Abstract
Preventing water intrusion into basements and other subgrade structures has always an engineering challenge. During periods of heavy rain or snow runoff, the water table rises and water can seep through the concrete walls and floors of basements, damaging or destroying building contents, corroding metal fixtures and equipment, and rotting wood. Normally a system involving drains at the foundation would be considered; but in the case of historic buildings, the structure must be preserved in its original condition without altering the foundation. Army researchers have developed dewatering points that are external to the structure and can be used in both existing and new construction. Each soil dewatering well is a separate unit that uses a controller and a casing equipped with an electro-osmotic pulse (EOP) array that has been designed to act independently on the soil moisture volume adjacent to the well. The self-contained design minimizes any eddy currents that might interfere with electronics in the protected structure. Each structure can be targeted with the number of de-watering points needed to stabilize soil moisture. The intelligent single-well design provides an economic advantage that allows electro-osmotic pulse technology to be used on facilities where it might not have been considered cost-effective.
