Project Overview:

Menard completed one of its larger Prefabricated Vertical Drain (Wick Drain) projects at the Alabama State Port Authority’s Choctaw Point Container Terminal in Mobile, Alabama. The state-of-the-art container handling center terminal combines a deep-water container terminal with a container handling intermodal yard and a distribution facility capable of being serviced by five Class I railroads. As part of the land reclamation program, a sand fill up to 25 feet thick was placed within a driven sheet pile wall containment structure. Because the weight of the sand fill and the proposed surface loads would cause significant long-term settlement due to the consolidation of the underlying soft clays, Menard implemented ground improvement using wick drains.

Ground Conditions:

The project site was underlain with a layer of highly compressible, very soft marine clay that had in-situ shear strengths ranging from 65 to 125 psf. This layer varied from approximately 17-to-33 feet in thickness across the site. Settlement was estimated to range from 2 to as much as 10 feet across the site under final grade loading.