Ingios Geotechnics

Lessons Learned from Implementing Advanced Compaction Monitoring at CCR Landfills Storage Facilities

Project Name: Lessons Learned from Implementing Advanced Compaction Monitoring at CCR Landfills Storage Facilities

Project Date: 2015-Current

Location: TN and KY

Partners: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Customer Group(s) (highlight):

  • Public Agencies (Pavement System Owners): FHWA, State DOTs, Tollway Authorities, TVA

  • Ash Handling Contractor

Ingios Engineers Involved: Bruce Cunningham, Craig Swanson, Pavana Vennapusa, David White, Heath Gieselman

Tech briefs:

Automated Plate Load Test

Modulus Verification Mapping Using COMP-Score® RT

Papers (publicly available online via WOCA):

  • White, D.J., Vennapusa, P. Hageman, E., Hill, J., McClung, N. (2019). “Lessons Learned from Implementing Advanced Compaction Monitoring at TVA’s CCR Landfills,” 2019 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, May 13-17, St. Louis, MO. Click to Read
  • White, D.J., Vennapusa, P. FitzPatrick, B., Hageman, E., Hill, J., and McClung, N. (2019). "In Situ Compaction Characterization of Dry Stacked Coal Combustion Residues," GeoCongress 2019 - 8th Intl. Conf. on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, March 24-27, Philadelphia, PA. Click to Read
  • White, D.J., Vennapusa, P. Robbins, B., Hill, J., McClung, N., and VanNimwegen, J. (2019). “Intelligent Testing Analytics and Validated Compaction Monitoring for Gypsum Landfill,” 2019 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, May 13-17, St. Louis, MO. Click to Read
  • White, D.J., Vennapusa, P., Hageman, E., Christopher, B., McClung, N.(2015). “Effects of Micromorphology and Chemical Composition on Densification of CCPs,” 2015 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, May 5-7, Nashville, TN. Click to Read
  • White, D.J., Vennapusa, P., Hageman, E., Christopher, B., McClung, N., Sanchez, R. (2015). “Assessment of New QC/QA Compaction Monitoring Program at TVA’s Coal Combustion Product Stacking Facilities: A Case Study,” 2015 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, May 5-7, Nashville, TN. Click to Read
  • Christopher, B.R., White, D.J., Sanchez, R.L. (2013). “Proposed Compaction QC/QA Specifications for TVA’s CCP Stacking Facilities: Part 1. Evaluation of Performance Requirements,” 2013 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, April 22-25, Lexington, KY. Click to Read
  • White, D.J., Christopher, B.R., Sanchez, R.L. (2013). “Performance Based QC/QA Specifications for TVA’s CCP Stacking Facilities: Part II. Proposed Specifications,” 2013 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference, April 22-25, Lexington, KY. Click to Read

Detailed Project Summaries:

COMP-Score® RT mapping for Coal Combustion Residuals Landfill Storage

Compaction Optimization Testing and Analysis for Coal Combustion Residuals Landfill Storage

Challenge: After the dredge cell failure at the Kingston power generating facility in 2008, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) implemented significant advancements to manage engineering assessments and improve construction processes of its coal combustion residuals (CCR) landfill storage facilities. TVA identified improvement opportunities compared to traditional geotechnical QC/QA processes and began investigating new assessment techniques that focused on developing improved specifications for construction of CCR facilities.

Solution:

  • Ingios® supported TVA’s engineering and quality initiatives in addressing challenges with a multi-faceted solution of services, training, and technology.

  • Ingios designed and deployed a comprehensive monitoring program using compaction quality mapping integrated with a web application for engineering analysis and documentation.  The program’s success has led to extending the COMP-Score® RT (CRT) and COMP-Score CONNECT (CSC) solutions to five sites. Between 2015-2020, an estimated 2M yd3 of CCR materials have been placed, compacted, and documented using the new monitoring program. Ingios has trained 30+ operators to provide certified CRT operator status. With the CSC dashboard tool, the data upload process to delivering e-compaction report development requires about 2 minutes. The e-compaction report includes data analytics/statistical summaries and audit-ready plots of color-coded geospatial maps.

Benefits: The new monitoring program advances TVA’s goals of improving field process control, reducing risk of placing low compaction quality for CCR, and improving cost to rate payers by improving construction efficiencies.

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