Alabama has over 13,000 poultry houses, which produced $3.8 billion dollars in broiler receipts in 2014. Typical house dimensions are 40x500 feet and 66x600 feet and are built on compacted, mixed clay pads. Poultry house foundations are typically post-in-ground or poured concrete curb designs that rely on these compacted clay pads to provide structural support to the house. Ground pad erosion around the perimeter of poultry houses has been a recurring issue for farmers due to the large amount of roof runoff that occurs during storm events. Threatening structural damage and failure of a poultry house, ground pad erosion poses a significant threat to a poultry farmer’s long-term investment and ability to grow birds.

Introduction

Fortitech would like to thank Dr. Dougherty, Dr. Davis, and Dr. Campbell for their assistance and guidance.

Acknowledgements

Create an economical, durable, easily maintainable, above finished grade, and integrator accepted erosion prevention solution for the ground pad perimeter of newly constructed poultry houses. This design should withstand the splash erosion effects from a poultry house’s roof rainwater runoff during a 5 minute-25 year storm in the design location.

Design Objectives

Site Plan Cost Estimate

• A site analysis was performed on a broiler farm in Franklin, Georgia.

• Minimal sheet erosion has occurred along the houses’ perimeter, suggesting splash erosion is the main cause of ground pad erosion.

• In the most heavily eroded areas, the poured curb foundation has been completely exposed, threatening structural damage.

• A two foot wide impact zone for roof rainwater runoff along the house’s side perimeters was found along the drip edge of every house.

Site Analysis

Ground pad erosion around a poultry house’s side perimeters can cause structural deficiency and failure. Structural failure due to ground pad erosion is not covered by a farmer’s insurance, leaving the farmer with the financial burden. Rehabilitating an eroded ground pad to its former state is costly, difficult, and does not address the erosion issue. Fortitech’s erosion prevention solution for poultry house ground pads is a moderate cost compared to the price of constructing a modern poultry house, and will assure decades of unhindered operation. Fortitech’s erosion solution offers a comparable capital cost to rain gutter systems, more economical life time cost compared to rain gutter systems, and more easily maintainable design than rain gutters.

Conclusion

Proposed Design

Our proposed design is the use of riprap with a geotextile liner as shown below. This design allows the energy from the rooftop runoff to dissipate on the riprap while also keeping the riprap in place. In case of large amounts of rain, the riprap and geotextile along with the lumber and topsoil hold the excess water and distribute it slowly and evenly along the lumber surface. This slow distribution allows the vegetation to hold the soil in place while increasing infiltration.

This estimate was made considering treatment for the back half of each house for this specific four-house poultry farm. The houses’ dimensions are 40x500 feet. Total treatment area is 8000 square feet as shown in figure 3. This cost does not take into consideration the long term upkeep costs associated with the design. With this poultry farm estimated to cost 1.2 million dollars, implementation of this erosion control design would only account for 1.2% of the total site construction cost.

Figure 4. Profile View of Design with Perspective View Inset

Figure 3. Plan View with Treatment Area and Water Flow Highlighted

Figure 1. Erosion Depth at Deepest Point Figure 2. Site Location in Franklin, GA

Un it Un it Pric e Q ua n tity Tota l Pric e3" Diameter Granite Riprap $32/ton 208 $6,6568 oz Non-Woven Mesh $520/roll 2 $1,0802"x6"x20' Pressure Treated Lumber $20.99/board 50 $1,05012" Wood Landscape Stakes $5.78/pack 16 $92Transportation $4/loaded mile 760 $3,040Labor $17.20/hour 160 $2,752Total $14,670Price per foot $7.34

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3 Inch Diameter Riprap Non-woven Geotextile Pressure Treated Lumber

COPYRIGHT © 2016 KIRK COPLEY, PAISLEY GUO, GEOFFREY LEIN

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