Seepage Cut-off Wall Herbert Hoover Dike


Florida, USA

Due to post Hurricane Katrina levee eval-uations, this USACE rehabilitation project was designed to strengthen, and rein-force the existing 140 mile long dike, encircling Lake Okeechobee, and to eliminate the hydraulic piping that is occuring through the limestone and organic layers. The USACE requested cutoff wall experts to demonstrate their technologies in an effort to provide optimal solutions to the dangerous seepage problems at the dike. Bauer Foundation Corp’s (BFC) method of constructing the wall is in-place mixing of the soil and cement using the CSM method. Despite layers of rock and organic peat layers, BFC constructed over 10⁶miles of CSM cutoff wall averaging 60 to 80⁶ft depth through the existing dike structure below the top of the dike. The work was completed using BAUER CSM machines, cutting a trench of 25" thick and individual panels of 8⁶ft. width. The panels are installed in a primary/second-ary panel sequence which insures a con-tinuous and impermeable (1x10¯⁶cm/sec) cutoff wall structure. Bauer used a BG⁶28 and BG⁶40 to remove all the or-ganic peat to create the highest quality soil mixed wall. The peat was recycled and spread on top of the dike to help restore vegetation.