As part of the construction of a new lock system on the Tennessee River, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has designed a large temporary coffer system, which allowed A. H. Beck to work approximately 50 feet below the adjacent river elevation. A. H. Beck worked with Heeter Geotechnical Construction to excavate 45 shafts, measuring 8 feet in diameter, into the rock that will then be used as large anchor blocks for a tie-back system for the permanent lock walls. The drilling equipment was hoisted into the excavation for work, and A. H. Beck used a combination of down-the-hole hammers and conventional rock tools for the shaft construction.

To widen and deepen the flood channel, new soldier pier retaining walls were constructed to protect the existing bridge abutments.A total of 67-50” diameter soldier piers 50’-0” deep were constructed under 13’-0” of overhead clearance. Each soldier pier had 24-#18 vertical full length reinforcing bars that had to be spliced together in sections as each went into the shaft. To protect the existing abutment, full length temporary segmental casing was oscillated in place as the shafts were constructed.

A. H. Beck Foundation Company worked with Environmental Management Services to provide design input and construction of a soil bentonite cutoff wall. The 2,200 linear feet of cutoff wall was 3 feet thick and ranged in depth from 25 to 42 feet. The cutoff wall trench was excavated using a hydraulic excavator utilizing bentonite slurry to maintain sidewall stability in the trench prior to placing the engineered soil bentonite backfill.

Charles Lowman Power Plant • Limited Access Micro Piling Project The project was confined to the alley way of Charles R. Lowman Power Plant in Leroy, Alabama. The SCR and ductwork foundations were a part of the coal fired plant’s air quality control additions. Due to settlement concerns of the existing adjacent booster fan foundations the micropiles needed to be installed with minimal vibration. In order to maintain the integrity of the existing foundations 100 LF of permanent casing was installed in each of the 32 piles down to the limestone formation at elevation –65.00.

A. H. Beck Foundation Company worked with CCC Group near Aransas Pass, TX to construct a cutoff wall underneath an existing graving dock at Gulf Marine Fabricator’s facility. 103 – 40” diameter secant piles with a 7” overlap were installed as deep as 51 feet from the basin floor. The basin floor’s elevation was 35 feet below sea level, and approximately 47 feet below the surface of the relieving platform. Sectional casings were utilized during the installation of the piles through a porous hash material to impede water flow beneath the graving dock gate. A. H. Beck’s ability to perform, even when confronted with unexpected obstacles, was exhibited when areas that required drilling through existing concrete and grout installed by previous contractors’ attempts to impede the water flow through the porous hash material. Despite these challenges along with a tight schedule, A. H. Beck Foundation Company completed job on schedule and with zero safety incidents.

The project consisted of 1880 drilled shafts 18” – 42” diameters, up to 90 feet deep with some bells 90” - all for the new home of the San Antonio Spurs. The project also included 145 — 24” soldier piers, some 38’ deep for a system designed to protect the existing Freeman Coliseum and drilled a tunnel connecting the two structures. A. H. Beck performed layout, drilled shaft excavation, and spoil removal - all turnkey.

The 2006 Katrina Supplemental Community Development Block Grant Project at the Gulfship, LLC ship building facility in Gulfport Mississippi consisted of 514 – 72” diameter cement soil mix columns to support a new ship launching facility. Due to stiff clays in the upper portions of the soils A. H. Beck elected to utilize the TCM method of installing the cement soil columns.

The job consisted of drilling 74 drill shafts behind an existing damaged historical wall. The fortifications of Old San Juan represent a highly significant cultural and historic landmark to Puerto Rico. The National Park Service is charged with the preservation and maintenance of this historical landmark. The NPS issued a permit to PR DTOP to reinforce the damaged wall, which would later be reconstructed in the same manner it was originally constructed more than 300 years ago.

The project required 32 drilled shafts, 4 foot in diameter, from 130 to 168 feet deep to repair the 40 year old failing bridge over the Christina River which carries about 90,000 vehicles a day. All drilled shafts were fully cased and excavated to bedrock underneath the existing bridge, which at the time was closed to traffic, with only 50 foot of head room clearance.

During construction of a 5 mile elevated section of the Leroy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, it was discovered (through no fault of AHB) that the installed drilled shaft foundations had insufficient capacity to carry construction loads. This deficiency was not discovered until approximately half of the segmental bridge was constructed and a failure occurred at the leading edge of construction. A geotechnical investigation determined 27 of the constructed bents needed remediation. 2-48” diameter sister shafts with depths of up to 90’ where installed at each deficient bent.

The Harbor Wind Project consisted of six United Power 1.5MW wind turbines with a hub height of 80m located on the shores of Nueces Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas. The turbines were supported by 8 - 48” drilled shafts that were 95 ft., with the exception of the Turbine No. 5. During the drilled shaft construction the foundations for Turbine No. 5 were redesigned to 8 – 48” shafts with an overall length of 115 feet. The unstable subsurface conditions, extremely high water table and close proximity provided a challenging project. A.H. Beck installed the foundations using the slurry displaced method in conjunction with temporary casing.

The project was located on the banks of the Tombigbee River in Leroy, Alabama in the Charles R. Lowman Power Plant. The “Pinning System Project” consisted of one hundred 54-inch diameter cased drill shafts, averaging 112 feet in length. The drill shafts were installed to stop the slope failure occurring at the banks of the Tombigbee River. A. H. Beck (in conjunction with Jordan Pile Driving of Mobile, Alabama) designed and installed a system of trestle work bridges and long reach drilling equipment to construct the pinning shafts in the required location.