Introduction to Geotechnical

Grouting

Michael J. Byle, D.GE, F. ASCE

National Discipline Lead for Civil/Geotechnical Engineering
Tetra Tech, Inc.

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Meet Your Instructor

Michael J. Byle is a geotechnical engineer with over 30 years of

experience in grouting. His experience includes all types of grouting
throughout the continental U.S. and projects within South America and
the Middle East. He has chaired multiple international conferences on
grouting and serves as President of the International Conference
Organization for Grouting (ICOG).
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Webinar Outcomes
 Develop an understanding of the types methods

 Learn the key factors necessary for planning effective grouting

 Understand the flexibility and variety of grouting materials and methods

 Develop an understanding of applications of various grouting methods

and verification techniques

Outline

1. Background

a. What is Geotechnical Grouting?

b. How is it used?

c. How does it Work?

d. Where is it used?

3. Grouting Methods and Materials

4. Applications

5. Verification

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 What is Geotechnical Grouting?
Definitions

 Grout: In soil or rock grouting, a material injected into a soil or rock

formation to change the physical characteristics of the formation.
Grouts may be cementitious, chemical solutions, or of a variety of
resinous origins. (Grouting Glossary)

 Glossary of Grouting Terminology – Grouting Committee of the

Geo-Institute
 Bruce, D. (2005). ”Glossary of Grouting Terminology.” J. Geotech.
Geoenviron. Eng., 131(12), 1534–1542.

Types of Grout

 Grouting can be classified in a number of ways:

 By Material:
 Cement
 Ultrafine Cement
 Soil Cement
 Chemical
 By Mechanism:
 Permeation
 Displacement
 Hydraulic Fracture
 Jet (replacement)

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 Types of Grout

 Grouting can be classified in a number of ways:

 By Objective:
 Compensation
 Compaction
 Curtain
 Cap
 Consolidation
 By Mechanism:
 Permeation
 Displacement
 Hydraulic Fracture
 Jet (replacement)
 Deep Mixing

Most Common Materials

Classification

 Cement Grouting: The injection of hydraulic cement based grouts

for the purpose of altering the properties of a soil or rock mass.

 Chemical Grouting: Any grouting material characterized by being a

pure solution or, as in the case of sodium silicate-based grouts, a
grout that contains such fine particles in suspension that it behaves
essentially as a Newtonian or near Newtonian fluid during injection.
See Particulate Grout.

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 How is Grouting Used?

 To improve the physical characteristics of a soil or rock

formation:
 Increase Bearing capacity
 Increase Stiffness
 Increase Density
 Reduce Permeability
 Increase Resistance to Liquefaction
 Add Cohesion
 Increase Erosion Resistance
 Create Structural Elements
 Fill Voids

How is Grouting Used?

 To affect permanent improvements to soil or rock

 To affect temporary improvements to soil or rock

ostensibly to permit construction

 Improvements would consist of alteration of soil or rock

properties or behaviors, or characteristics of the
subsurface structure to make them more favorable to an
intended use

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 How does it Work?
Grouting in Rock

 Treats Porosity
 Primary porosity of the rock itself
 Not common
Rock
 Typically to reduce permeability

 Secondary porosity of rock formation

consisting of faults, fractures, and bedding
planes
Rock
 Adds strength binding rock together

 Fills fractures to reduce permeability

 Fills voids to prevent migration of

overburden soils and sinkhole formation
 Sealing hydraulic conduits in rock

How does it Work?

Grouting in Rock

 Grouting of primary porosity is by permeation with fluid

material that gels or sets

Porous Rock

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 How does it Work?
Grouting in Rock

 Grouting of Secondary Porosity can be by permeation of fine

fractures, void filling, or a combination using a number of
grouts

 Cement (most common)

 Neat cement (old technology)
 Balanced Stable Grout (includes additives and admixtures)

 Ultrafine Cement
 Similar to use of cement grout, but finer gradation may permit
better penetration into smaller features

 Chemicals
 A wide variety of materials provide an equally wide range of
performance.

Rock Joint Grouting

Fractured Rock

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 How does it Work?
Grouting in Rock

 Hot Melts (typically bitumen)

 Injected as a molten material that hardens as it cools
 Effective for sealing high velocity flows
 Used to seal karst conduits discharging into quarries
and mines
 May also be used to seal large fracture flow in dam
foundations or abutments

Hot Bitumen Grouting

Quarry

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 How does it Work?
Grouting in Rock

 Soil-Cement or Sanded Cement

 Used to fill large openings
 Large fractures
 Karst voids
 Very large cavities can be filled with
flowable flyash blends

Rock Mass Stabilization

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 Common Types of Grouting in Soil

 Permeation Grouting
 Low Mobility Grouting (LMG)
 Compaction Grouting
 Grout Columns
 Karst Stabilization

