Design, installation and performance of containment system at a petroleum-release site

A sealed sheet pile barrier was designed and installed, coupled with a hydraulic system for groundwater lev-el control, to contain the migration of contaminants from a petroleum-release site in Italy. The environmen-tal data regarding the nature, concentration and distribution of contaminants have been integrated with a comprehensive geotechnical investigation campaign designed and carried out to define the physical and me-chanical properties of a heterogeneous subsoil deposit. Such a thorough investigation was essential for as-sessing the feasibility of sheet piles installation and to investigate the possibility of creating a vertical cut-off wall driven into a low-permeability clayey soil layer. The barrier was installed in problematic conditions due to the presence of superficial coarse grain soil layers, the large number of above and underground ser-vices, and the proximity to a riverbed slope. Performance pumping tests and chemical analyses on water samples are demonstrating the effectiveness of these systems in containing contaminants migration