Zero Excavation Inflow & Infiltration Restoration At the Naval Air Station in Pensacola after a High Water Event
Ever since the U.S. purchased Florida from Spain in 1821, the site where the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola currently stands has provided a base for military operations. In 1826, construction began on the Pensacola Navy Yard and it eventually became one of the “best-equipped naval stations” in the U.S. During this period, the Navy Yard was used for docking and repairing the warships of that period. When the Navy saw the advantages of aviation in combat, Pensacola became an aviation training station in 1914 and the station was built on the side of the old Navy Yard. In 2014, NAS Whiting Field celebrated 71 years in operation and is considered to be the “backbone of the Navy’s flight program” and is still one of the most important Navy bases in the U.S.
After a tropical storm hit Florida’s panhandle dumping more than 15 inches of rain in Escambia County, URETEK Holdings responded to an emergency call from Naval Facilities Engineering Command at NAS. Due to the loss of bearing soils migrating into the storm drain system, two manhole structures had settled and voids were forming under the right of way, creating surface depressions along the pavement’s shoulder.
At a pre-estimate meeting with NAVFAC, URETEK’s Project Manager, Tommy Russum, designed a plan for using URETEK’s™ Deep Injection® Process to fill the voids and densify weak base soils to prevent additional pavement and structure settlement.
URETEK’s crew entered the 60” storm drain to inject the geotechnical polymer at two different locations in order to encapsulate and seal the failed joints and stop further inflow and infiltration into the storm drain.
Injections were also made at four distinct elevations above the storm drain in order to void fill and compact loose soils to restore and increase bearing capacities.
The repair and rehabilitation of the storm drain system was completed in two days with minimal disruption to NAS.
