Geotechnical Engineering

Good Environmental Design

Wilson understands that a good environmental design begins from the ground up. As a result, geotechnical engineering makes up an important part of the experience base at Wilson. Our engineers have executed nearly every phase of a typical facilities project. We are skilled in:

• Site surveys and layouts;
  
• Site grading requirements;
  
• Subsurface investigations;
  
• Materials testing;
  
• Foundation design recommendations;
  
• Foundation and structural designs;
  
• Construction management; and
  
• Construction quality control (CQA/QC) plan development and implementation.

Wilson's Reliable Designs

Wilson staff have designed sheet pile walls, slurry walls, interceptor trenches, dikes, and other containment structures. We have utilized alternative containment designs such as high-density and low-density geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, and soil/bentonite liners.

We have also designed control buildings, piping, and processing systems (pumps, tanks, filters, etc.) to collect and treat run-off and leachate from both RCRA disposal facilities and industrial sites.

However, in containment structures, the amount of cracking permitted in standard structures or pavements may constitute a significant containment failure. As a result, alternative concrete design and construction standards which have been developed specifically for environmental concrete structures. These alternative standards are not included in typical engineering design curricula and, therefore, are widely unknown by most site design engineers.

Qualified and Skilled

The principal engineers of Wilson are uniquely qualified to provide containment design engineering. These engineers have over 10 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.