Geotechnical Perspective

on Permitting in the
Vicinity of the Mississippi
River
Mark Woodward, PE
Levee Safety Program Manager
Deputy Chief, Geotechnical Branch
USACE – New Orleans
Geotechnical Branch reviewed over
500 permits from 2/16 to 2/17
• I will go over what we look for during our
review
• Probable Failure Modes
• Subsurface exploration - 1807
• Horizontal Directional Drilling
• Seismic
 Probable Failure Modes

•Stability
•Seepage
•Settlement
•Erosion
Stability
•Loads on Levee or batture
•Loads near Floodwalls
•Excavation in Levees, near
levees/ Floodwalls, in river
(dredging)
Loads on Levee and Batture
•Footings
•Heavy Hauls
•Stock Piles
•Construction Equipment, Pile Drivers,
Cranes, etc.
•Fill over pipeline crossings
Footing failure – What we are trying
to avoid
Punching shear
Footing on Slopes
Vesic and
Meyerhof
also provide
reductions
for Footing
on Slopes.
Loads on Batture/Top of bank
Loads against Floodwalls can cause settlement and
stress to Floodwall as well as hamper access and
inspection.
Excavations near Levee and
Floodwalls
 Seepage
Piles and other inclusions
near levee toe need to
have seepage analysis
performed

Excavations will be limited

by riverstage based upon
seepage analysis. No
excavations can be open
while river is above EL. 15
at Carrollton.
Parallel Pipelines – Create seepage problems by allowing anomalies to
effect entire run of pipe
Settlement
• Providing Local and Global Stability allows; applicant
needs to include overbuild such that added fill does
not cause pipeline to settle into design Levee Section.
• Also need to insure that long term dewatering
systems or water wells do not cause levee to settle.
• Footing settlement needs to be check to ensure that
they do not settle into Levee Design Section.
Erosion
• Mississippi River Levees with less than 400 feet of tree
screen or armored with 4 inch unreinforced slope paving.
• For Pipelines downstream of New Orleans it is
recommended that crossings be armored
• Overhead pipelines need to provide concrete paving to
prevent erosion from drip line.
• Work on levee proper and within 10 feet of toes needs to
be complete prior to riverstage reaching El. 11 at
Carrollton.
Approval comes from MVN and the Risk
Management Center located in Denver,
Colorado.
Jkadjsfsd

•Fluid pressure due to mud weight

and frictional pressure exceed
limiting pressure
Down hole Pressure
• Made up of 2 components: Fluid Pressure
and Frictional Pressure
• Fluid Pressure is function of Mud weight
and depth
• Frictional Pressure is function of Pump rate,
viscosity, Yield Point of mud, and length
Pressure Monitoring Data
F O S A g a in s t H y d ra u lic F ra c t

Factor of Safety Vs. Depth

Clay

2.2

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280

Depth (FT)
• Acting as a third-party engineer for Chevron, Geo-Engineers provided Annular
Pressure Curve data based on representative soils and proposed drill geometry,
which are just a few variables used for estimating hydraulic fracture potential.
With this data, Geo-Engineers recommended that downhole mud pressure be
limited to 92.7 psi …
• Armed with this information, Michels developed and presented a
comprehensive drill plan that reflected many innovative mitigative measures to
reduce annular pressure. While this consisted of many specialised tactics, one
particular method involved performing a pilot hole intersect just beyond the 700
foot long critical levee monitoring zone to reduce downhole pressures. Annular
Pressure Monitoring was also conducted through this zone during both pilot
hole drilling and reaming operations, and the depth of cover beneath the levee
was also maximized to minimize fracture potential. The established target
intersect zone was 1,800 to 2,200 feet from the levee side entry point.

Source: Trenchless International March

Consequences of going too shallow
Seismic Work, Blasting, Heavy
Demolition, Pile Driving
• Vibration monitoring will be required. Limited to peak
particle velocities of 0.25 inches/sec for structures to
include Floodwalls and 2 inches/sec for earthen
embankments.
• Seismic Work should have test section far removed from
MRL to determine area of influence for proposed charges
• Air Guns/Hammers can be considered for use in the river.
Air Hammer
Thank you!
•Happy Permitting