Foundation Repair at the Field Museum of Chicago

The Challenge

Poor fill materials caused structure to settle.

Located on Chicago’s iconic Lake Michigan shore, The Field Museum of Natural History is one of the largest premier natural history museums in the world. The building site for the museum was constructed using poor fill materials including rubble from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The low bearing strength of these sub-grade soils caused the structure to settle over time; some areas of the ground floor settled as much as two-thirds of an inch. Adding to the problem, a 6,075 square foot ground floor room called the Pacific Research Room required a specialty repair solution due to additional structural challenges. The room had crawl spaces below concrete slabs with groundwater in them from Lake Michigan, as well as heating tunnels and utility lines running the length of the room below the slab. Looking to repair the historic building, the museum enlisted the help of Cath Associates Engineering.

Key Facts

The Solution

Non-intrusive polymer injection repair solutions.

Cath Associates performed Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP)tests to confirm the areas of the floor that had the weakest soils. They determined that a fast, precise, and low-disruption repair method was needed to stabilize the flooring.

Groundworks was hired for its history of success in non-intrusive polymer injection repair solutions. The Polyurethane Injections process was utilized to fill the subterranean voids and compact/densify existing underlying supporting soils to the point of refusal.

The Impact

Repaired and stabilized the floor in only 3 days.

Groundworks’ technicians successfully repaired and stabilized the ground floor of the museum in only three days using the polyurethane injection process. The process consolidated the weak soil, filled voids, and increased the bearing capacity of the concrete slabs. The museum saved thousands of dollars in time and money by choosing Groundworks’ soil stabilization and foundation repair solution over other repair methods. Additionally, Groundworks was able to complete the job with zero interruption to the museum’s daily operations. Groundworks is honored to have been able to help The Field Museum of Chicago by restoring strength and stability to their beautiful and historic building.