PROBLEMS IN BORED CAST-IN-SITU PILING

CONTENT
PAGE No
I.ABSTRACT 1

2. INTRODUCTION 1

3. BORING PROBLEMS 3

3.1 SUCTIONING

3.2 CAVING 3

3.3 BENDING 5

3.4 TOOL SLTPING 5

3.5 NECKING 7

3.6 BUCKLING OF CASINE 7

4. POST BORING PROBLEMS 9

4.1 COLAPSING OF BORE WALL 9

4.2 SAND BOILING 11

5. CONCRETING PROBLEMS 11

5.1 CHOCKING OF TREMIE 12

5.2 AIR- TRAPING 13

5.3 SANDWICHING 13

6. CONCLUSION 14

7. REFRENCES 14
 PROBLEMS IN BORED CAST-IN-SITU PILING

1. ABSTRACT

There are many verities of Bored Cast –in-situ piles and also have a number of
problems in the installation. Some of them are common to all types and some are various with
the type of pile. Here the problems associated with installation of Bored cast-in-situ piles by
percussion boring are discussed. Possible remedies and precautionary measures are also
discussed.

2. INTERODUCTION

Bored cast-in-situ pile is the pile formed within it with or without the use of temporary
casing and subsequently filling it with plain or reinforced concrete.

Boring operations are generally done by rotary or Percussion type boring rigs.
Percussion type boring consists of DIRECT MUD CIRCULATION (DMC), REVERSE MUD
CIRCULATION (RMC), and BAILING AND CHISELING etc. The selection of method is
depending on the site conditions and type of strata to be bored. Fig-1 shows the boring by
DMC method and Fig-2 shows Bailing and Chiseling method.

According to the strata, the boring may be done in temporary casein, fully lined with
steel plate, using drilling mud (bontonite) etc. fig-3 shows a bore fully lined with 10mm thick
steel plate.

Prefabricated cage of steel reinforcement is then inserted in the borehole and a high
slump (175 mm) self compacting concrete charge is applied to the borehole by tremie method.
Fig-4 shows the insertion operation of reinforcement cage in a borehole. Fig – 5 shows the
concreting by tremie method.

The problems in the installation of bored piles can be grouped under the following
heads.
* Boring problems
* Post boring problems
 *Concreting problems.

3. BORING PROBLEMS

These are the problems which may arise during boring operations. This will vary
according to the equipments and strata. Following are the common of them.

3.1 SUCTIONING

During extraction of tools from borehole suction may develop below the tool. This may
happens under the following circumstances, when

* no vertical openings through the tool.

* clear space between bore wall and tool outer body is zero.
* the bore is dry.

The suction problem can be eliminated by avoiding the above circumstances. For that,
following precautions are to be taken.

* keep the borehole fully filled with water or bentonite solution.

* keep the size of bailer little smaller than chisel.
* provide sharp cutting edges to the tools.
*use chisels with jets. Fig-6 shows a chisel with jet using in DMC boring.

3.2 CAVING.

In very unstable soil strata the bore wall may get collapsed when bore extends to
depths. This commonly takes place in cohessionless soils. It can be avoided by

* providing casing (temporary or permanent)

* using bentonite suspension of density 1.12.
* avoiding simultaneous boring operations at closer locations
* keeping water level in the borehole at least 1.5m above the surrounding
water table
3.3 BENDING.

Pile shaft should be vertical unless it is a racker pile. The deviation of bore-axis from
the vertical during boring is called bending. Usually it happens in Bailing and chiseling
method and bore with casein. Caseins are driven by joining pieces of liners by weld. If the
joining faces are not perfectly leveled, the verticality will be disturbed and leads to bending.
In the case of Bailing and Chiseling boring is started with a starter hole and driving a
temporary casein. This casein will act as a guide for further boring. So if there is any tilt in
this, will leads to the bending. If bending is severe the bore should be filled with sand or earth
and the casein retrieved. Fig-7 shows the retrieving operation of a bended casein/liner.
Following precautionary measures are suggesting avoiding the bending.

* joint faces of casein/liner should be perfectly leveled.

