UNDERPINNING OF

STRUCTURES

EMIL M. MORALES CE MSCE F.ASCE, F. ASEP F. PICE

MARK K. MORALES CE MSC
Introduction
In some cases, we are confronted with the need to Retrofit, remediate,
strengthen or upgrade existing buildings, old or new, because of foundation
problems or increased loading demands.
In most instances, underpinning can be done without major disruption in the
existing occupancy of the building except in the general area where
underpinning operations are being done.
The choice of underpinning procedures of course depend on the following
factors:
◦ The ground conditions
◦ The loads to be supported
◦ The extent of Settlement or building Distress
◦ The condition of the building from the structural integrity point of view and whether
underpinning would still be a cost effective solution
◦ Other considerations such as historical value, indispensable function etc.
Introduction
Underpinning may be necessary for a variety of
reasons:
 The original foundation is simply not strong or stable enough.
 The usage of the structure has changed.
 The properties of the soil supporting the foundation may have changed (possibly through subsidence) or
were mischaracterized during design.
 The construction of nearby structures necessitates the excavation of soil supporting existing foundations.
 To increase the depth or load capacity of existing foundations to support the addition of another storey to
the building (above or below grade).
 It is more economical, due to land price or otherwise, to work on the present structure's foundation than to
build a new one
 Earthquake, flood, drought or other natural causes have caused the structure to move, thereby requiring
stabilization of foundation soils and/or footings.
Underpinning may be accomplished by extending the foundation in depth or in breadth so it either rests on a more
supportive soil stratum or distributes its load across a greater area. Use of micropiles[1] and jet grouting are common
methods in underpinning. An alternative to underpinning is the strengthening of the soil by the introduction of a
grout, including expanding urethane-based engineered structural resins.
Wiki Download
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
Types of Underpinning

There are several types of underpinning :

1. Drilled Piling in Combination with Needle Beams
2. Chemical Grouting to stabilize the soils underneath a slab or a footing
3. Micropiles
4. Jet Grouting
5. Compaction Grouting
6. Reticulated Piling
Drilled Piling in
combination with
Needle Beams
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
Needle Beams in combination with Drilled Piers

In cases where the Section to be underpinned has

structurally sound walls or the walls or columns can
be reinforced to sustain concentrated loads, Needle
beams are inserted to support the loads and
prevent further settlement or bearing capacity
distress.

This is normally employed where the underpinning

is to be done at localized and limited portions of
the building.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
Cantilevered Needle Beams in combination with Drilled Piers

Where the interior access or clearances is difficult or

impossible to access due to obstructions , exterior
Cantilevered Needle beams are inserted to support the loads
and prevent further settlement or bearing capacity distress.

This is normally employed where the underpinning is to be

done at localized and limited portions of the building.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES –
Exterior Inclined Pile
In cases where correction for settlement is to be done and also to
sustain the loads adequately without going into the building interior,
special inclined precast piles are driven at the footing location.

Provision for construction of a corbel or jacking platform is

constructed and a Hydraulic Flapjack/s is inserted and shimmed
before inflating.

The vertical settlement is corrected by inserting more Flapjacks after

shimming the footing successively and raising it again, until the
target settlement recovery is attained.

The specific column location will need to be shored adequately

during the installation process to prevent further settlements.
Chemical Injection using
Polymers
 UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
Polymer Chemical Injection
In cases where lightly loaded structures such as
slabs are to be underpinned, or where cavities are
present underneath the subgrade, the use of
Expansive Polymer Chemicals is an option.

The expansive pressure should be carefully

controlled with proper mix proportions otherwise,
heaving (opposite of settlement direction) will
result and will be difficult to correct.

Its use in cavities may be attractive as the

hardened polymer has structural properties and
would be relatively inexpensive to inject
From Internet Download
compared to Cementitious grouts.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
MICROPILES
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
MICROPILES

Micropiles can be used for underpinning.

