The US Army Corps of Engineers has been continuously doing significant work on the Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) based on dam modification studies indicating various failure modes, many of which could be catastrophic. In the highest inundation zones, with the probable loss of life in the event of a failure, cutoff walls have been constructed and continue to be in the Government’s work program. The Corps has made significant investments to HHD, over $500 million has been spent since 2007. This includes this project where H2R, as Williams Earth Sciences at the start of this project, supported construction on one of three cutoff wall sections of the 22 miles segment between Belle Glade and Port Mayaca. Bauer Foundation Corp was one of three specialty contractors selected, and H2R provided a variety of critical quality control services.

H2R, as a subcontractor to Bauer Foundation, the prime contractor, provided the full range of QC services including cutoff wall logging, field sampling and laboratory testing of the excavated soils and the soil-cement mix, Verification Borings, and performed Borehole Logging for wall acceptance. H2R’s expertise in delivering cores high recovery and RQD were critical to the team’s success. H2R also prepared various submittals to the government, such as the Drilling Plan and Sampling and Analysis Plan.

For this contract, our firm obtained COE validation of our Pompano, Florida laboratory to start the mix design studies. During construction, an additional laboratory was constructed near the project site, also COE certified, in Belle Glade, FL. Tests performed in the laboratory generally consist of grain-size, permeability through 35 flexible wall permeameters, and unconfined compression tests. All results were posted on-line daily for Bauer and COE review through H2R’s proprietary web-based laboratory data management portal.

Williams Earth Sciences, now known as H2R Corp, as a subcontractor to Bauer Foundation, the prime contractor, was contracted to provide the full range of QC services including cutoff wall logging, field sampling and laboratory testing of the excavated soils and the soil-cement mix and the Verification Borings, with Borehole Logger for acceptance of the wall.