Earthworks used to develop a soft soil site into a heavy container facility

Abstract

The geotechnical conditions at Coghlan Road, Outer Harbor, SA comprise dredged fill over estuarine clays, sands and peat of the St. Kilda Formation. All these soil layers are soft, saturated, and have the property of undergoing large settlements under load. The development of the site into a large export facility involving heavy container handling and storage for the Hardy Wine Company therefore required special earthworks procedures. This paper outlines the nature of the soil conditions at the site, the method of ground treatment used to preconsolidate the soft soils, and the results of settlement readings extending over time periods up to 9 months. The results of predictions of the settlement over a 15-year time period are outlined. Pavement configurations for the heavy container and truck areas are described. The paper describes how the extent of ground improvement was shown to be sufficient to permit the construction of pavements for heavy container traffic and a slab-on-ground and shallow spread footings for the 20,000 m2 warehouse structure.