Residual soil characterization for a power plant

From 1988 to 1995, the Clover Consortium designed and built the Clover Power Station in the Piedmont Region of south central Virginia. Ground conditions at the site consisted of a variable residual profile, which included an upper soil zone, saprolite, weathered rock, and underlying bedrock. The Clover Consortium's design required characterization of the residual soils and weathered rock for temporary excavation, dewatering, foundation, and earthwork design. Precedent, combined with an extensive geotechnical investigation, was used to characterize the ground conditions. Triaxial testing was used to characterize the strength parameters for temporary excavation design. A groundwater pump test was used to characterize permeability for dewatering design. Numerous methods, both laboratory and in situ testing, were used to characterize the deformation characteristics of the soils. Pressuremeter testing results were compared with standard penetration testing (SPT) results to develop an SPT-Deformation Modulus correlation.