GET provided soils explorations and geotechnical engineering studies for the design of the Precision Machine Shop at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The 1-story machine shop, with a footprint area of approximately 10,000 square feet, was surrounded by pavement to provide a total finished construction area of approximately 45,000 square feet. The sloping terrain required placement of fill soils ranging in thicknesses of 10 to 15 feet within the building area. Geotechnical analyses indicated that placement of the fill soils would result in maximum settlement of approximately 10 inches and differential settlement on the order of 4 inches. Analyses also indicated that settlement of the site due to placement of the fill soils would continue for many months. Thus, it was recommended that wick drains be installed and that the site be preloaded to cause the anticipated settlement to occur within a time frame more suitable to the project schedule. The project also required some of the fill soils be placed in areas where the ground water level was at or above the ground surface elevation.
Vicksburg, Mississippi