Continued population growth combined with limited water resources in the Denver area has resulted in the conversion of a number of mined out gravel pits in the area into municipal water storage facilities. The use of slurry walls provides a cost effective means of isolating groundwater to convert these pits into efficient water storage facilities. Design considerations include: stability, underlying bedrock conditions, backfill mix design and earthwork requirements. Installation issues during construction include: trench stability considerations when excavating through relatively clean sand and gravel deposits in potentially high groundwater conditions; keying into three to ten feet of fractured claystone, siltstone or sandstone that makes up part of the Denver Formation; and quality assurance procedures to assure a proper groundwater barrier is constructed. The paper concludes with two brief case histories to illustrate how these considerations are applied.
Strength and Permeability of a Deep Soil Bentonite Slurry Wall
In 2006, a Soil Bentonite (SB) slurry wall was constructed at a brownfield redevelopment of a former steel mill site in Mayfield, NSW Australia. At this site, the slurry wall is designed to block groundwater