Photo Credit: Alex Mead
Seen here is the failure of an auger cast pile wall. This type of wall is designed to be a watertight retaining structure for the construction of an underground project. Although it is hard to tell from this photo, the wall appears to have failed due to weak concrete in the piles. One pile broke and released the material it was suppose to keep out of the excavation. This failure formed the mound of dirt seen in the photograph and a “sink hole” approximately 20 ft by 10 ft by 30 ft deep behind the green fence screen. This is what a bad day looks like for a geotechnical engineer.