Ground Improvement Technique

• Rapid urban and industrial growth demands more land for further development. In order to
meet this demand land reclamation and utilization of unsuitable and environmentally affected
lands have been taken up.

Alternatives for Inadequate ground

• Abandon the site and locate the structure elsewhere
• Design deep foundation to carry the weight of the structure to competent stratum
• Redesign the structure according to ground conditions
• Improve the properties of the ground prior to construction

• The previously useless lands for construction have been converted to be useful ones by
adopting various geotechnical techniques that increases shear strength and reduces
permeability and compressibility.
• The application of various geotechnical techniques that are used to re-engineer existing soils
to improve their engineering characteristics is called ground Improvement technique.
• Ground Improvement techniques may include Soil Stabilisation, Preloading, Stone Columns,
Jet Grouting, Dynamic Compaction etc.
METHODS FOR GROUND IMPROVEMENT

1. Mechanical Compaction
2. Preloading/Precompression
3. Soil Stabilization
4. Sand compaction piles
5. Stone column
1. Mechanical Compaction
 Mechanical compaction is the process of densifying (i.e., compacting) loose (unconsolidated) soils through repeated
passes by mechanical equipment (e.g., drum/sheepsfoot rollers, vibrating plate compactors, etc.).
 The semi-static weight and/or vibratory action of the equipment compacts the unconsolidated soils to a specified level
of compaction determined by a geotechnical engineer and suitable for supporting the proposed loads.
 Mechanical compaction is the standard for most grading projects, but has limited compactive penetration potential
based on the size of the equipment used and the capacitive effort applied.
 Therefore, most mechanical compaction is generally applied to relatively less thickness (typically <2 ft in thickness –
depending upon the size/type of the equipment used) so that the entire vertical section of fill material is properly
compacted.
 Deep Compaction
Deep ground improvement techniques can be effective for projects where loose, unconsolidated soils occur at depth and
where over-excavation and fill replacement (using standard mechanical compaction techniques) are not feasible and/or
cost effective.
Deep dynamic compaction - performed by dropping a large weight from height using a crane or other lifting device. The
impact from the falling weight serves to compact the underlying soils.

Vibrocompaction (a.k.a vibroflotation) – performed by inserting a vibrating probe (known as a vibroflot) into the ground
using a water jet to loosen the native materials The vibratory action is typically provided by a vibratory pile hammer
attached to the end of the probe.
2. Preloading/Precompression
Pre compression or preloading technique is simply to place a surcharge fill on the top of the soil that requires large
consolidation settlement to take place before construction of the structure. Surcharging improves soils via compression,
increasing stiffness and shear strength.
• Preloading is best suited for soft, fine-grained soils that will experience excessive settlement under a structure’s load.
• In partially or fully saturated soils, vertical sand drains are placed prior to surcharge placement, which accelerates
drainage and reduces surcharge time.
• These drains provide a shorter path for the water to flow through to get away from the soil Time to drain clay layers can
be reduced from years to a couple of months
3. Stabilization
• Stabilization is the process of blending and mixing materials with soil to improve certain properties of soil.
• The process may include the blending of soil to achieve a desired gradation or the mixing of commercially available
additives that may alter the gradation, texture or plasticity, or act as a binder for the cementation of soil.
• It improves the stability or bearing capacity of soil by use of suitable admixtures or stabilizers.
• Stabilization has been widely used in the form of lime, cement, fly ash and the combination of the above is widely used
in soil stabilization.
• Stabilizations reduce permeability of the soils, improve shear strength, increase bearing capacity, decrease settlement
and expedite construction.
The methods of soil stabilization are:
I. Mechanical Stabilization

II. Stabilization by admixtures

Soil-cement Stabilization
Soil-lime Stabilization

Soil-bitumen Stabilization
III. Stabilization by injection of grout
IV. Stabilization by geotextile and fabrics
I. Mechanical Stabilization
 Process of improving the properties of soil by changing its gradation.
 It is accomplished by mixing or blending of soils of two or more gradation to
obtain a material meeting the required specification.
II. Stabilization by admixtures
 Most common admixture is Portland Cement
 When mixed with soil, forms soil-cement which is comparable to a
weak concrete
 Other admixtures include lime and asphalt
 Objective is to provide artificial cementation, thus increasing strength
and reducing both compressibility and hydraulic conductivity
 Used to reduce expansion potential of clays
a. Cement Stabilization
 Done by mixing soil and cement with water and compacting the mix to transform the soil into a
cemented mass with increased strength and durability.
 Cement stabilization is done by adding 5% -14% cement to soil.
 The cement requirement depends on gradation of soil.

b. Lime Stabilization
 Useful for treating highly plastic clayey soils.
 In general a lime treated fine grained soil exhibit decreased plasticity, improved workability and reduced
volume change characteristics.
 Lime stabilization is done by adding lime (2% -10%) to soil.

c. Bituminous Stabilization
 Bituminous stabilization provide water proofing and binding.
 Soil particles or soil agglomerates are coated with asphalt that prevents or slows the penetration of
water which could normally result in decrease in soil strength.
 The amount of bitumen added varies from 4 to 7 percent for cohesive materials and 4 to 10 percent for
sandy material.
III. Stabilization by Injection of Grout
 The process of grouting consists of filling pores or cavities in soil or rock with a fluid like material made up of cement,
sand water or chemicals to decrease the permeability and improve the shear strength by increasing the cohesion
when it is set.

