Lim Tower Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Owner: Project: Engineer: Main Contractor: Foundation Contractor: Specialist for Repair Works Scope of Works:

Mai Thanh Services Co., Ltd Lim Tower Project Casa Vietnam (Architectural) / Phu My PMDC (Structural) Coteccons Local Foundation Contractor BAUER Vietnam Limited Analyse D-Wall Situation, Repair to Reduce Water Leakage and Low-pressure Grouting outside of D-Wall VND 3,457,000,000 May 2011 July 2011 Drill Rig Casagrande C6, Equipment for Chemical and Cement Grouting Works

Contract Value: Construction Period: Main Equipment:

BAUER Asia Pacific Network

APN_BVN_2011/161

Lim Tower Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

PURPOSE OF WORKS Mai Thanh Service Co is building a new multi storey office and commercial tower, the Lim Tower. The project includes a 4 basement carparkk. A local company constructed the Diaphragm Wall forming the permanent basement wall. When the excavation reached approximately 12m depth a water infiltration through a defect diaphragm wall panel occurred, followed by infiltration of sands and finally resulting in the collaps of an adjacent building. The exposed diaphragm wall shows defects and quality problems which had been ignored so far. The diaphragm wall inspection confirms serious problems at the joints and the concrete quality. Some locations have water infiltration and need immediate treatment. SOIL / ROCK CONDITION The soil at the project location consists of sandy clays and clayey sands in various layers which is typical in Ho Chi Minh City. CONSTRUCTION WORKS & SPECIAL FEATURES Immediate treatment of water leaking and infiltration of sands is carried out using cement and chemical grouting technique after securing the locations with sand bags. Emergency Repairs to prevent collapse We were approached by the Main Contractor responsible for the structural works and offered our services for emergency assistance at the time of the collapse and finally were awarded the repair works by the Client. CONCEPT AND DESIGN The design considers the Diaphragm Wall to be retained by steel strutting. On the day of the collapse, the excavation is close to final level and the last layer of steel strutting is being installed. After a full assessment of all joints and panels, the adecuate repair solution is proposed for each type of defect. Basically, the joints with leakages and infiltrations shall be treated from the inside of the excavation pit in two steps. First, the leakage shall be covered by steel plates fixed to the surface of the diaphragm Wall. In a second step, additional grouting works will seal of the defect.

In order to repair the the main collapse, a full grout curtain was designed outside of the excavation pit. Low-pressure grouting was applied with two lines of grout columns to stabilize and seal of the panel. Once repaired from the outside, sandbags were removed and the panel repaired from the inside by steel plates allowing the Client to reach final excavation without additional leakages or infiltrations.
BAUER Asia Pacific Network APN_BVN_2011/161