* before and during driving of casein the verticality should be ascertained
by checking with a plumb bob.
* starter casing should be fixed after making a starter hole by dropping the
bailer or cutting tool under gravity.
* in soft strata tool dropping height should be minimum.
* any lateral movement of boring rig, after starting the boring should be
avoided.

3.4 TOOL SLIPING

Boring tools are brought at the bottom of the bore by steel wire ropes or DMC rods.
During percussion swiveling will take place in tools and it will cause twisting in the rope or
rod assembly. The torque developed due to this may exceed the permissible limits and wire
rope will get cut or DMC rod joints may be getting unscrewed. Finally the tool will slip into
the borehole. Boring can’t be continued without removing this tool. Following are the usual
methods adopted to remove this tool.
 * anchor assembly.
* bailer
* diver

First two are trial and error methods. The third is not possible in bores of smaller diameter
(less than 1000mm) Fig-8 shows the removal of a cutting tool, slipped into the borehole, by
bailer. Following precautionary measures are very important in this regard.

* safety rope should use.

* tools should be taken outside of bore at a regular interval and twisting
should be unclamped.
* condition of wire rope and screw joints of DMC rods should be checked
frequently.
* tools should not keep inside the borehole other than the boring time.

3.5 NECKING

In loose clay strata the lateral earth pressure and the hydrostatic pressure may come
more than the hydrostatic head maintained in the borehole than the bore have a tendency to
shrink and forms a neck by reducing the bore diameter. This problem leads to chocking of
tools in the borehole. This can be avoided by using casein in full depth or a depth was this
strata ends.

3.6 BUCKLING OF CASINE

The boring operations and driving of casein are doing simultaneously. Driving load
and speed depends on soil strata. In strata like compact sand and stiff clay heavier driving
load is required also the driving speed is minimum. Due to this heavier driving load casein
wall may get buckled if it didn’t have sufficient thickness to resist the higher stress. To avoid
this,

* keep sufficient thickness to the casein plate.

* provide sharp cutting edge at bottom
* avoid excess driving force.
4. POST BRING PROBLEMS

After completing the boring operations certain time is required, for fevering the
reinforcement cage, setting of tremie pipe etc, before the concreting. The problems arises

during this period is called post boring problems. In smaller dia piles this time may be one or
two hours so the chance of occurring problems is less. But in larger dia piles this period may
be 10Hrs. to 15Hrs. or more, so the chance of occurring problems will be more. Following are
the usual problems in this regard.

4.1 COLLAPSING OF BORE WALL

This will happen in uncasined bores. When the drill mud is undisturbed for hours the
bentonite will settle down and the hydrostatic head in the bore also may go down. Then the
unstable sandy strata of bore wall which was supported by bentonite suspension gets sheared
and collapsed. Then the depth of bore gets reduced by the deposition of collapsed materials
and the founding strata will be a loosened one, so before concreting this should be removed by
direct flushing or using small bailer. The precautionary measures against this are

* don’t keep bore empty for long period.

* agitate the bentonite suspension in the bore at a regular interval if there is
any delay in casting.
*don’t lower the reinforcement cage before making arrangements for
concreting.

* stop all boring operations near to the borehole until it get casted.
* keep the hydrostatic head excess than the surrounding hydrostatic head.

4.2 SAND BOILING

The phenomena of lifting the solid particles and the overflow of bentonite suspension
from the bore are called sand boiling or quick sand. Usually it happens in bores very near to
sea and which are maximum lined. During high tide, the upward seepage pressure inside the
bore become predominant than the hydrostatic head in the bore. Then the soil particles at the
bottom of the bore lifted to the top and bentonite solution overflows from the bore. If borehole
keep as it is for a long time, it may get collapsed. The precautionary measures to be taken are

* stop all boring operations very close to the bore.

* immediately after the phenomena recharge the bore with bentonite
solution.

* keep hydrostatic head in the bore always excess than the surroundings.
* anchor the reinforcement cage to avoid the lifting up.

