The Job
A paper mill in eastern Alabama required rehabilitation for an aging drainage system. Routine inspections revealed severe deterioration along the invert of a 1400-foot long corrugated metal pipe. This 42-inch diameter pipe passed directly through a dam. The facility owner decided to replace and upsize the drainage system to meet their long-term operational needs. Consequently, they needed to permanently abandon the existing pipe in place.
Wrapping up the pipe abandonment grouting
The Challenge
Abandoning this specific pipe presented two significant logistical hurdles. First, the project required a relatively high volume of material to fill the entire structure. Second, the 1400-foot run lacked any intermediate access points. Workers had to pump the grout from a single placement point to the final vent point 1400 feet away. Most grouts cannot flow across such extreme distances without setting prematurely or requiring excessive pumping pressure.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed filling the existing pipe with 25 pound per cubic foot CJFill-Ultra Lightweight cellular concrete. This highly flowable material easily solved the distance and volume constraints. The crew generated and placed the entire 520 cubic yard fill volume in a single continuous operation. CJGeo utilized a specialized dry batch plant to produce the material on site. This highly efficient equipment allowed the crew to complete the entire grouting process in less than four hours. Workers confirmed complete filling of the pipe when cellular concrete flowed smoothly from the 12 o’clock vent in the downstream bulkhead.
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