DRY CEMENT TANK FOUNDATION
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Morris-Shea, an industry-leading deep foundation contractor, completed installation of approximately 400 H-piles for use as foundation for a dry cement tank at the St. Marys Cement plant near Baltimore, Maryland. The completed tank will contain dry cement staged for onloading to specialty ships at the project site’s terminal facility. Morris-Shea fielded a highly experienced team who completed the harborside project on schedule.
H-PIPE INSTALLATION
Steel H-piles were delivered to the job site in 60 foot sections and required welded splices to reach the specified depth. The high concentration of piles and their close proximity to each other will support the combined weight of the tank and its contents. The Morris-Shea team drove nearly 400 14 inch H-piles to a depth of 160 feet in soil that once supported a steel manufacturing facility. The old steel plant’s subsurface contained unprocessed steel slag at 38 to 52 feet deep.
SOIL CONDITIONS
According to the project’s geotechnical engineering study: “Man-placed slag fill was encountered in all test borings. Blast furnace slag was likely placed during construction and grading activities associated with the land filling at the site. Drilling through the slag with the test rig was difficult and time consuming. Recent Alluvial soils were encountered below the man-placed slag fill, and predominantly consist of soft fat clay. Basal alluvial soils consisting of sands with varying amounts of clay were present below the soft clay layers in the deeper borings. Potomac Group soil consisting of fat clay was encountered in test borings at depths ranging from 128.5 ft to 133.5 feet.”
