OWNER:
Alabama State Docks Department
P.O. Box 1588
Mobile, Alabama 36601
ENGINEER:
Tensar Earth Technologies, Inc.
CONTRACTOR:
Brunson Construction Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 336
Saraland, Alabama 36571
In order to prevent
suspended coal fines from entering Mobile Bay through storm water
runoff, Alabama State Docks awarded a contract for design/construction
of a sedimentation pond located in a dredge disposal area adjacent
to the McDuffie Coal Terminal. The surface of the dredge disposal
area was approximately +22 MSL and borings throughout the site showed
that very soft clays (dredge spoil) interbedded with some sand strata
extended down as deep as elevation -35 MSL. Specifications for the
project required the construction of the 1,425-foot containment dike
for the sedimentation pond to extend to elevation +32 thus requiring
a dike height of ten feet over the dredge spoil area. The project
specifications required that any interested geosynthetic manufacturer
submit designs and qualification records along with the cost of any
geosynthetic reinforcement to prospective bidders. Of the six general
contractors who bid the project all six selected The Tensar Earth
Technologies, Inc. design. The design was predicated on the principles
of effective stress and required a stage construction of the dike
and instrumentation program to monitor the field response. After the
initial lift, subsequent filling was governed by the rate of dissipation
of excess pore pressure. This project was successfully completed in
January 1992.
