Project Profiles: University of Missouri – St. Louis Campus Additions and Improvements

City of St. Louis, Missouri

Project Manager

John S. Kottermann, P.E.

Since 1996, Shively has provided both geotechnical engineering consultation, and materials testing and observation/documentation services during construction for several landmark projects at the campus of the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL). These projects have included the new Millennium Center, Blanche Touhill Performing Arts Center, South Campus Residence Hall, two multi-level Parking Structures, the expansion of the Fine Arts building, and other miscellaneous construction.

The projects have generally consisted of multi-story concrete structures with heavy column loads (in excess of 1,000 kips in some cases). The heavy loads, in combination with relatively compressible post-glacial soil deposits, resulted in the need for drilled shaft foundations for most of the new facilities. In general, bedrock is within about 30 feet of the ground surface at the campus, so finding a bearing stratum for the drilled shafts was not problematic. However, the bedrock at the campus is unusual for the St. Louis area in that it consists of soft sandstone and siltstone instead of the more common limestone that underlies the region. Because of the high loads and the soft rock, shaft capacity is derived through a combination of end bearing and side-resistance. Sockets into the bedrock of up to 20 feet were necessary to achieve the required capacities and still maintain workable shaft diameters.

Design assumptions had to be verified in the field through observation of support conditions at each drilled shaft excavation. In addition to the drilled shaft materials testing, Shively provided earthwork, concrete, and asphalt testing during construction of several of these projects.

Project Contacts

Owner University of Missouri System

Contractor Various

Project Engineer  Various