Ground Improvement

Why ?
– Increase strength and bearing capacity
– Decrease deformation and settlement
– Possibly decrease hydraulic conductivity
– Facilitate construction in difficult conditions
– Reduce time of construction
– Increase the factor of safety
– Reduce the shrinkage and swelling of soils

– How ?
 Ground
Improvement

Soil Soil Soil

Improvement Reinforcement Replacement

Densification Anchors New soil type

Grouting Nailing Engineered materials

Admixtures Geosynthetics
 Ground
Improvement

Soil ● On Granular soil, dynamic

Improvement methods:
– Dynamic Deep Compaction
Densification
(heterogeneous medium)
– Vibrocompaction
Grouting – Vibro-Replacement/Stone
Admixtures Columns
• Special equipments is used to apply a 5-30 tons to heights of up to 100
feet then it onto the groundCost effective method of densifying loose
sands and silty soils up to 15 to 30 feet deep

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Z
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http://www.betterground.com/index.php?option=com_cont
ent&view=article&id=191&Itemid=194 0.3<n<0.8
http://ww2.bcradesign.com/civil/30Tons.html
 Vibroflotation
• Probe includes the vibrator mechanism
and water jets
• Probe is lowered into the ground using a
crane
• Vibratory eccentric force induces
densification and water jets assist in
insertion and extraction
• Vibratory probe compaction is effective
if silt content is less than 12-15% and
clay is less than 3%
• Probes inserted in grid pattern at a
spacing of 1.5 to 3 m
 Vibro-replacement stone columns

Soils with appreciable silt or clay content do not respond to deep vibratory compaction. To
improve these cohesive soil types to allow building and other heavy construction, it is
necessary to create stiff reinforcing elements in the soil mass. These columns result in
considerable vertical load carrying capacity and improved shear resistance in the soil mass

http://www.dgi-menard.com/portairport.html
 Ground
Improvement

Soil ● On Granular soil, dynamic

Improvement methods:
– Dynamic Deep Compaction
Densification
(heterogeneous medium)
– Vibrocompaction
Grouting – Vibro-Replacement/Stone
Admixtures Columns
 Ground
Improvement

Soil ● On cohesive soil

Improvement – Pre-loading

Densification

Grouting

Admixtures
 Pre-loading
● Requires pore water pressures to dissipate
(consolidate)

cv= coefficient of consolidation

variation in the average degree

of consolidation
 Design of pre-loading
● Steps:
– Calculate settlement due to design load
– Determine allowable settlement after construction is
completed.
– Determine the degree of consolidation required (what
is the completed settlement by then?).
– Determine the acceptable time for this degree of
consolidation to occur.
– Calculate excess temporary load that will cause the
settlement desired within the time allocated.
 Example
• Assume we have consolidation settlement
resulted from applied loading (Sc)= 1.0 m
• Assume the permissible settlement
(Sall=0.1m)
Spre=S-Sall= 1.0-0.1= 0.9m
• U= 0.9/1= 0.9

Estimate the time

required
 Example
• If time required to get the U calculated is too
long (which is expected) use more load
Pre loading

Design load
Time
Settlement
 Sand Drains/PV Drains
● Sand Drains
– Consist of a sleeve of synthetic material filled
with sand.
– Provides a zone of higher hydraulic conductivity
allowing faster pore pressure disspation
– Extensively used in early Vertical Drain projects
● Prefabricated Vertical (PV) Drains
– Geotextile filter material surrounding a plastic
core.
– More uniform properties.
PV Drain Installation
 Ground
Improvement

Soil
Improvement

Densification

Grouting

Admixtures
 Ground
Improvement

Soil Grouting
Improvement
• Defined as the injection of
a special liquid or slurry
Densification material called grout into
Grouting
the ground for the
purpose of improving the
Admixtures
soil or rock
 Grouting methods
• Intrusion grouting
– Consists of filling joints or fractures with grout
– Primary benefit is reduction in hydraulic conductivity
– Used to prepare foundation and abutments for dams
– Usually done using cementitious grouts
• Permeation grouting
– Injection of thin grouts into the soil
– Once the soil cures, becomes a solid mass
– Done using chemical grouts
– Used for creating groundwater barriers or preparign
ground before tunneling
 Grouting methods
• Compaction grouting
– When low-slump
compaction grout is injected
into granular soils, grout
bulbs are formed that
displace and densify the
surrounding loose soils.
– Used to repair structures
that have excessive
settlement
 Grouting methods
• Jet grouting
– Developed in Japan
– Uses a special pipe with horizontal jets that inject grout into
the ground at high pressures
– Jet grouting is an erosion/replacement system that creates
an engineered, in situ soil/cement product known as
Soilcretesm. Effective across the widest range of soil types,
and capable of being performed around subsurface
obstructions and in confined spaces, jet grouting is a
versatile and valuable tool for soft soil stabilization,
underpinning, excavation support and groundwater control.
 Ground
Improvement

Soil Soil
Improvement Reinforcement

Densification Anchors

Grouting Nailing

Admixtures Geosynthetics
 Soil Nailing
● Large number of inclusions are inserted in the
ground.
● Differ from ground anchors:
– absence of anchor block
– resistance provided by friction of soil on
the nail as it would be pulled out
– additional shear resistance across the nail
● It can be a rapid form of reinforcement
installation.
 Soil Nailing

Air-Track Drilling

Walter G. Kutschke, et al
Soil Nailing
 Ground
Improvement

Soil Soil
Improvement Reinforcement

Densification Anchors

Grouting Nailing

Admixtures Geosynthetics
 Ground
Improvement

Soil Soil Soil

Improvement Reinforcement Replacement

Densification Anchors New soil type

Grouting Nailing Engineered materials

Admixtures Geosynthetics
 Light Weight Fill
● Typically installed in
layers of blocks.
● Joints must not line up
between rows, or
between layers.
http://www.geofoam.org/technical.asp
S. Bartlett, D etal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKO-CounJvE&feature=player_embedded#!
 Example 1
A 60 m wide and 5 m tall embankment is to be erected on a 30 m thick layer of clay that
lies on top of bedrock. Determine the total settlement to be expected. The embankment
fill unit weight is 20 kN/m³. cv= 7x10-4 cm2/s. Assume ch = cv. γ = 17 kN/m3, m=12. GWT is
at a depth of 2 m.

Determine the time required so that only 20 mm of settlement are left.

Determine the time required to reach the same settlement if a surcharge of 2 m of fill of
the same density as the embankment bedrock is placed.

What is the spacing of wick drains required to achieve the same level of settlement within
3 months.

Investigate the case when a light weight fill is used instead of the first 5m of the
embankment .