peat soils, it was roughly 40 ft long,

12 ft wide, and 6 ft tall and resembled a

twelve-foot-wide slice you might take
out of a levee, says Scott Brandenberg,
Ph.D., A.M.ASCE, an associate professor
of civil and environmental engineering
at UCLA and also a member of the re-
search team.
To facilitate seismic testing, a stur-
dy timber frame was embedded in the
topmost 3 ft of the levee. An eccen-
tric mass shaker from the facilities at
UCLA used in the George E. Brown, Jr.
Network for Earthquake Engineering
Simulation was bolted to the frame.
The shaker uses two counterrotating
masses to cause acceleration. Instru-
mentation was included as part of the
test levee to enable the researchers to
evaluate the mechanisms of deforma-
tion during the procedure. To this end,
accelerometers were inserted into the
embankment and in the peat beneath
it to measure ground motion. Piezom-
eters were included to measure pore
pressure, and slope inclinometers and
settlement markers were used to evalu-
ate deformation.
Conducted on August 29, the seismic
testing involved slowly ramping up the
operation of the shaker from fairly low to
signicantly higher levels of acceleration.
Ultimately, the strongest shaking was
consistent with a fairly rare event that
would generate large ground motions
in the delta, Brandenberg says. During
the test, the sensors recorded ground mo-
tions as high as 0.5g. Thats a pretty siz-
able ground motion, Brandenberg says.
Despite the intense shaking, a large
failure of the test levee did not occur,
although the levee did experience sig-
nicant transient deformation, Stewart
reports. During the shaking, the move-
ment of the levee was pretty impres-
sive, he says. It was on par with what
you might expect with the design earth-
quake. However, signicant permanent
deformation did not occur.
Although the fact that the test le-
vee did not fail is good news, the re-
sults must be viewed in the context
of certain boundary conditions that
probably contributed to the levees fa-
vorable performance, Stewart says. For
example, the test embankment, in con-
trast to actual levees in the delta, was
not impounding water. Therefore, it
received no static lateral force from wa-
ter; the only lateral forces were those
generated by the shaker. What is more,
the water table beneath the test levee is
lower than normal groundwater lev-
els below actual levees. As a result, the
soil immediately beneath the test le-
vee was relatively strong and stiff. By
contrast, the water table below an ac-
tual levee typically extends up through
the levees foundation and sometimes
into the embankment itself, resulting
in softer material beneath a levee. In
fact, the results of the test could well
have been different had softer material
been present under the levee, Stewart
acknowledges.
Even with these conditions, the test
was still quite useful, Stewart says. It
just means we have to be extremely care-
ful about making sweeping conclusions
regarding the safety of delta levees, he
says, particularly until additional analy-
sis of the data can be carried out. The
fact that [the test levee] didnt fail doesnt
mean that the delta levees are out of the
woods yet. Its encouraging that it didnt
fail, Stewart says. If the test levee had ex-
perienced massive deformation during
the relatively favorable boundary condi-
tions, that would not be good news at
all, he says.
During the test, the researchers re-
covered data from approximately 120
sensors, and they will evaluate these
data to better understand the mechan-
ical behavior of the soil under the dy-
namic conditions. Its the data that will
provide the most powerful insights,
Stewart says.
To complement their tests in the eld,
the researchers intend to conduct labora-
tory tests on peat and to examine case his-
tories of the seismic performance of levees
founded on peat as well as on other mate-
rials. Although the Sacramento and San
Joaquin delta might be the best known
location for levees built on peat, other
locations, including sites in Washing-
ton State and Japan, also have levees of
this type. The results of the investiga-
tion are therefore expected to offer ben-
ets to levee managers outside the del-
ta, Stewart says. JAY LANDERS
H I S T O R I C P R E S E RVAT I O N
Air Bags and Stainless
Steel Anchors and
Mesh Help Preserve
Egyptian Pyramid
A
N EFFORT TO PRESERVE
and protect the oldest pyra-
mid in Egypt involves the use
of air bags and stainless steel anchors
and mesh to secure the ancient struc-
tures burial chamber and prevent any
additional seismically induced col-
lapse. Located in the Saqqara (Sakka-
ra) burial complexthe necropolis of
the ancient city of Memphisroughly
30 km south of Cairo, the 4,700-year-
old Step Pyramid of Djoser is consid-
ered by Egypts Supreme Council of
Antiquities to be the earliest example
of large-scale stone construction in that
country. Its name derives from its ter-
raced prole, and it has been damaged
by earthquakes throughout its history,
most recently in 1992.
