Synergy
Earth Systems, inc. is a geotechnical design-construct firm established
in 1996 to meet a significant need in the industry regarding weak
soils and difficult site geometry.
Owners,
engineers, architects and contractors are encountering difficult and
perplexing soil problems with a greater degree of frequency. Invariably
these problems lead to a significant increase in construction cost
when approached in a conventional manner. The additional costs are
often compounded since the solution usually extends construction time.
The use of soil improvement technologies to deal with adverse soil
conditions has gained widespread acceptance due to the notable advancements
that have been made in the past twenty years. A partial listing of
the most commonly used technologies are as follows:
Geosynthetic
Reinforcement
|
Vibroflotation
|
Stone
Columns
|
Dynamic
Compaction
|
Wick
Drains
|
Chemical
Grouting
|
These technologies are referred to as “soil improvement”
technologies since they are based on changing or improving the physical
characteristics of the soil. They affect changes in shear strength
and compressibility or they reinforce the soil so that the treated
soil matrix behaves differently under the design loading conditions.
These changes make possible the economic construction of facilities
such as buildings, roadways, levees, etc. on sites where subsurface
conditions would otherwise make construction too expensive or even
impossible.