Shore Pac® Polymer Dosage and Viscosity

  1. Pre-treat water with soda ash 6 lbs per 1000 gallons mix water for a pH of 8-10. Pre-treat water with DE-CHLOR 2 lbs per 1000 gallons mix water.
  2. Add Shore Pac through venturi type mixer @ 6.0-8.0 lbs per 1000 gallons depending on desired viscosity if mixing in surface tank, if mixing directly within excavation sprinkle into stream of water slowly.
  3. Take a Marsh Funnel Viscosity reading, viscosity should be 60-85 sec/qt.

Auger Spoils - Construction Drilling - Mixing Shore PacDuring construction of the borehole the Shore Pac slurry is used to hold the hole open, and to facilitate the removal of spoils. When tip point is reached the bottom of the hole is cleaned and the rebar cage is set. Next concrete is poured through a tremie pipe placed into the hole just off the bottom. As the concrete fills the borehole the lighter Shore Pac slurry weighing 8.4 lb/gal is displaced and pushed up and out of the hole. Any remaining residual Shore Pac slurry clinging to the rebar are the sidewalls of the borehole is chemically destroyed by the alkalinity of the concrete as it fills the hole are it is physically scrapped off by the rising column of concrete.

Shore Pac slurry cohesively binds excavated soil solids together, facilitating their removal from the excavation and preventing them from dispersing into the slurry. Shore Pac maximizes spoil loading on augers increasing excavation rates. Shore Pac makes it possible to drill with augers, even in sand and gravel, eliminating the need to use a bucket necessary with mineral slurry and full length casing. This feature can reduce slurry wastage.

Large Auger with Spoils - Construction Drilling - Mixing Shore Pac
click image to view full size

Improved Skin Friction

Shore Pac polymer slurry offers many distinct advantages when compared with bentonite mineral slurry. Some of the more important advantages would include the following

  • Greater skin-friction load carrying capacity for the side-walls of the drilled shaft, thus increasing the total working load capacity of the pier.
  • The elimination of the de-sanding operation, as is necessary with bentonite mineral slurry. Bentonite slurry suspends sand and polymer slurry does not suspend sand.
    During the excavation of the shaft under a head of polymer slurry, all the sand drops to the bottom of the shaft as drilling proceeds.
  • Provides cleaner, harder top surfaces on concrete at the top (cut-off) of drilled shafts; reduces or eliminates cleaning, chipping and dressing at cold joints.
  • Shore Pac polymer slurry is non-toxic and non-hazardous. When ready for disposal, it is chemically with Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to break-down to an environmentally safe and clean water and by-products.
  • Shore Pac is considerably cleaner and more manageable than bentonite. The residual spoil is drier and firmer, and can be used for fill.


click image to view full size

Shore Pac polymer slurry replaces mineral slurry at ratios ranging between 1 to 50 and 1 to 200 in typical applications. When using salt water as the mix water only a special mineral called Attapulgite can be used, these ratios mean that 20 pounds of Shore Pac can replace 4 tons of mineral slurry.