Flash floods are becoming more frequent than ever before due to dramatic climate change and the effects of Global Warming. This has become a major concern worldwide, presenting very dangerous situations for cars and the people driving them in moments of unexpected torrential rainfall.
The layman does not realise that between 300mm and 500mm of rainfall is enough to float a car and could very easily damage the vehicle. Often the soil embankments and similar structures are designed and installed for a certain level of flooding, but these estimates are now being far exceeded with the recent and unexpected extent of rainfall.
Soil embankments are often eroded as a result of overloaded water passages, thereby exposing the boundary wall foundations and forcing these walls to settle or fail due to a lack of a stable soil foundation, as most insitu soils (local soils) have a low clay content which is easily washed away, becoming dislodged and suspended in the river.
This indication of imminent failure is often overlooked, as the symptoms are often hidden beneath flowing water. We are frequently called out to sites where soil erosion has led to the failure of a reinforced concrete boundary wall.
These walls are not flexible and any movement from the soil below leads to cracking of the foundation and subsequently the wall above, ultimately resulting in its eventual collapse.
The cost of damages as well as compromised security is often our clients primary concern in these instances. We have a range of soil stabilization solutions for these particular types of embankments using a combination of river mattress linings on their own or together with a gabion wall, providing lateral stability above the lining protection.
A strongly built gabion wall structure is flexible, permeable and stable enough to support the soil foundations, and protect the valuable property above and behind the boundary wall. This is a big part of our business and we have the experience and knowledge necessary to assist by providing engineered solutions used internationally over the last 100 years to address these problems.
Please see below some examples and illustrations of this type of soil erosion, and the stabilizing options offered by our team of experienced professionals.
Also kindly contact us should you need a site visit or explanations with regard to any of the above options. We do full site visits, civil engineering designs, supply of all necessary materials, e.g.; - gabion, river mattress, rock and geotextile.
Furthermore, we can also readily provide you with gabion tools, experienced site trainers, and contractors who can undertake the works.
We look forward to hearing from you and providing a solution to your current river embankment problem.
3D Renders of Final Outcome by Clinton Cheyne
Gabion Basket Process of Installation and Implementation