Types of grouts
• Suspension grouts
It is a mixture of one or several inert materials like cement, clays etc. suspended in a fluid i.e water
• Chemical grouts
It consists of chemical products in a solution or an emulsion form and their reagents.
Method of grouting
Permeation Grouting
• Permeation grouting is a term used to describe a ground treatment method in which grout
is injected into a porous medium without disturbing soil’s structure and volume. Thus it
spreads through coarse and granular soils creating a cemented mass.
• Water-cement mixes are used for high hydraulic conductivity soils and for lower hydraulic
conductivity expensive resin based grouts are used. Soils with K values lower than 10-6
cm/s are not groutable by permeation method.
Method of grouting
Intrusion grouting
• It Consists of filling joints or fractures with grout.
• The primary benefit is reduction in hydraulic conductivity
• Usually done using cementitious grouts

Compaction Grouting
• This type of grouting involves injecting a thick consistency soil cement grout under pressure into the soil
mass, consolidating and thereby stabilizing surrounding soils.
• The grout mix is designed in such a way that it does not permeate the soil voids or mix with the soil. Instead,
it displaces the soil into which it is injected.

Jet Grouting
• In this type of grouting, high velocity fluid jet is used to physically breakdown the soil structure and
simultaneously mix cement grout with the in-situ soil that increase the soil strength and reduce ground
deformation, reduce soil permeability.
• Depending on the application and types of soils, one of three variations is used: the single fluid system (slurry
grout jet), the double fluid system (slurry grout jet surrounded by an air jet) and the triple fluid system (water
jet surrounded by an air jet, with a separate grout port).
• The soil stabilization by jet grouting occurs due to the hardening of grouted fluid within the soil. These
hardened bodies forms like cemented columns which are grouted in numerous numbers as per requirement,
thus stabilizing the soil. These columns are called as jet columns or jet grouted columns.
IV. Stabilization by Geotextiles and Fabrics
 Geotextiles are products made of synthetic or natural polymeric materials,
which are used in contact with soil or rock and/or other geotechnical
materials.
 They include the functions of separation, filtration, reinforcement, stiffening,
drainage, barrier, and protection
 Geotextile which have very high tensile strength can be used as reinforcement
for strengthening soil.
 Soil Reinforcement involves the method in which a weak soil is reinforced by
high-strength thin horizontal membranes. A large variety of materials such as
rubber, aluminum and thermoplastics, Geotextiles have been used
successfully.
 The stability is derived from the interaction between the weak soil and soil
reinforcements, involving friction and tension.
4. Sand compaction Piles
• Soft soil grounds possess low shearing strength and are highly compressible. The
construction of geotechnical structures becomes challenging when such soil deposits are
encountered at the site and requires ground improvement method to enhance its
geotechnical properties.
• This method of ground improvement involves driving a hollow steel pipe whose bottom is
closed with collapsible plate into the ground.
• The steel pipe is then filled with sand after placing it to the required depth.
• The pipe is then withdrawn while the air pressure is directed against the sand inside it.
• The bottom plate opens during withdrawal and the sand backfills the voids created earlier
during the driving of the pipe.
• The sand backfill prevents the soil surrounding the compaction pipe from collapsing as
the pipe is withdrawn. During this process, the soil gets densified.
• The compacted sand piles functions to improve stability, reduce compressibility, reduce
settlement and to prevent liquefaction failure in loose sand.
5. Stone columns
• Stone columns is a ground improvement technique that reinforces the soil with a network of stone
compacted columns of clean granular material.
• The system utilizes electric or hydraulic vibrating probes to form a hole in the ground and then facilitate
placement and compaction of the granular material to form the column.
• Due to its higher modulus of elasticity than that of soil, it absorbs more load than soil and reduces overall
settlement.
• Stone column also helps in excess pore water pressure dissipation and accelerates the consolidation
process.
• These stone columns are installed in a grid pattern into the soft soils and functions to increase strength,
decrease the compressibility, accelerate the consolidation of soft soils and reduce the liquefaction potential
of sandy soils.
APPLICATIONS
 To improve soils prior to construction of foundations and slabs for commercial, industrial and residential
buildings.
 To reduce settlement in areas of landfill.
 To reduce the risk of liquefaction under roadways, airport runways, embankments, bridges and tunnels.
 As an alternative support system to deep foundations (piling).

BENEFITS:
 Increases in bearing capacity
 Increase in shear strength
 Reduction in foundation settlement.
 Mitigation of liquefaction.
 Cost and time savings over other conventional systems
 It can be applied close to existing structure.