In order to safely use these
helical
anchors for small wind turbine foundations, design parameters must be
obtained
from an extensive field testing program.
The helical anchors in this study will be tested in high plasticity
clays with varying ground water conditions under normal and extreme
wind
turbine operating conditions (vibrations).
It is the objective of the project to 1) validate and further establish
the correlation of installation torque to anchor uplift capacity, 2)
determine
the influence of ground water fluctuations on the measured capacity of
helical
anchors in expansive clays, 3) determine the influence of vibrations
from wind
turbines on the short and long-term reliability of helical anchors in
high
plasticity clays, and 4) develop a
design procedure that incorporates the influence of water table,
vibration
intensity and measured soil strength parameters in predicting the
capacity of
helical anchors for use in guyed cable tower foundations.
Problem Statement: To
optimize and validate Oklahoma Department of Transportation Materials
Division’s
recommended Standard OHD L-50 entitled, “Soil Stabilization Mix Design
Procedure.”
Due to the
prevalence of fine grained soils in
Oklahoma Department of
Transportation (ODOT) Project:
Evaluation and Field Verification of
Strength and Structural Improvement of Chemically Stabilized Subgrade
Soil
PI: Don Snethen (OSU)
co-PI's Jerry Miller (OU), Amy Cerato (OU)

Lime
and other calcium-based stabilizers
are added to soils in order to reduce their plasticity, increase their
shear
strength, reduce their compressibility, and reduce their tendency to
undergo
volume change when subjected to variations in water content. In simple
terms,
additives like lime render highly plastic expansive soils non-plastic
and
non-expansive. However, when a soil stabilizer such as lime is added to
soil
containing soluble sulfate the resulting reactions can have the
opposite effect
and actually make the volume change tendencies much more devastating.
An
example of such devastation was realized on a recently constructed
Soils and shales containing
gypsum are
common in