Cincinnati Cellular Grout Shaft Abandonment
The Job
A decommissioned thermal energy plant along the Ohio River in Cincinnati underwent adaptive reuse. A critical component of the site conversion involved the permanent filling of five large-diameter intake shafts. The shafts ranged from 15 to 65 feet in diameter. They extended to depths up to 80 feet. The total volume for inert fill reached 19,500 cubic yards.
CJGeo placing up to 1200CY/day of CJFill cellular grout.
The Challenge
The primary design concern centered on minimizing new loads from the fill material. Placing standard density flowable fill into the deep, large-volume intake shafts risked inducing detrimental settlement. The engineer of record specifically designed a load reducing fill program to mitigate this risk. Nuisance water infiltration followed the marine contractor’s installation of discharge line tremie plugs. This caused issues with grout lighter than water.
The Solution
CJGeo implemented the load reducing fill program utilizing 25 lb/cuft CJFill – Ultra Lightweight cellular grout. This specific material density reduced the imposed vertical load on the surrounding soil mass. The team achieved a production rate of up to 1,200 cubic yards per day. This rapid pace allowed them to complete the five structure abandonments. To address localized nuisance water infiltration, CJGeo switched to tremie placement of 70 lb/cuft CJFill-Under Water. This effectively sealed the water entry points near the marine contractor’s previous work. This two-phase grouting approach successfully abandoned the shafts while satisfying the stringent settlement criteria.
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