Construction of the New AFAM Power Generation Project, Nigeria

The project is located in the AFAM area, Rivers State, Nigeria and it includes the construction of a new Power Generation Project. The project includes the construction of reinforced concrete bases supporting an appropriate number of Gas Turbine Generators. Due to the fairly high collapsibility potential of the loose silty/clayey sands comprising the subsoil in the area of the project, soil improvement by dynamic compaction (D.C.) was selected as an effective method for overcoming this problem.

Scheduling and evaluation of the results of a geotechnical investigation consisting of 8 exploratory boreholes and 3 trial pits. Design and evaluation of the performance of soil densification by the D.C. method in order to eliminate the collapsibility potential of the ground (max applied energy 300 tm/blow). SPTs were used prior and after D.C. in order to evaluate the achieved soil densification. In addition extensive ground vibration velocity measurements were carried out for various patterns and compaction energies in order to establish existing structure damage risk and effectiveness of vibration barriers (trenches).