SME is the Geotechnical Engineer of Record and the Earth Retention Designer for the U-M Health Clinical Inpatient Tower project.

Subsurface exploration for the U-M Health Clinical Inpatient Tower included sonic drilling to advance the borings through the cobble-infested subgrade and the clay hardpan soils. The continuous and relatively large soil samples collected from this method of drilling were valuable in classifying subsurface conditions that typically would not be known from the information obtained by conventional split spoon sampling.

SME designed approximately ¼ mile (in length) of earth retaining walls that were up to 50 feet tall. SME also designed micropiles and other deep foundation elements to support the nearby existing structures that would have otherwise been undermined as a result of the new construction. In addition, SME continuously monitored the existing structures for movement using high-precision robotic instrumentation with accuracy to the nearest 1/64 of an inch. The monitoring could readily track ambient building movement (due to changes in temperature and humidity) absent of construction activity. This ‘early-warning detection system’ for building movement was critical while construction workers removed and replaced a column foundation for an existing building that remained occupied with medical staff and patients.

SME also performed the Construction Materials Services (CMS) for this project. After completing the building foundations, perimeter earth retention, and basement excavation, the building began going vertical. During the ongoing CMS phase, SME provided shoring design services to support existing tunnels exposed to significant construction surcharge loads (e.g. crane traffic). Furthermore, we monitored construction vibrations as minute as 1×10-6 in/sec to assist in our professional evaluation of the potential effects construction activity may have on a variety of highly sensitive conditions, such as artifacts in museums to ongoing university laboratory experiments with live animals.

SME’s engineers and CMS staff have multiple credentials in construction testing and quality control/assurance services and can provide a variety of construction testing services to meet the demands of a large-scale, high profile project. For example, this experience is invaluable when effective, practical decisions need to be made at a moment’s notice while working in conditions 100 feet below the existing ground surface.