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 Back to Projects
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Project:
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Ground Freezing in an 8-foot Diameter Tunnel
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Location:
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Client:
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Michels Pipeline Construction Company, Inc.
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Description:
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Construction of a 110-foot, 8-foot diameter tunnel was required to connect two shafts as a portion
of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewer District's (MMSD) deep tunnel project. The geotechnical report
indicated the presence of a high water content organic silt, encompassing the upper half of the
tunnel cross section.
Ground freezing was selected as a method to convert this soft, flowing material into a strong,
watertight structural member. This frozen strength was determined after the completion of several
frozen soil tests in Layne's Milwaukee Laboratory. A finite element heat transfer program was used
to determine the required freeze pipe spacing
The final pipe configuration consisted of three individual rows; two deep rows along the outer edge
of the tunnel extending into a hard clay formation, and third row along the centerline of the tunnel,
terminating approximately 1.5 feet above the crown of the tunnel. Freezing for this project was
completed in approximately three weeks using a single trailer-mounted electric refrigeration unit.
Due to the length of this tunnel and the short freezing time, the ground freezing method was
considerably less expensive than mobilizing a closed faced tunnel boring machine and much more
practical than driving steel sheeting and performing an open cut excavation.
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