Pennsylvania Pipe Abandonment
The Job
This Pennsylvania pipe abandonment project is located at a drinking water reservoir near York, Pennsylvania. As part of a dam reconstruction, the existing outfall pipe was specified for grouted abandonment.
The Challenge
The existing outfall pipe is 48″ cast iron pipe, and approximately 200 feet long. The pipe passes approximately 45 feet below the crest of the earthen embankment, concrete core dam structure. To ensure that the pipe would not serve as a conduit for water after abandonment, the specification calls for cellular grout with a maximum permeability of 1×10-6 centimeters per second.
During design, there were concerns about leaks in the pipe draining out some of the cellular concrete after placement stopped, but before it reached initial set. To address this, a secondary grouting program using chemical grout was designed to top off any void volume in the outfall pipe after the cellular grout set.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed using 60lb/cuft CJFill-Standard cellular grout for the abandonment. 60lb/cuft CJFill-ST exceeds the minimum compressive strength requirement, and has less than 1×10-6 cm/sec permeability.
CJGeo mobilized a dry batch cellular grout plant to the site to complete this Pennsylvania pipe abandonment project. The crew performed the grouting in fewer than two hours. The dry batch plant generates the 60lb/cuft cellular grout onsite directly from bulk cement powder.
Placement was through sacrificial grout pipes installed by the general contractor. The GC also constructed masonry bulkheads on both ends of the structure.
Exploratory holes drilled in the bulkheads the following day confirmed uniform fill, and no need for the secondary grouting work.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
Coke Gas Pipe Fill
The Job
This coke gas pipe fill project is located in Middletown, Ohio, at Cleveland Cliff’s Middletown Works facility. Middletown Works determined that the coke plant would be more costly to repair than to replace, so elected to demolish the plant.
The Challenge
A demolition contractor working to dismantle parts of the onsite coking plant had to remove approximately 350LF of coke gas pipe. The work area is located in the basement of the coking plant.
Coke gas residuals will spontaneously combust when exposed to the air, but the pipe had to be cut into roughly 3′ pieces to remove it. The pipe fill grout had to:
- completely fill the pipe
- coat the residuals to minimize air exposure
- cut easily
- add as little weight as possible to the pipe sections
The Solution
CJGeo proposed using CJGrout-20SDB to fill the pipes. 20SDB is a 2lb/cuft rigid polyurethane foam, specifically formulated to flow long distances before setting.
CJGrout 20SDB is generated onsite by special polyurethane grouting rigs. The rigs have hoses up to 400 feet long, which convey the material from the grouting rigs to the placement area. For this coke gas pipe fill project, the crew had to run hoses approximately 250 feet into the building, down multiple stair cases. The hoses are lightweight and about 2 inches in diameter, so this isn’t a problem.
One of CJGeo’s polyurethane grouting crews was onsite for two days to complete the project. Once the coke gas pipes were filled, the demolition contractor cut them into 3 foot long pieces with traditional band saws bagged the sections, and removed them from site.
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| Virginia to Maine | Everywhere Else |
| Lauren LeVine | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-471-3022 | d: 804-404-2683 |
Michigan Pipe Abandonment
The Job
This Michigan pipe abandonment project is located in Saginaw, Michigan. It is a 2900LF of 8″ grouted abandonment for the local municipality.
The Challenge
The utility contractor who installed the replacement water main was required to fill the old pipe with grout after tying in the new pipe. Because of the relatively small diameter, they were going to have to dig approximately 15 access holes if they used traditional flowable fill. The contractor really didn’t want to have to do that. So, they sought a highly mobile grout that would eliminate the need for digging access points.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed using CJFill-Ultra Lightweight cellular grout for this Michigan pipe abandonment. Because the project volume is approximately 40 cubic yards. CJGeo proposed using wet batch generation, with a local ready mix provider supplying the raw slurry.
Wet batch generation is well suited for projects like this because the volume of slurry required is much less than a full load of cement. The equipment for wet batch generation is very portable–typically just two pickup trucks, one pulling a 20′ trailer with equipment.
Confirmation of fill for this Michigan Pipe Abandonment project was material venting a fire hydrant at the far end of the placement. Pumping pressures were less than 20psi for the duration of the grouting process.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
BNA Culvert Abandonment
The Job
As part of a Nashville International Airport’s BNA Vision project, several hundred feet of culvert needed to be filled with grout. The culvert abandonment work is part of installing a new drainage system to accommodate a new terminal.
The Challenge
Due to long runs with no intermediate access, the engineer specified cellular concrete as the abandonment grout. Access to the site was across an active taxiway, so the fewest deliveries possible was very important. The minimum design requirements were:
- 28 day compressive strength minimum = 100psi
- maximum wet cast density = 35lb/cuft
The Solution
To address the need to limit the number of deliveries, CJGeo performed the culvert abandonment using CJFill-UL . CJFill-UL is batched onsite directly from bulk cement. By using bulk cement onsite, there were no concerns about hot loads of ready mix. A single semi was able to deliver all the raw material for the placement.
Each of the runs on this project is greater than 250LF. By using highly mobile grout, there are no questions about the pipes being filled completely. CJFill-UL is so mobile it will flow by gravity up to a few hundred feet. The material is always pumped. This allows for placement from either the high or low end of individual runs. Because the density of the material is very low, it takes very little additional pressure to place from the low end.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
Dumfries Pipe Abandonment
The Job
This utility relocation included abandonment grouting as part of a VDOT roadway reconstruction and realignment of US Route 1 in Dumfries, Virginia. This Dumfries pipe abandonment job is located in a rapidly growing town in Northern Virginia. US Route 1 is a major local traffic corridor, as well as a bailout route for I-95 congestion.
