Slurry Wall Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Slurry Wall - Essay Example They provided a low permeability obstacle to contaminant transport. The first slurry wall was built in Italy. Icos built the wall in Italy by using bentonite slurry support as the cut off wall. He went on to construct the first slurry wall for the Milan Metro. In mid 1960s, European contractors introduced the slurry walls in the United States. It was first used in the World Trade Center found in New York, the Bank of California found in San Francisco and the CAN building found in Chicago. Many projects of the slurry wall in the United States are found in Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, New York and Boston. Slurry walls are used extensively in the Central Artery/Tunnel project. This project involved many cover and cut tunnels built under the prevailing artery. The technology behind slurry wall centers on specific equipment used to excavate slurry trenches. The mechanical clamshell is the simplest kind of trenching equipment and is put on a Kelly bar. Different contractors have developed particular equipment such as hydromills, hydraulic clamshells or fraise (Mulligan, Yong & Gibbs, 2001). These walls are used in retaining foundations of the wall and retaining control of the wall water. Additionally, they are used as long-lasting basement walls in top down construction method, used as earth retention walls for tunnels, excavations and basements. They are also used in vertical foundation elements with high capacity (Opdyke & Evans, 2005). They are used as cut off curtains, gas barriers in areas with landfills, seepage control, and contaminated groundwater. Moreover, the diaphragms are used in seepage and water control for deep excavations. The construction cost of slurry wall for cut off barriers is much cheaper than construction of diaphragm wall for deep excavations. The alterations arise mostly from the differences in the construction methods. In diaphragm walls, the perimeter of the wall is made panel by