Unstable soil could be affecting the accuracy of your truck weigh station
This May, spring rains caused significant amount of subsurface erosion at a Calgary truck weigh station. This erosion weakened the soil that supported the weigh station. With heavy trucks sitting on the weigh scale day after day, the concrete piles under the scale began to shift and sink in the unstable ground.
Calgary-based contractors Concrete Specialists were called into action with Martech and Prime Resins to fix the unstable weigh scale and stop it from sinking into the ground.
Soil stabilization diagram: 1) Surface water infiltrating the soil and eroding away supporting material from below weigh station’s concrete piles. 2) Prime Resins “Prime Flex 920” grout injected 24” below the base of the pile. 3) Grout expands and fills underground voids then hardens with the soil to form a new base for the concrete pile. The foam-fortified soil reestablishes the necessary frictional forces around the pile for long-term stabilization.
Methods: how to fix sinking weigh station sinking in unstable ground
- Place a 14′ soil probe down next to each of the pillars that support the weigh scale (14′ deep, 2′ below the 12′ pillar)
- Inject the grout resin (Prime Flex 920)
- Resin expands and hardens underground.
- Do this for all eight pillars, injecting a total of 200 gallons (about 25 gallons for each).
- Soil is now stable, the concrete pillars will no longer further sink or shift.
- Now the weigh scale is being monitored to ensure success. We are following up with the client every three months.
Soil stabilization contractors using 14" long soil probe to inject Prime Resins "Prime Flex 920" grout into the ground and create permanent solid base for the weigh scale pillars.
After the Prime Flex 920 grout is injected, the resin fills subsurface voids, expands and hardens with the soil to become a solid foam block underground that supports the weigh scale pillars.