Oil Refinery and Tank Farm: Soil-Bentonite Slurry Wall Installation

Project Summary

**Groundwater Barrier Project at Oil Refinery and Tank Farm in Kawasaki, Japan**

A plan to surround an oil refinery with a sheetpile wall to form a groundwater barrier was scrapped in favor of a soil bentonite wall proposed by Chris Ryan. The wall was the first instance of the use of this technology in Japan and was the subject of a long pre-job evaluation process, including an on-site pilot test. Significant cost savings were achieved by the use of the slurry wall alternative.

Chris Ryan served as technical assistance consultant for the project, participating in a long planning period, design of slurry and backfill mixes, work plans for the project and the beginning of the work on site.

**Long Reach Excavator Use at Kawasaki Site**

Due to the depth of the wall, excavation was completed by a combination of long reach excavator and slurry clamshell. All spoils were trucked to a remote mixing area, where they were mixed and then brought back to the trench as soil-bentonite backfill.

The project involved a wall that cut down narrow access roads through the very congested refinery property, next to many oil tanks that were fully loaded and under numerous operating pipe bridges. The work was completed without any incidences of settlement of any structures and was considered a great success.

**Clamshell Operation During Slurry Wall Installation**

Location

Kawasaki, Japan

Date

April 1983 to October 1984

References

Client:
Taisei Corporation

Owner:
Tokyo, Japan
(Subsidiary of ExxonMobil)

Slurry Wall Dimensions

SB wall: 40,000 sm, 900mm wide, maximum depth of 26 m

Geo-Solutions Can Help

For more specific guidance as to how slurry wall and related underground construction technologies can be applied to your project, please contact Geo-Solutions by calling 724-335-7273 and we will be happy to assist.

To download, read, and learn more about the various slurry wall sample specs and technical papers we offer online here at Geo-Solutions.com, click on the links below or to your left:

Slurry Wall Sample Specs– Geo-Solutions provides slurry wall sample specs which can be modified for real world use on your project. Download sample specification for Slurry Wall Construction.

Slurry Wall Technical Papers – Browse our library of Slurry Wall Technical Papers.

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For help with slurry walls or other forms of underground construction, call us at 724-335-7273.