As the name would suggest, the procedure uses small diameter high strength steel pipes which
are perforated to allow grout injection.
The Micropile is drilled normally closed ended to the target depth and pressurized grount
injection, usually cementitious grout is used to provide a greater frictional cross sectional area
and to fill the annular spaces created during drilling.
The Micropile procedure can be employed in low headroom interiors as the clearances would
only be dictated by availability of short pipe pieces which can be welded or threadd as drilling
progresses.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
MICROPILES
However, the inherent difficulty of coupling the Micropile to the
footing is present and must be addressed by detailed connections
that may need to carry moments.
Generally, the principal load capacity is vertical as the Micropile
would be vertically stiff.
However, lateral load resistance is limited due to its slenderness.
Inclined applications are possible to resist lateral loads but
installation and Grouting may prove to be a challenge.
The relatively large pipe diameters may prevent its direct support
of footings due to damage to it. Thus, the Micropiles would need to
be installed at the perimeter of the footings and extensive
connection details will require excavation at footing level to install
the coupling details.
Reticulated Micropiles
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
A novel application of Micropiling is to use these as reticulated Piles to
reinforce the soil through inclusions which can be in a geometric basket
weave pattern or as random inclusions.

The purpose of this method is to reinforce the shear capacity of the soils and
also to reduce settlement by “Reinforcing” the soil.

The randomness of the inclusions allow for significantly longer stress paths to
dissipate the stresses.

This was originally considered for the underpinning of the Leaning Tower of
Pisa in Italy. However, a different procedure was employed which was a novel
application of soil mechanics and soil deformations.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES-
Insitu Stabilization
In cases where headroom or interior clearances are
available, Insitu Stabilization will be a an alternative
procedure that can be deployed.

Cementitious grout with or without admixtures, is

injected at different pressures depending on the method
or procedure which at times may be at times proprietary.

These procedures can be :

Soil Cement Columns

Lime Cement Piles
Jet Grouted Piles
From Hayward Baker Website
 Jet Grouting
JET GROUTING IS AN INSITU GROUND IMPROVEMENT
AND REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURE WHICH COULD BE
COST EFFECTIVELY USED FOR UNDERPINNING.
THE PROCEDURE IS EQUALLY APPLICABLE TO SANDS,
CLAYS AND OTHER MATERIALS.
METHODOLOGY OF INSTALLATION- JSP JET GROUTING
What is Jet Grouting ?
Jet Grouting Using the JSP Method
The unique double tube method allows greater
grout penetration by preventing Grout pressure
decrement by covering it with a Conical air
shroud.

The shroud provides an atmosphere greater

than the ambient pressure in the hole.

This results in larger diameters than what could

be achieved using a Single tube system.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES – Controlled Development of
Columnar Soilcrete Piles
The controlled Jet Grouting Process produces
consistently uniform columnar piles
approximately 1.0 meter in Diameter in Clean
sands and 0.8 meter in Clays.

This is possible due to the controlled rate of

Rotation of the Jet stream at 7 RPM and
uniform vertical increments of 7 inches per
minute.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
Case Study- Settlement of a Bored
Pile Supported LRT Remediated by
Jet Grouting
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
A support Pier (Pier 161) for a Light Rail line being constructed for the
Metro Manila Light Rail Project encountered large settlements after
the installation of the Precast Deck Girders.

This pier supports an LRT bridge crossing across the San Juan River
with a total span of sixty (60) meters. It is supported on six (6) 1500
mm diameter bored piles designed to extend down to 17 meters or
socketed into bedrock at least 2.0 meters based on design
requirements. The structure started to settle during the erection of the
superstructure when the dead load reached about 700 metric tons.
Total settlement was about 42 mm when the erection was halted at a
dead load of about 1600 metric tons.

The pier was designed to carry a maximum total load of about 2100
metric tons (DL + LL).

Subsequent subsurface investigation conducted by our office indicated

that the bored piles were terminated prematurely and were not
socketed into bedrock as originally specified. The Bored pile tips were
resting on approximately 150 mm of soft to very soft clay and highly
weathered bedrock, which is partly natural soil and drill cuttings.
Several remediation procedures were considered but finally, Jet
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES- CASE STUDY
SETTLEMENT OF LRT PIER SUPPORTED ON BORED PILES
UNDERPINNED BY JET GROUTING
A pier supporting 60 m long span Precast concrete Box Girders for a light
rail transit line crossing a river experienced significant settlement
immediately upon placement of the Girders (Dead Load). The
substructure consists of 6 X 1500 mm Diameter bored piles supporting a
1500 mm thick RC Pile cap.