 Jet Grouting

Pemeation Grouting

 Fluid grouts of relatively low viscosity

(sometimes referred to as high mobility grouts or HMG)

 These generally comprise

 Cement
 Ultrafine Cements
 Chemical Solutions and Suspensions
 Sodium Silicate
 Acrylates
 Arcrylamides
 Polyurethanes

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Permeation Grouting

Permeation Grouting

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 Jet Grouting

Tube a’Manchette (TAM)

 Injections are made through a sleeved port pipe

 Pipe has holes drilled at regular intervals
 Each hole is covered with a rubber sleeve that acts as a one way
valve

 Groutis injected between two packers that straddle a

sleeved port
 Packers are inflatable or compressible rubber plugs that prevent
grout from flowing past
 The grout pipe extends through the packers and is sealed at the
bottom with a port between the two packers

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 Packer

Grout Pipe

Packer

TAM

 A major advantage of TAM grouting is the ability to flush

out the pipe so that any “stage” may be grouted again.

 Injectionsmay be made at discrete elevations in any

pattern to stagger the injections as needed to optimize
the grouting

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 Cement Grouting

 Whether using Neat Cement or a Balanced Stable Grout,

the mixing and pumping equipment is similar

 Highlyaccurate measurement equipment is needed to

control the volume of admixtures, where sometimes small
quantities can radically alter grout behavior

 Mixing is always with a high shear colloidal mixer

 Pumping is with a Moineau (sometimes called a mono, or

progressive cavity pump), or a piston pump

Colloidal Mixer

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Old Style Grouting Header

Modern Grout Header

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 Jet Grouting

 Jet
Grouting is done through a “monitor”, which
contains horizontal jet(s)
 Jet grouting can be done with one, two or three
fluids in combination
 Grout
 Air
 Water

Jet Grouting

 In common parlance:
 Single Jet consists of a high pressure grout jet
 Double Jet consists of a high pressure grout jet with a
pressurized air jacket
 Triple Jet is the same as double jet with a high pressure
water jet above the grout jet

 Jet Grouting used to create soil-cement columns

 May be used in overlapping short columns to
create a buried slab
 Beware of boulders and cobbles if nested

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Jet Grouting Monitor

Oriented Jet Grouting

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 Jet Grouted Fill

 Jet
grouting creates a soilcrete. A blend of the in situ soil
and grout

 Finer fraction is usually washed away with the spoils

Deep Mixing

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Deep Mixing Grout Plant

Deep Mixing for Waste Stabilization

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 Limited Mobility Grouting

•Stiff (1" Slump)

•Displaces soft or loose soil
•Fills voids
•Creates structural shapes
•Does not travel far from point of injection

Limited Mobility Grouting

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 Low Slump Grout

Limited Mobility Grouting

Equipment

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 Limited Mobility Grouting
Riser

Limited Mobility Grouting

 The only thing limited about it is its

Mobility!

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Compaction Grouting

Compacted zone

Compaction Grouting

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 Karst Mitigation

Grout Piles

1 2 3 4 5 6

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 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Stage-down Process:
1) install riser to bottom of top stage,
2) retract riser to top of stage,
3) grout 1st stage,
4) Drill through 1st stage and install riser to
Bottom of next lower stage,
5) retract riser to top of next stage,
6) grout next stage,
7) repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 to bottom of
improvement zone

Other Applications

 Karst Stabilization

 Void Filling

 Lifting Structures

 Slope Reinforcement

 Earth Retention

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 Underpinning and Retention

Rock Fracture Grouting

 Used to reduce the permeability of a rock mass

 Used to strengthen a rock mass

 Applications include
 Tunneling
 Dam Foundations
 Mining
 Deep Excavation

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 Rock Fracture Grouting

 Forhydraulic cutoff must form a “grout curtain”

 This requires multiple rows of grout holes
 Holes must be angled to intercept rock fractures and
faults, especially if some are vertical
 Usually injected in alternating locations in a pattern
called “split spacing”

Permeation Grouting Applications

 Seepage control: fills void space to reduce

permeability
 Tunnels
 Dam foundations
 Excavations
 Mines
 Pipeline repair for infiltration control

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 Permeation Grouting Applications

 Soil Strengthening: adds cohesion to granular soils

 Excavation support
 Underpinning
 Liquefaction mitigation

Grouting Materials

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 Grouting Materials

 Cement
 Portland cement and water

 Water cement ratio is critical to performance

 Fluid mixes typically bleed as particles settle

 old technology

 Balanced stable grouts

 Portland or Slag cement based

 Includes additives and admixtures for stability

 Water reducing agents

 Viscosity modifiers

 Bentonite

Grouting Materials

 Ultrafine Cement
 Smaller particles may penetrate more finely graded sandstones

 Typically used in balanced stable grouts

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 Why Balanced Stable Grouts?

 Bleed
 Water extruded from the grout as particles settle and consolidate
 Leaves voids that can transmit water and result in lower strength of
grouted material

Why Balanced Stable Grouts?

