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Wick drains

cuttin edge

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,720
Location
NB Canada
Occupation
Finish grader operator
Something I've never seen discussed on here are wick drains. I have only seen them installed once in my life. The company had to come from Alberta, pretty much on the other side of the country to install them. Anyone installed or worked around them before?
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,333
Location
North Dakota
Had to look this up. Interesting concept, but looks EXPENSIVE. Wondering if it's faster than a bunch of dewatering wells.
 

cuttin edge

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,720
Location
NB Canada
Occupation
Finish grader operator
Not sure if there are videos of it or not. We built the approaches for an overpass on wet clay ground. The ground was cleared and leveled. 2 feet of sand was spread. They brought the rig, and we supplied a 550 Hitachi. The rig was fitted to the excavator. Seems to me it was an 80 foot mast. It was positioned at predetermined points, a roll of firehose like material was loaded onto the rig. Then what I can only describe as the world's largest nail gun, drove a rectangular tube with the end of that hose on the end of it down about 65 or 70 feet in about 15 seconds. Pulls the tube back up leaving the hose down. The remaining hose was left on the ground, and on to the next spot. Another couple feet of sand, covered with geotec fabric, then bring the approaches to grade, 25 feet or so, plus an extra 10 or 15 feet of over burden. Leave for one year, or until it stops settling. Excavate the over burden and build road and overpass as normal. It actually settled around 5 or 6 feet. The hose wicks the water up and out through the sand as it settled
 
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