So, using my simple minded approach 1/4" per pile (which I understood was their limit for the test) with a total of 8 piles gives another 2" of total settlement which could be likely, doesn't sound very hopeful to me. Sounds more as if this disaster is going to worsen soon if they don't stop...
Agree 100% also. As the guy described when they were tunnelling, it is a bit like elephant sh*t. Yes I exaggerated about the "clay fill" but in terms of geological time it really is just over consolidated fill which unfortunately is prone to more consolidation under the high load imposed by the...
Is the first that comes to mind for me. Or possibly "Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."
In my mind the Millennium Tower is similar to the miami pedestrian bridge in that it was a really bad idea right from the start. Think about building a structure more that 5x heavier per sq. ft. than steel structures around it and building it on clay fill. Call it a mistake but in my mind it is...
Not sure if you guys have "iron rings" in the US but here in Canada the iron ring which used to be steel and are now stainless steel were supposedly made from the casting that broke when part of the second Quebec Bridge fell into the St. Lawrence River. The first one collapsed during...
The fact that the concrete has technically failed in compression does not "disconnect" the piles from the 10' thick slab, reinforcing steel and friction in the concrete should maintain the connection but bending resistance is reduced or nullified and shear resistance is quite possibly reduced...
I think that the situation is so serious that Hamburgers group must be exposed for saying that the building is completely safe and nothing has failed. We have 950 prestressed piles that have an imposed rotation applied of approximately 0.003 in/in in bending which is the definition of the strain...
Dug up this picture from a 2016 article written by Alex Weinberg P.E. then of NY. The included photo clearly show the 14" square pile tops protruding into the 10' thick pad with dowels already coming out of the tops to transfer load to the base slab. It would thus appear to me that the piles are...
If the tops of the piles are fixed at the 10' thick slab the tilt of the building would tend to bend the tops of the piles so that they curve slightly out to the East. If the piles are not fixed the tilt would tend to crush the edge of the pile tops. Since the tilt of the building is at about...
They only talk about vertical settlements and lean at the top in N and West directions, not sure if they have monitored any lateral movement of the entire building in any direction. With the soft bay clay is it possible that the piles are slightly S shaped and the building has moved laterally...
Hamburger and his group appear to have done a great job in removing groundwater and overburden and relieving pressure at the sand OBC layer and possibly between the sand and Young Bay Clay. This is why I think that probably overburden pressure should be restored and possibly increased depending...
I gave an estimated surcharge two or three parts ago from waterproofing, sand layer and pavers but it is all forgotten in the mass of futile speculation since. Since no-one appears interested in relevant facts, I will not repeat it here.
Rather than lowering the high side I think it would be better to try and raise the low side by trying to recharge the water table on the low side to replace all the water removed when wet sand was removed from the 36" casings. They also removed considerable weight of overburden. Any increase in...
What is the cost these days of a couple of billion in professional liability insurance; a bit more than two cents I will bet. Oh, I see, you just declare bankruptcy and move to the East coast where bedrock is closer to the surface. This just gets more insane every day.
Here we go again. Why would victaulic type connections not be even faster than bolting (if indeed the time to splice the casings is actually the problem) only 4 bolts does the job and its water tight; I assume they would be attached above ground level so victaulic type couplings using collars...
This is why I suggested earlier to restore the overburden pressure and counteract this bulging into the casing and causing it to bulge out and under the pile group and counteract the sinking. You did not think that this would work; I think that the overburden removed for the 3' casings is the...
Agree that they should abandon the exterior solution but I assume they will at least have to fill the 36" casings with concrete or gravel.
With lensing in clays being so.... unpredictable freezing is risky and so expensive to maintain. I have seen fairly firm clay (shear strength > 1500 psi) in...
