piling to be driven to depths of the order of 36m without any vibration and with minimal noise. The commercially available ‘G-pile’ from Australasian Piling Company was found to successfully meet these challenges. Dr Mitchell will outline the results of soil testing and the geotechnical conditions, the pile design, and the pile construction and installation.

Paul Gunson: Soil Nailing
Soil nailing was selected as the method to stabilize the steep river bank below the footpath on the river side of Adams Street, Hindmarsh after longitudinal cracks were noticed in a section of footpath above the steepest part of the bank. The method was adopted because it offered a solution, which would have a minimal disruption of the traffic in Adams Street during construction; would have minimal effect on the river flow; could be constructed in a relatively safe environment; and would be economical. Mr Gunson will describe the design process, the construction process, the changes to design as the true site conditions were revealed, and the successful completion of the project.

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