Tremie

A tremie is a watertight pipe, usually of about 250 mm inside diameter (150 to 300 mm), with a conical hopper at its upper end above the water level. It may have a loose plug or a valve at the bottom end. A tremie is used to pour concrete underwater in a way that avoids washout of cement from the mix due to turbulent water contact with the concrete while it is flowing. This produces a more reliable strength of the product. Common applications include the following.

• Caissons, which are the foundations of bridges, among other things, that span bodies of water.
• Pilings.
• Monitoring wells. Builders use tremie methods for materials other than concrete, and for industries other than construction. For example, bentonite slurries for monitoring wells are often emplaced via tremie pipe.