Slurry-Supported Excavations for Environmental and Geotechnical Applications

Presented by: Daniel Ruffing

Geo-Solutions, Inc.

The concept of slurry-supported excavations is a natural extension of using slurry to stabilize boreholes. The slurry, an engineered fluid consisting of clay suspended in water, serves as fluid shoring to allow the excavation of deep and narrow trenches without the need for dewatering or conventional excavation support systems. Although slurry-supported excavation is used for the installation of foundation elements and structural walls, e.g. slurry walls or diaphragm walls, this talk is focused on the non-structural applications, i.e. slurry trenching for cutoff wall installations, permeable reactive barriers, deep drains installed using bio-polymer slurries, and mass excavation and replacement. The history and theory of slurry trenching is discussed, followed by case study projects highlighting industries and applications.

Dinner costs $30.00/person, students $10.00; checks preferred. 

For reservations, please email your name and number of attendees in your party to pgsreservations@gmail.com. You can also reserve and pay for dinners via PayPal on the PGS website http://pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org. Please include your name and number of attendees in your party. 

The deadline for reservations is noon on Monday, January 16.

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