 Pressure Filtration
 When pressure is applied to an unstable grout, the particles
agglomerate as water is forced through, reducing the
penetration of the grout

Plug of grout particles

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 Grouting Materials

 Chemical Solutions or Suspensions

 Colloidal suspensions of silica

 Suspension of nano-particles of silica

 Can permeate nearly as well as water

 Gels by adjusting the pH or Salt concentration

 Environmentally friendly

 Sodium silicate

 Solution of NaSiO4 in water

 Viscous in high concentrations

 Shrinkage can be a factor in low concentrations

 Gel control by inorganic or organic additives

 Some gelling agents may have environmental impacts

particularly some organic agents

Grouting Materials

 Chemical Solutions or Suspensions

 Acrylates

 Strong

 Low viscosity

 Can be costly

 Acrylamide

 Very low viscosity

 Low strength

 Low permeability

 Very flexible gel control

 Unmixed Components are toxic

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 Grouting Materials

 Chemical Solutions or Suspensions

 Urethanes

 May be hydrophobic or hydrophilic

 May form an expansive foam or solid resin depending upon

formulation
 Generally more viscous than sodium silicate

 Used commonly in pipeline repair

Grouting Materials

 Low Mobility Mixes

 Soil Cement
 Soil
 Broadly graded
 Natural Loam
 Can be blend of sand and fines
 No clay
 Portland Cement
 Fly ash – to supplement fines
 Additives may include
 Super Plasticizer
 Viscosity modifier
 Anti Washout Agent
 Gel Control Additives

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 Grouting Results

 Grouting is an additive process whereby the substrate is improved

through the effects of material injection

 Accordingly, the resulting product is highly dependent on the soil or rock

conditions that exist prior to grouting

 Cohesive and organic soils usually have lower grouted strength than
granular soils

 Permeability, layering, and fracturing in the native material will all affect
the ability for grout to penetrate and result in non-uniform grout
penetration.

 Saturation and excess pore pressures are also factors that affect
permeation, and hydraulic fracturing during grouting/

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Verification is Important

 Verification provides a basis for:

 Measuring success
 Payment for performance based contracting
 Modifying the means and methods during construction
 Satisfying third parties
 Insurance companies
 Financial institutions
 Owners

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 Verification

Verification of Geotechnical
Grouting was published By the
ASCE Committee on Grouting in
1995

It is still available and still has

useful information

Planning for Verification

VERIFICATION OBJECTIVE FACTORS MONITORED

• Liquefaction resistance
• Cutoff of Seepage
• Resultant bearing
capacity
• Settlement Reduction
• Structural support (i.e.
underpinning)
• Soil Stiffness
• Presence of grout
• Overall ground strength
• In-Place grout quality
• Resultant Permeability
• Size and shape of
injected mass
• Temperature

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 Using Correlated Properties

DESIRED PROPERTIES CORRELATED PROPERTIES

• Defining limits of grout • Electrical
intrusion conductivity/resistivity

• In-situ grout compressive • Magnetic properties

strength
• Seismic wave velocity
• Settlement
• Blow count resistance

• Ground movement

• Acoustic emissions

• Stiffness

• Static penetration resistance

Using Correlated Properties

DESIRED PROPERTIES CORRELATED PROPERTIES

• Hydraulic Cutoff • In situ permeability

• Permeability Reduction • Groundwater gradients

• Sealing Leaks • grout permeability

• Electrical
conductivity/resistivity

• Acoustic emissions

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 Grouting as Verification

o Range Detection Pipes for Jet

Grouting
o Deflection measurements during
grouting
o Pressure/volume relationships
o Digital real-time methods are now
commercially available

Direct Sampling
o Coring
o Test Excavations
o Directly measure properties of
sampled materials
o Some materials difficult to sample
o May not measure intended objective
o Consider spatial variability vs.
sample size

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 Test for What You Need to Know
Directly if Possible

o Permeability
o Borehole tests
o Wells
o Strength
o Cores
o Grout samples
o Load Tests
o Stiffness
o Dynamic Modulus

Basis for Verification

 Remember that in situ values will differ from ex situ test

results

 Variability
in the formation will result in variability of the
grout injection and properties

 Recognize that in many instances it will not be possible to

directly measure the property of concern in a meaningful
way

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 Multiple Tools

 There is no magic bullet

 Each site is unique
 Combining methods of verification can produce
a superior result
 Grout monitoring together with a sampling
method and a geophysical method can
provide a more complete picture

Conclusions

 Beware of potential unintended consequences

 Success is based on knowledge
 Fluids tend to follow path of least resistance – know where that is
 Pressures can affect structures and utilities
 Deflection due to heave
 Impermanent solutions

 Doenough evaluation to understand the conditions and

means by which the grouting will achieve the desired
objective

 Verification is always a good idea. Plan it during design.

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Questions

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