Containment Structures
Understanding Your Containment Structures
Many containment structures that we inspected are essentially useless, and many do not meet regulations leaving the owner in a risky position. Even some containment structures made out of concrete that look good on the out side are worthless for containing the liquids they were intended to hold because of cracks. In containment structures, the amount of cracking that is permitted in a standard structures or ordinary pavement may constitute a significant containment failure. As a result, alternative concrete design and construction standards which have been developed specifically for environmental concrete structures should be applied. These alternative standards are not included in typical engineering design curricula and, therefore, are widely unknown by most site design engineers. Building it right the first time will save you money over the long term.
Qualified Wilson Engineers
The principal engineers of Wilson are uniquely qualified to provide containment design engineering. These engineers have over 20 years of experience in:
- Industrial and petrochemical site development;
- Containment facility design;
- Geotechnical and structural design;
- Forensic investigations for failed containment structures;
- Wastewater and storm water collection, conveyance and treatment;
- Wastewater treatment plant design and operations; and
- Contaminated soil and sludge delineation, treatment and disposal.
A common misconception is that large, monolithic concrete pours which minimize the number of construction joints will result in improved containment integrity. In fact, studies of these large, monolithic pours have demonstrated a reduced containment integrity due to shrinkage cracking during the concrete cure and differential settlement after the concrete has cured. |