The Challenge
1,575LF of pipe, a combination of 54″ & 60″ needed to be completely filled with grout. Due to sequencing, the pipe was underneath new roadway at the time of abandonment. So, the fewer the number of access points, the better.
The Solution
CJGeo placed 995CY of 25lb/cuft CJFill-Ultra Lightweight cellular grout to completely fill the pipe run. The material was placed in a single day, from a single access point near the center of the pipe run.
To facilitate such a large placement in a single day on this Dumfries pipe abandonment job, CJGeo used dry batch generation. Dry batch generation mixed water with bulk cement onsite, using a mobile batch plant. CJGeo’s mobile batch plants are designed specifically to generate cellular concrete. They generate preformed foam at the same time as making the cement slurry. The preformed foam and cement slurry pass through an in line mixer, at up to 200CY/hour.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
Savannah Tunnel Abandonment
The Job
This Savannah tunnel abandonment job is part of the JW Marriott Plant Riverside conversion. It’s an adaptive reuse hotel project of a decommissioned power plant in Savannah, Georgia. As a thermal generation facility, there are extensive water tunnels below the structure. The cast in place tunnels are part of the piled foundation.
The Challenge
As part of the conversion from thermal power generation to luxury hotel, the tunnels posed a maintenance concern. Due to concerns about inducing settlement with traditional flowable fill, the designer specified EPS Geofoam blocks. These would have effectively eliminated loads, but were deemed impossible to install.
The Solution
Someone onsite had heard of cellular concrete, so reached out to CJGeo. CJGeo evaluated the layout of the tunnels, isolation methods from the river, and designed a mix which would ensure both complete filling of the structures without adding any additional load.
CJGeo placed approximately 930CY of 20lb/cuft CJFill-UL cellular concrete over a period of three days to complete the Savannah tunnel abandonment. Because CJFill-UL is highly mobile, demo debris from the access holes for building bulkheads was left in the tunnels, and encapsulated with the CJFill-UL.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
66″ Water Main Abandonment
The Job
This 66″ water main abandonment is part of the The Purple Line’s construction. The Purple Line is a light rail line project in suburban Maryland. It will increase connectivity within Maryland’s suburbs of Washington, DC. The project involves extensive utility relocation to facilitate installation of large embankments and the extensive infrastructure required for a double track rail corridor dropped into the middle of an already exceptionally congested/dense corridor.
The Challenge
As part of the project, a large MSE wall was built over approximately 3000LF of 66″ PCCP water main. To avoid any future maintenance problems under the rail alignment, a new line was installed adjacent to the embankment. The old line had to be abandoned and grout filled.
Due to construction sequencing, the embankment was built well before the water line relocation was performed.
The Solution
CJGeo worked with the utility relocation contractor to design a grout mix and grouting program that provided sufficient bearing capacity to eliminate concerns about future stability. The ultimate design for the mix was a 100psi cellular grout. Because the embankment was already in place, the entire 3000LF stretch could be grouted from just two access points.
CJGeo used a 200CY/hour dry mix batch plant onsite to generate and pump the cellular concrete up to 1500LF to place the material. This 66″ water main abandonment took four days to complete, and didn’t disrupt any of the adjacent construction activities.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
Garden State Parkway grouting
The Job
As part of ongoing large diameter culvert rehabilitations and replacements, four new bored stormwater crossings and the original culvert they replaced needed to be grouted. The tunnels ranged from 120″ down to 74″, for a total of 312CY, and the abandonment required 405CY.
The Challenge
Grout needed to meet the minimum strength requirements of the owner, and ideally needed to be light enough to facilitate single lift annular space grouting.
The Solution
CJGeo’s preconstruction team worked with the general contractor to design a grouting program which facilitated single lift abandonment of the original culvert, and single lift grouting of the four various annular space runs. CJGeo utilized onsite dry batching to generate 30lb/cuft CJFill cellular concrete.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
8″ Pipe Abandonment
The Job
As part of continuing waterline replacements, a utility contractor in Fort Washington, Maryland, needed to abandon 10,600LF of 8″ water main. The utility and DOT both require grouting of all utilities 6″ and larger taken out of service.
The Challenge
In order to minimize the number of placement points, the grout needed to be exceptionally mobile.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed a 30lb/cuft cellular grout, and worked with the client to design a grouting plan that would allow grouting all 10,600LF of pipe from just three access points. CJGeo performed the grouting over a period of two days, with no additional excavation required from the customer other than their original tie ins/disconnects.
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| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
24″ Water Main Abandonment
The Job
As part of a large transportation project, 2000 linear feet of 24″ water main needed to be relocated out of a highway right-of-way.
The Challenge
Due to phasing, the old water main was located under the existing roadway and could not be accessed, except for at one point near the center of the run. So, the abandonment grout had to meet VDOT’s minimum strength requirements for flowable fill, and be pumpable up to 1100LF at low pressure.
The Solution
CJGeo grouted each run of pipe using 30lb/cuft cellular concrete. Each placement took fewer than two hours, and required no additional traffic control, disruptions to other construction activities, or help from the utility contractor after they installed the bulkheads.
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Facing a similar challenge? Give us a shout or shoot us a text.
| Virginia to Maine | North Carolina to Florida | Everywhere Else |
| James Corbin | Andrew Taliaferro | Martha Moore |
| d: 804-442-7371 | d: 804-471-3061 | d: 804-404-2683 |