Believed to have been designed by
an ofcial named Imhotep, the pharaoh
Djosers chancellor and chief architect,
the pyramid was constructed in stages
during Egypts Third Dynasty and ulti-
mately reached a height of 60 m above
the surrounding plateau. The structure
contains 330,400 m of stone and clay.
It originally featured a limestone outer
casing, but that has since disappeared,
explains Peter James, the managing di-
rector of Cintec International, Ltd., an
international structural engineering
rm based in the United Kingdom in
the Welsh city of Newport. Since 1997
Cintec has helped restore several other
pharaonic and Islamic monuments in
Egypt, and in 2006 the Supreme Coun-
cil of Antiquities selected it to shore up
the roof of the Step Pyramids crum-
bling burial chamber. The 1.8 million
(U.S.$2.8 million) project is now near-
ing completion but has been plagued
by challenges ranging from additional
rockfalls within the chamber to the cha-
os arising from Egypts recent political
changes, notes James.
The burial chamber is an open space
roughly 8 m square in plan and approx-
imately 29 m tall. At the bottom of
the chamber is the pharaohs enormous
[1 8]

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sarcophagus. The mummied body of
Djoser disappeared long ago, and any
valuables that were in the tomb were
removed by robbers who entered the
site in antiquity. Located mostly below
grade, the burial chamber can be ac-
cessed through a stone passage that is
one of the original tunnels and is roughly
36 m long. It is referred to as the high
tunnel because it enters the chamber near
the top of the space, explains James. The
chamber can also be reached through a
network of other original tunnels be-
neath the sarcophagus as well as through
tunnels dug by the robbers. Although
the burial chamber originally featured
a at timber roof, a design that was not
repeated in subsequent pyramids, James
says, the roof beams deected and col-
lapsed over time. The roof is now a jum-
ble of jagged rocks wedged tightly to-
gether that form a concave dome roughly
3 m in height. Various attempts to repair
the structure, primarily with more tim-
ber supports, were made in the past, but
there are no exact records of what was
done or when, James notes. In the 1992
earthquake, however, the chamber suf-
fered further damage, and as much as 200
metric tons of loose stone and rubble, to-
gether with the supporting timber props,
fell from the roof onto the sarcophagus.
At that point the chamber was deemed
by the Supreme Council of Antiquities C
I
N
T
E
C
,

A
L
L
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1 C i v i l E n g i n e e r i n g [1 9]
The 4,700-year-old Step Pyramid of
Djoserso named because of its ter-
raced prolewas damaged over the
centuries by repeated earthquakes,
most recently in 1992. Located in the
Saqqara (Sakkara) burial complex
roughly 30 km south of Cairo, the struc-
ture is considered the oldest pyra-
mid in Egypt. At a maximum of 8 psi,
each air bag, left, can support 3 met-
ric tons of stone. Thin blocks of high-
density, semirigid foam carefully cut
and shaped to t around the hanging
stones were used atop the air bags.
Over the centuries the burial cham-
bers at timber roof deected and
collapsed. The chamber was closed
to the public after an earthquake in
1992 caused as much as 200 metric
tons of loose stone and rubble, as well
as the supporting timber props, to fall
from the roof onto the sarcophagus.
to be too dangerous for visitors and was
closed except for occasional inspections
by council personnel, James says.
When the current repair project be-
gan, Egyptian engineers inspected and
strengthened the supports for the sar-
cophagus itself as well as for the tunnels
beneath the tomb, installing stainless
steel pins to anchor the stonework where
necessary. Work crews removed the de-
bris from atop the sarcophagus, carrying
the material out in small loads through
the narrow, lower tunnels. Archaeologists
from the Supreme Council of Antiquities
carefully monitored this work, inspect-
ing each rock as it was removed to deter-
mine its possible historical signicance;
the council also monitored all subsequent
efforts by Cintec, James notes.
All electric power for lights and
equipment within the chamber was
supplied via cables that ran through
the tunnels to outside generators; even
the air inside the chamber was carefully
controlled for humidity by equipment
on the outside, James adds.
To perform the work on the chamber
roof, Acrow Misr, a Cairo-based metal-
lic scaffolding and framework designer
and manufacturer, erected a steel scaffold-
ing system that spans the space contain-
ing the sarcophagus. The scaffolding was
erected in such a way that no loads were
imposed on the sarcophagus or the tun-
nels beneath it. Next, a work platform
was raised to the underside of the cham-
ber roof, and Cintec constructed a sec-
ond level for this scaffolding. This small-
er mezzanine section, in the center of
the main scaffolding, made it possible for
Cintecs team to access the upper portions
of the chambers rock-jammed dome.
