NEWS 2017

Posted January 4, 2017 (Updated January 6, 2017)

Event: January 27, 2017

GSE: Dr. Xiaobo Wang, P.Eng., Thurber Engineering Ltd. - Geotechnical Investigation Design and Construction of ICE District Tower

Location: Faculty Club, University of Alberta (11435 Saskatchewan Drive)

Time: 11:30am Registration, 12:00pm Lunch, 12:30pm Presentation

Cost: $30 Members, $40 Non-Members, $10 Students
An additional $5 will be charged for payments made at the door.

View Dr. Wang's presentation (PDF)

As part of Edmonton ICE District development, three towers ranging from 40 to 66 storeys are being constructed on the south side of the Rogers Place arena. Geotechnical investigations for the tower development included drilling and coring of bore holes to more than 90 m in depth, in situ pressuremeter and seismic cone penetration testing, and laboratory testing to characterize the strength and stiffness of the overburden soils and underlying bedrock.

Based on the results of geotechnical investigations, piled raft foundations were chosen to support the two tallest towers. Osterberg cell (O-cell) load tests were undertaken on two fully instrumented prototype piles to validate and optimize the foundation design. Numerical simulations using PLAXIS and GROUP programs were undertaken to estimate tower foundation settlement and lateral deformation. Foundations of the two towers consist of two 3 to 3.5 m thick raft slabs and 144 drilled shafts, 1.5 m to 1.8 m in diameter and up to 75 m deep. During foundation construction, full-time geotechnical inspections were carried out. Quality assurance of the tremied concrete piles included crosshole sonic logging, impulse response testing, downhole camera inspections, and coring of selected piles to ensure the structural integrity of the piles.

This presentation provides an overview of the geotechnical investigations, foundation design and construction for the tower foundations.

Dr. Xiaobo Wang, P.Eng. is a Review Engineer and Associate with Thurber Engineering Ltd. Dr. Wang completed his B.Sc. in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology and M.Sc. in Engineering Geology in China between 1990 and 1997, and his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2008. He has over 20 years of geotechnical experience including ten years in Canada with Thurber. Dr. Wang has worked on a wide variety of geotechnical assignments involving transportation, infrastructure, municipal and industrial developments. His recent projects include the Walterdale Bridge Replacement, EPCOR Tower, and Valley Line LRT Development.