Summery
The terminal was built on the site of previously existing grain elevators so the developers thought the ground would be well compacted from the previous use and failed to do proper site preparation prior to pouring the concrete pads.
• The site consists of 16 tanks, 46 feet high by 16 feet in diameter sitting on 2 foot thick pads
• Each tank weighs 18000 pounds empty and 22000 tons loaded.
In the summer 2014 one of the pads cracked and sagged in between two of the tanks causing the tops of the tanks to come together.
Problem
Liftech Concrete Leveling Inc. was contracted to lift this pad. With the tanks empty, we drilled a pattern of 5/8" holes starting on either side of the low point in the slab and worked out to the edges of the slab. Using HMI's 401 Polyurethane Foam Liftech was able to lift and stabilize the slab and 2 tanks. In the summer of 2015 Liftech again was contracted to repair problems with three more tanks shifting on a different pad. In 2016 a rise in the water table prompted another call to say that the only tank pads not moving were the pads that Liftech had previously stabilized. Liftech was contracted to inject our product under the remaining tank pads to stabilize them.
Solution
Liftech Concrete Leveling was able to lift, stabilize and support the tanks, saving the builder of the terminal hundreds of thousands of dollars, with no downtime. As of the fall of 2018 there has been no further shifting. The 401 Polyurethane was not only capable of lifting the concrete and tanks, but has also been able to support the additional 22,000 tons of load when the tanks were filled. A total of 5,156 pounds of foam was used to complete the project over a 3 year period.
