By excavating a slurry-trench panel 100 meters deeper than ever before, an Italian contractor hopes to grab a bigger share of the market for repairing leaking dam foundations. Trevi S.p.A. engineers claim the 250-m-deep trial wall, recently excavated near the company's Cesena, Italy, headquarters, sets the stage for the potential increased use of deep remedial cutoffs at troubled reservoirs.
Trevi's aim for the trial on its new Soilmec Tiger SC-200 Hydromill is "to push the limits of this technology," explains Maurizio Siepi, who manages the firm's technology department. The difference between the hydromill and a standard machine, he adds, is the "difference between Formula One cars and the cars that you find at car dealers."