The main scaffolding and the mezzanine
section provided the bases from which
Cintecs engineers installed a series of 11
custom-designed air bags, each roughly
1.5 m long and 1 m in diameter. Adapt-
ed from a Cintec product known as the
Waterwalla structure made of a tough
synthetic fabric that can be lled with
water to provide protection against ex-
plosive blaststhe systems used in the
Step Pyramid featured thin layers of poly-
vinyl chloride and were lled with air
rather than water. The thinner polyvinyl
chloride fabric was easier to control dur-
ing the ination process and thus could
accommodate the tight and delicate tol-
erances at the chamber roof, James notes.
As he explains, it was essential to sup-
port the dangerous hanging stones with-
out applying any upward pressure that
might unlock the stone jam and further
release an avalanche.
Air was preferable to water because
of the weight that the water would have
imposed on the scaffolding and chamber
oor, to say nothing of the potentially di-
sastrous consequences of a leak inside a
space that has been bone dry for millen-
nia. Like the Waterwall structures, the
air bags are heavily reinforced internally
with a special stitching system that helps
them maintain shape and stability.
Connected to a common manifold
and pressurized either individually or in
groups, as the site circumstances dictat-
ed, the bags were gently inated, initial-
ly at a low pressure of 1 psi, to form the
shape and overall dimensions required,
James says. The pressure in each bag was
then gently increased to a maximum of
8 psi, at which point each bag could sup-
port 3 metric tons of stone. The tops of
the bags were adjusted to provide the op-
timal support to the roofs jagged prole.
Timber shims were used to support the
undersides of the air bags, and thin blocks
of high-density, semirigid foam were
carefully cut and shaped to t around the
hanging stones. These foam blocks were
used atop the bags to ensure a gentle
kiss with no compression between the
bags and the surfaces of the stones, James
notes. We just want to hold the stones
where they are, he says.
As the rst air bags were being in-
stalled this summer, it became obvi-
ous that additional support would be
needed along the perimeter of the roof,
James says. So a second set of air bags
that were smaller and narrower also
were designed; at press time, these pe-
rimeter bags were being installed.
Once all of the bags are in place,
Cintec engineers will spend about a
month or so using a lime grout to ll
in gaps around the stones. Then, using
a diamond drill, they will carefully cre-
ate a series of 52 mm diameter holes at
roughly 2 to 4 m intervals along the pe-
rimeter of the roof and at varying angles
in the stones. The drilling will be con-
ducted under dry conditions, and a dust
extraction system will be used through-
out the process, James adds.
Stainless steel anchors generally 2
to 4 m in length will then be installed
in the drilled holes and secured with
additional grout by means of a propri-
etary Cintec process featuring a vacu-
um tube that applies the grout under
low pressures. This process is also de-
signed to prevent any negative buildup
of pressure that might prevent the an-
chor from being properly installed. The
anchors will create what is essentially a
three-dimensional archlike support at
the roof to stabilize the stones and pre-
vent further collapses, James explains.
A second series of holes that will
have diameters of 32 mm will be drilled
and lled with 750 mm long anchors.
These smaller anchors will secure a
stainless steel mesh tightly against the
ceiling to prevent smaller stones from
falling. The mesh will also be attached
to the ends of the main anchors.
A total of about 60 anchors will be
used to secure the stones and mesh.
Given the limited space and dangerous
conditions within the burial chamber,
the work crews will probably be able to
install the anchors at a rate of only about
one per day, James notes. Although the
air bags will be removed when the proj-
ect is completed, he explains that they
will be repositioned as needed while the
anchors and mesh are being installed.
This will ensure that the roof remains
supported throughout the process.
Earlier this year, at least two more
large stones fell from the chamber roof,
James adds. Fortunately, no one was in-
side the chamber at the time because
work had been temporarily halted in
the aftermath of the political crisis that
led to the ouster of Egypts longtime
president, Hosni Mubarak. Still, it was
a reminder of why James describes the
Step Pyramid work as probably the
most incredible and dangerous job he
has ever performed. When working on
the air bags or the anchors from atop the
scaffolding, he explains, you sit there
with sixty meters of stone right above
your head and you think, Lets hope
theres no earthquake now or any move-
ment of the stones, because a hard hat
wont help! ROBERT L. REID
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