Curtain Drains

Details

• Creators:
  Hunt, Thomas R.
• Corporate Creators:
  Colorado. Department of Transportation
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Filter fabric
  • Slope stability
  • Groundwater
  • Building
  • Clay soils
  • Construction safety
  • Crib walls
  • Subsurface drainage
  • Traffic mitigation
  • Water table
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CDOT-DTD-R-93-12
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Colorado
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado. Department of Transportation
• Description:
  Geocomposite curtain drains were installed in a slope in the right of way above S.H. 550 north of Durango, Colorado to mitigate subsurface drainage and slope stability problems. The installation to the required depth of 12 feet was very difficult because of moisture in the trench and collapsing trench walls. A "crib box" was used for worker safety, but this hindered the proper installation. Most of the panels were installed in a partially collapsed position with the top of the panels buried about four feet deeper than planned. This affected the performance of the system. The water table was lowered locally by about two feet, but groundwater still came to the surface further down the hill. Only small to moderate flows came from the curtain drain system. This was presumably due to the collapsed panels and the dense clayey soil. There were no slope stability problems during the five and a half years of evaluation, although there was slight swelling in one or two places on the slope. The effectiveness of the system, based on flows and groundwater measurements, did not appear to decrease significantly over time. Excavation of a portion of the curtain drain revealed that the material was in good condition and the fabric was not clogged.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  HPR-B
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/93797/dot_93797_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 9.16 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f18badd40c4900fa7fbbc4036879a904a054694a77f5feb55edfd81848cdbfb37493d30e24287b0546d5938b7eeade90c05c1ce92b5dd54fed5c2984898ce117