The settlements were alarming as the pier was supported on bored piling
that is supposed to be socketed at least 2000 mm into bedrock. This
initial settlement of 36mm caused concern and was continuing
progressively until loading and other construction activities were halted.
By that time, a total of 45.7mm maximum settlement had already
resulted. Fig. 1 shows the settlement profile.

The erection subcontractor for the Precast Concrete Box Girder segments
specified a maximum short-term settlement of 30mm and a total
maximum long-term settlement of 45mm.
Clearly, the recorded initial settlements have already actually violated
these values and the Box Girders have to be raised by jacking in order to
level the Girders.
 The as installed set up was investigated by drilling at the
center of the Bored Piles at all 6 locations.
Pile Pile Depth Gap/Sock Remarks
No. Toe of et
Bedrock This required continuous drilling into hardened concrete
Inadequate
BP-1 15.11 15.12 .01 Gap Socket of the bored pile using Diamond Coring Bits.
Depth
Inadequate
BP-2 15.11 15.12 .01 Gap Socket The results indicated that not only were the Bored piles
Depth
Inadequate
not even socketed into bedrock but also the tip of the
BP-3 15.00 (14.76)* -.24 Socket bored piles rested on about 8 to 6 inches of cuttings even
(Socket) Depth
Inadequate after the initial settlements have occurred.
BP-4 15.09 (14.76)* -.24 Socket
(Socket) Depth
Inadequate Gaps at the tip of the bored piles were detected through
BP-5 15.02 14.4 -.62 Socket
(Socket) Depth the boring and sampling procedures.
Inadequate
BP-6 14.99 14.4 -.62 Socket
(Socket) Depth This is consistent with the Recorded Settlements of the
Deck Girders.
Table 1. Tabulated Values of Bored Pile Lengths and computed gap
between Pile Toe and Bedrock.
*From Linear Interpolation. The Soil/Bedrock interface inferred from two
A decision was therefore made to Grout the bottom of the
Borehole records BH-1 and BH-2. Drilling done after significant
settlements were detected.
bored piles using high pressure jetting to remove the soft
clays and cuttings and replace this with Concrete grout.

In addition and for good measure, the pier was now

totally supported on Jet grouted piles neglecting the
contribution of the 6 large diameter Bored Piles.
 Settlement History of LRT Pier
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1st Flag - Settlement was observed and recorded after installation of the Girders
2nd Flag – Installation of Deck was halted and settlements even out.
3rd Flag - Girders were again reinstalled and further settlements occurred.
4th Flag - Soil Exploration and coring through Girders started.
5th Flag - Jet Grouting Started. Further observations did not reveal any additional settlements after
Remediation
Final Solution of Underpinning by Jet Grouting
The remediation layout is as shown in plan.

A perimeter wall in secant layout of Jetgrouting was installed to

reach bedrock and allowed to cure. These were dowelled with
central rebars 2.0 meters into bedrock.

The Bored piles were then stabilized at the tip in order to

remove the muck and cuttings and the drilling was extended 2
meters into bedrock.

A rebar dowel 30 mm was placed to dowel the bored piles.

As a conservative approach, the total capacity of the pier was

transferred to the Jet Grouted Piles and the Load capacity of the
Bored piles was Neglected by the consultants.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES- CASE STUDY SETTLEMENT OF LRT PIER SUPPORTED ON BORED PILES
UNDERPINNED BY JET GROUTING

BOREDPILE

VERY SOFT
CLAY/CUTTINGS

82mm 112mm

WEATHERED
BEDROCK
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES – The Remediated LRT PIER

JET
GROUTED
PILES

BORED
PILES

DOWELS
GROUTED
2.0M INTO
BEDROCK
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES IN LOW HEADROOM
INTERIOR APPLICATIONS

The Jet grouting procedure can be used for

underpinning of interior footings even with
low headroom.

The clearance is only dictated by the

Lengths of Double tube injection Pipes.
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES

From Hayward Baker Website

UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES

From Hayward Baker Website

UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES
UNDERPINNING OF STRUCTURES