Kenall provided geotechnical engineering services to evaluate the impact on existing energy pipelines after the construction of proposed USACE levees at three locations in the Gulf of Mexico waters near Atkinson Island. Water was about 8 ft deep at the three sites, the mudline elevation was approximately -5 ft to -8 ft Mean Low Tide (MLT), and the pipelines were located about 9 feet below existing mudline.

Our geotechnical investigation consisted of performing floating barge-mounted geotechnical core drilling and soil sampling, and laboratory testing. We delivered geotechnical engineering analyses, including soil-pipe interaction analyses using finite element numerical methods (FEM) to assess the effect of the induced stresses from the proposed levees on the existing steel pipelines.