Name: Daniyal Ejaz

Reg. No: L1S23MSCE0001

Discipline: MS (Civil Engineering)
Faculty: Faculty of Engineering
Soil Improvement
Techniques
Thermal Treatments
Introduction:

Thermal treatment refers to the modification and stabilization of soils by two

methods:
1. Heat Treatment (for improving properties of Clayey Soils)
2. Ground Freezing (for temporary treatments and stabilizations of soil)
Heat Treatments
Heat Treatment of Soils:
• Heat treatment for soil stabilization includes burning petroleum products
directly in soil borings and surface heating from close proximity burners of
travelling heaters.
• Heat treatment is an effective method of soil for fine-grained (clayey) soils.
• Heat can affect clay chemistry and has the ability to alter clay mineralogy
allowing for improved engineering properties of these materials.
• Granular soils are generally unaffected by the application of heat at
temperatures less than 1000℃, with the exception of drying, which has little
effect on engineering properties of these soil types.
Different Affects of Temperatures in Heat Treatment of Soil:

• Temp. 100℃ cause drying and significant increase in the strength of clays,
along with decrease in their compressibility.
• At 400℃ temperature, improves the engineering properties of clay like
decreased compressibility, reduced plasticity, reduced swelling potential,
lower optimum moisture content and increased strength.
• At 500℃ temperature cause permanent changes in the structure of clays
resulting in decrease of plasticity and moisture adsorption capacity.
• At 1000℃ cause fusion of the clay particles into a solid substance much like
brick.
Improvements and Applications of Ground Heating:

• It is reported that heat has changed expansive clay into an non-expansive

material.
• Burning of liquid or gas fuels in boreholes or injection of hot air into 0.15m
to 0.2m diameter boreholes can produce 1.3m to 2.5m diameter stabilized
zones after continuous treatment for about 10 days.
• Studies and researches showed that soil strength increases up to 10-20 times.
Disadvantages of Ground Heating of Soil:

• In situ improvement at depth has been successful only where there is a source
of relatively low-cost fuels. As a result, this approach has all but disappeared,
given the rise in fuel costs and other environmental considerations.
Ground Freezing
Ground Freezing:
• The principle of ground freezing is that when the moisture (pore water) in the soil
freezes, the soil particles are bound together, creating a rigid structure with
considerable strength and stiffness.
• Unlike heat treatment, artificial freezing may be applicable to a wide range of soil
types, grain sizes and ground conditions. Fundamentally, the only requirement is that
the ground has soil moisture (pore water).
• Ground freezing is always only a temporary stabilization technique. An important
attribute is that frozen soil nearly becomes impermeable material.
• The technique is currently used for the temporal increase of strength and temporal
shut off of water seepage around open cuts, shaft excavations, and tunnelling.
• Frozen ground can have increased shear strengths of up to 20 times that of unfrozen
soil (or nearly twice that of concrete) by combining the inherent soil shear strength
with that of ice.
Ground Freezing Techniques
Ground Freezing Techniques:
Freezing is typically induced by insertion of equally spaced pipes circulating
super cooled brine (often < -25℃ to 30℃) or, more expensive but much
quicker, by injection of liquid nitrogen (LN2), which boils at -196 ℃.
In the case of using brine,
the solution is circulated
down a central tube and
back up through the
annulus to extract heat
from the surrounding soil
as shown in the Fig.

Schematic example of freezing by circulating super cooled brine

Continued…..
A strong saline (usually Calcium Chloride) solution has a much lower freezing
point that that of typical pore water and will therefore remain fluid even at
temperatures as low as -35℃.
The pipes are usually
placed in a row or “line”
to provide a continuous
wall or temporary
“structural” element to
support higher loads and/or
provide a hydraulic
barrier for groundwater
cut-off.
Example of how the frozen zone surrounding freeze pipes eventually joins
to form a continuous strong, impermeable “wall.”
Continued…..

• Using liquid nitrogen for ground freezing is more costly due to the expense of
the nitrogen (which is expended and, therefore, must be regularly replenished
to maintain freezing), but due to the extremely low temperatures generated
(-196 ℃ or -320 °F), freezing will be very rapid.
• In addition, the necessary cooling equipment is substantially less involved
and, therefore, less costly than a brine cooling unit, and may not require a
locally available power supply.
• Liquid nitrogen is also non-flammable and nontoxic, and it can be easily
transported in tanks. These attributes make freezing with liquid nitrogen
advantageous for emergency stabilization at remote sites.
 Continued…..
The liquid gas is pumped directly into copper freeze pipes installed in (or in
emergencies, driven into) the ground, which immediately freezes adjacent
surrounding ground as the liquid nitrogen vaporizes as shown in Figures.
• The vaporized cold nitrogen
(i.e., exhaust gas) further
extracts heat as it flows back
out of the ground.
• This process may be
practical for small, short-
term projects and/or for
emergency stabilization.
Application of freezing by injecting liquid nitrogen. Schematic example of freezing by injecting liquid nitrogen
Applications of Ground
Freezing
Applications of Ground Freezing:

• Because successful ground freezing

fundamentally relies only on there being enough
moisture in the ground, it is applicable to
virtually all earth materials, making this method
more versatile for temporary water cut-off than
many others.
• Fig. demonstrates the range of applicability of
freezing compared to other common cut-off
methods.
Freezing applicability compared to other improvement methods for
ground support
Continued…..
Ground freezing has been successfully used for:
• Temporary construction elements (e.g.,
excavations shown in figure, cofferdams,
underpinning of existing structures, stabilization
for tunnelling, etc.).
• Incipient or active slope failure stabilization.
• Containment (or exclusion) of contaminated
groundwater.
• Hazardous wastes and toxic “spills”
undisturbed sampling of cohesion less soils,
and so forth.

Frozen ground for excavation shoring

Continued…..
• At the same time, frozen ground provides a
hydraulic barrier for temporary seepage
control of construction dewatering applications.
• As such, freezing eliminates the need for costly
construction of both structural shoring systems
and dewatering (hydraulic barrier) systems.
• In addition, freezing can provide a hard, durable
working surface even in soft and/or wet soils.
• Figure shows a freezing project for excavation
of a deep shaft. Freezing around the periphery of a deep-shaft construction.
Continued…..
An example of using freezing for tunnelling in a “sensitive” environment involved the
temporary excavation support and groundwater cut-off for the construction of a dual transit
tunnel beneath historic buildings supported on timber piles. The tunnel was constructed through
hundreds of the existing piles without any disturbance to the fully occupied buildings above.

Northern Boulevard Crossing, New York

City (Queens), NY In this case, a 40m
(130ft) section of tunnel was to be
constructed beneath heavily travelled
Northern Boulevard, an active subway
structure.
The solution was to use ground freezing with
horizontal freeze pipes to support the
excavation. Due to the sensitivity of the Schematic design and photograph of horizontal freeze pipe array for
support of tunnel section in a congested urban setting.
surrounding infrastructure, special care had
to be taken to accurately monitor
temperatures and deformations
Video Link of Previous Slide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvwv8d0aVjo&ab_channel=KellerGroup