Cooper River Rediversion Project. Saint Stephen, South Carolina. Test Fills and Excavations Report.

Two sets of impervious test fills were constructed. One test set was built using materials excavated from the the Intake Canal; the other set with similar materials excavated from the Tailrace Canal. All soils used to construct the embankments were taken from the upper 10 feet. Primarily, the test fills were constructed to determine, prior to issuing plans and specifications, the combination of number of passes, lift thickness and moisture content range (using a standard sheepsfoot roller) that provided 95% compaction with the least construction effort. Also, information relating to processing of soils to obtain desired ranges of moisture was gained and is discussed. The objective was (1) to determine the character of the soil materials to be excavated by common methods, (2) to determine the ability of the rock material (shale, limestone - Intake Canal, and shale, siltstone, and sandstone - Tailrace Canal) to be excavated using a dragline bucket, and (3) to develop correlations between materials excavated during this activity and those presented on the previously drilled boring logs. The test excavations were located within the channel prism of the Intake and Tailrace Canals, respectively.