5. CONCRETING PROBLEMS

Concreting in ‘dry’ borehole is usually straight forward procedure. Fig-9 shows a ‘dry’
bore concreting. The tremie method of concreting is often employed in pile casting when bore
having water. Tremies are pipes having 150mm to 250mm diameter, 1000mm to 1500mm
length with screw joint ends. They are screwed one another and lower into the borehole to the
full bore depth. A receiving funnel with a plug is attached to this tremie at the top. After
filling the funnel with concrete, the plug is removed. Now the water in the tremie pushes
down due to the weight of concrete. The water in the bottom of bore is lifted to

the top and occupies that position by this concrete. Since the tremie has a length equal to the
full depth of the bore, the bottom of the tremie is now embedded in the concrete and prevents
any entry of water inside the tremie from bore. Then other batches of concrete are directly
pored into the tremie through the funnel and complete the concreting by removing pieces of
tremie in stages. The major problems associated with the concreting are the following.

5.1 CHOCKING OF TREMIE

The free flow of concrete in the tremie may block due to the following reasons.

* the weight of initial batches concrete received in the funnel is not enough
to lift the water in the borehole to the top.
* joints of the tremie pipes are not water tight
* coarse aggregate used in the mix are more flaky.
* mix having low slump.
 *initial setting time of cement is very less
* inside surface of tremie has irregularities.
* less quantity of fine aggregate in the mix.
* excess depth of tremie embedded in the concrete.
* keeping the tremie assembly long time statically during concreting.
Precautionary measurers to avoid the chocking are
* increase the capacity of funnel.

* make the joints of tremie water tight by applying grease and threads while
setting.
* keep the slump of mix always above 175mm.
* use well graded 20mm down size coarse aggregate.
*don’t use tremie pipes having internal dia less than 150 mm.
* use add mixers (retarders) in the mix.
* design the mix with excess quantity of fine aggregate.
*check the built-up frequently and remove the tremie bits accordingly.
* lift and seat the tremie assembly twice or thrice during the initial setting
time of cement used in the mix.

5.2 AIR – TRAPING.

During discharging first batch concrete by removing the plug, the water in the tremie
will pushes down and occupies air. When pouring next batch concrete in bulk and rapidly to
the funnel which having a bottom opening of minimum dia leads to the tremie will get closed
and the air column in the tremie entrapped and is called air trapping. Only after the removal of
this the concrete can flow through the tremie. By lowering a pipe with plunger through the
concrete in the funnel to the tremie, this trapped air can be removed. Also by applying jerks

on tremie assembly this can release. Following precautions are useful to avoid this air
trapping.

* provide a vent pipe in the funnel which leads from outside to inside of
tremie in some depth.
* pour concrete slowly at the sides of the funnel allowing free flow till the
 tremie pipe gets filled.

5.3 SANDWICHING

If excess length of the tremie is removed or the assembly lifted more during concreting
the bore water will enter into the tremie. Now the concreting cannot be continued as it is. It
should be restarted by using plug, like in the starting time. Now a slurry layer will sandwiched
in pile shaft between previous batches of concrete and new batch concrete. The strength of

pile at this position will be in trouble. The precautionary measures are

* check the built up by sing a sounding chain before removing the tremie
bits.
* tremie assembly should lift gradually by allowing the free flow of
concrete of the bottom.
* always a length not less than 30cm of tremie should be embedded in the
concrete at the bottom.

6. CONCLUSION

Successful installation is required to enhance all advantages of bored piles. By getting

awareness on the possible problems and knowing the precautions to be taken, the installation
process can be made easier. The suggestions made in this paper will be helpful in the
executing of bored cast-in-sit piles.
7. REFERENCES

1. Pilling System – Dr. Heng Li

2. htt. II www.geoforum.com/info/pileinfo.
3. htt:II www.envf.port.ac.uk/projects/pilling2/dome/bored%20piles.html.
4. IS 2911 – 1979 Part – I, Section – 2 Design and construction of Bored cast-in-situ
concrete piles.
Note: My field experiences in the installation of Bored piles for Chennai Refineries Ltd,
Indian oil Corporation Ltd, Konkan railway corporation Ltd. etc are also benefited in
the preparation.

PC Stephen M.Tech(Civil),
Instructor,
Industrial training Institute,
Chalakudy, Kerala.
09447207367, pcstphn@gmail.com