Each geotechnical company bears the responsibility for safety and stability of its creations. Polbud-Pomorze not only keeps the highest standards regarding task performance but also moves one step ahead, searching for technological solutions that could contribute to prevention of natural disasters and protect people and their property from threats of flooding.
The usual procedure regarding floodbanks renovation in Poland is based on implementing different types of cut-off curtains in the dike’s body. Unfortunately, such action doesn’t prevent uncompacted floodbanks from their loss of stability in case of flood. Implementing different kinds of impermeable curtains additionally loosens the dikes’ soil structure which then can be easily torn down. Due to increasing danger of flooding, our company together with other firms and cooperating scientific institutions got involved in working on effective, complex solutions regarding renovation and reconstruction of floodbanks.
As a result, we’ve managed to come up with many effective technological solutions helping to prevent dikes from their loss of stability and absorptivity which are main reasons of dikes’ breaking.
Within the framework of our continuous activity against threats of flooding we’ve proposed three operation steps:
Step 1
Employment of microblasting technology for the purpose of proper soil improvement and covering existing caverns at the bottom and in the further, saturated parts of the floodbank.
Step 2
Employment of impulse compaction technology which enables proper density above the saturated area in the body of the floodbank.
Step 3
Sealing of the floodbank using special geosynthetic mats, cut-off curtains or proper mixture of ashes and refining materials.
Microblasting technology is one of the most effective ways to improve weak subsoil conditions under the main body of the floodbank - which was successfully proved by the test performed near Steblewo and Giemlice (Pomeranian district). This test was conducted with some scientific support and help of Geotechnics, Geology and Maritime Department (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdańsk University of Technology).
This method is very effective not only due to the rate of improving but it also offers reaching excellent subsoil stabilization parameters in controlled conditions of soil improvement. One should also emphasize that using this technology is perfectly safe on the assumption that it is performed by a skilled team of workers, with many years’ experience in the process of soil improvement using explosive materials. Another method – impulse compaction technology – was commonly used for densification of non-saturated floodbanks’ areas, e.g. in Austria.
After completing the floodbank’s body densification it is highly recommended to implement a cut-off curtains which kind is dependent on the dike’s parameters and the type of existing soil.
Thanks to employment of all above mentioned technologies floodbanks become stable and don’t absorb water which enables their protective function to last for many years without any failures, in condition of changing levels of water, even during extreme spates in the areas threatened by heavy downpours.
Advantages:
- complex approach towards floodbanks’ renovation which can guarantee the solution to the problem of breaking due to their absorptivity caused by the lack of densification,
- fast rate of performance, extremely important at heavy and sudden downpours, increasing recently,
- low costs of performance
