Optus Stadium Civil Enabling Works Ground Improvement Project
Babak Hamidi
About the presentation
Optus Stadium is located on rehabilitated land on the Burswood Peninsula, with prior uses of the site including landfill. Prior to commencement of the Stadium project and its prior use as the Burswood Golf Course, the ground originally consisted of approximately 1m of sand capping followed by typically 4 to 6m of landfill and soft Swan River Alluvium that was up to approximately 30m deep. To accelerate the construction process of the Civil Enabling Works an alternative ground improvement solution was proposed instead of installation of wick drains and surcharging, which were utilised in the pre-construction site works phase. In this new approach, more than 200,000 lineal metres of Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) were designed and installed below a load transfer platform to satisfy the project’s various criteria, eliminate extensive surcharging wait periods and to offer a more environmentally friendly solution with less groundwater migration and control requirements.
This project is not only one of the world’s largest uses of CMCs, but also holds the record for the 2nd longest CMC columns. Dynamic compaction was also applied to approximately 10,000 m2 of landfill to pre-collapse any potential voids. Other geotechnical techniques implemented were wick drains and 18m long sheet piles.
About Babak Hamidi
Babak is a senior geotechnical engineer who is currently based in Menard’s Sydney office. He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a master’s degree in geotechnical engineering and a PhD in ground improvement with the Chancellor’s commendation from Curtin University. Babak has been working in the construction industry for 30 years of which a substantial portion has been focused on geotechnical contracting. The scope of his experience includes deep foundations, deep excavations, and more than 10 million square metres of ground improvement in several Middle Eastern countries and Australian States. This includes Perth’s largest ground improvement project, Perth Stadium, which also holds the world record for the 2nd longest Controlled Modulus Columns. He is currently one of the two Australians on ISSMGE’s Ground Improvement Technical Committee TC-211 and became a core member of the Committee in 2018. He is also a permanent committee member of the International Symposium for Pressuremeter. Babak is the author of more than 50 publications on ground engineering, some of which have been published in Australian Geomechanics or conferences that have been held in Australia.
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