NAME : Ir. MOHD FAIZ BIN NAME : Ir.

SOM PONG
DEVELOPMENT OF FOAM MOHD FAUDZI
NRIC/ ID :
PICHAN
NRIC/ ID : 760905-02-5467
ORGANIZATION :
CONCRETE AND ECO RAFT PILE GEOTECHNICAL
ORGANIZATION : JABATAN
KERJA RAYA DAERAH
ENGINEERING BRANCH GOMBAK
SYSTEM FOR ROAD PUBLIC WORKS EMEL : Sompong@jkr.gov.my
DEPARTMENT TEL:
CONSTRUCTION OVER PEAT SOIL EMEL : mohdfaiz@jkr@.gov.my FAX:
TEL: 03-40518748
FAX: 03-40412024

ABSTRACT
Peat soil covers significantly large area of the country and usually found in the coastal plains of the Peninsular and East Malaysia.
From geotechnical engineering perspective, peat has been considered as one of the problematic soils of poor quality in its natural
state, which is unsuitable for construction of road. Two main engineering problems associated with construction over peat soils are the
instability problems and high rates of settlement. Therefore, road construction over peat soil requires intensive ground improvement
works in order to provide a strong and stable foundation either for supporting construction equipment during construction or permanent
load for the whole duration of the design life. However, many of the existing ground improvement methods have some limitations and
usually found to be uneconomical and impractical especially for the area with deep peat. Hence, this research aims to investigate the
effectiveness and further establish Foam Concrete and Eco-Raft Pile as an alternative method for road construction on peat soil.

INTRODUCTION PROBLEM STATEMENT

The FC and ERP system have been developed by Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Drainage and Irrigation
Department of Malaysia (JPS), respectively. The former is a
new form of lightweight material, whereas the latter is an
integrated system of pipes with comparatively similar
functions as foundation system. Taking into consideration on
the advantage of both system, a combination of FC and ERP
is expected to be able to address engineering problems
related to the construction on peat soil. This study focus on
development of ERP as a foundation system for placement of
FC over soft compressible peat which previously achieved
through various ground improvement methods.
Practically, there are no information related to the physical and
engineering properties of the material used for ERP which
made up from recycled plastics and rice husk is available. As
such, potential deterioration of the material strength when
subjected to extreme environments especially highly acidic
condition, hydrocarbons, intense UV and high temperature is
necessary to be investigate in order to ensure the durability of
the system for the whole design life of the road embankment. In
addition, the behavior and long term performance of ERP
system is required to evaluate as well as the design procedures
also need to be establish scientifically in order to satisfy all the
technical requirements prior to its real application.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

• To investigate the physical and strength properties of pile and raft elements of ERP system;
• To determine the load carrying mechanism of FC-ERP system via numerous geotechnical instrumentation;
• To perform numerical study by finite element method using PLAXIS software to model FC-ERP system;
• To evaluate the performance of road embankment constructed on FC-ERP system through full – scale field instrumentation and
monitoring program;
• To develop the effective design procedures for FC-ERP system.

METHODOLOGY
Several laboratory test will be conducted on the ERP components in order to investigate it’s strength and durability against extreme
environment, dynamic stresses induced during installation as well as static stresses that the system is subjected to in service. Then, a
series of field and laboratory tests will be conducted on the system to determine the load carrying mechanism, bearing capacity and
interface friction of pile as well as the buckling and settlement behavior of the system. Also, a finite element study is then performed to
model ERP system using PLAXIS software in order to develop a design procedure for ERP system. Finally, performance of ERP will
be evaluated through full scale field test complete with geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring program.

DISSCUSSION AND CONCLUSION REFERENCES

Application of lightweight material such as FC is proven to be
effective for reducing the rate of settlement, whereas ERP system
is claimed to be able to increase the allowable bearing capacity of
the soil significantly. The proposed combined method would be
more cost effective, environmental friendly, easy-to-use and more
sustainable compared to conventional methods used for
construction on soft soils. This study will focus on the development
of the ERP system as a foundation for road embankment in peat
soil. The research work will be conducted by JKR Malaysia in
collaboration with DID and UNIMAS. Physical properties and
engineering behavior of the proposed system will be investigated in
this study through laboratory and field test. The system will be
tested according to the standard geotechnical testing and
monitoring to investigate its performance in term of stability and
settlement. The outcomes of this research will benefit the
construction industry in Malaysia for construction of new road or
rehabilitation of the existing road on peat soil.
• Burland, J.B. (1995). Piles as Settlement Reducers.
Keynote Address, 18th Italian Congress on Soil
Mechanics, Pavia, Italy.
• De Sanctis, L., and A. Mandolini (2006). Bearing
Capacity of Piled Rafts on Soft Clay Soils. J.
Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., No. 12, pp. 1600–10.
• Gue, S.S. et al. (2002). Cost Effective Geotechnical
Solutions for Roads and Factories over Soft Ground.
CAFEO2002, Cambodia, 2 – 5 September 2002.
• Ibrahim, A. et al. (2014). Foundation and
Embankment Construction in Peat: An Overview.
Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.
19, 10079 – 10094.
• User’s Manual (2013). Eco – Friendly Raft Pile
System (ERP System): Innovative Solution for Soft
Soil Problem. Drainage and Irrigation Department of
Malaysia.

BAHAGIAN PENYELIDIKAN DAN PEMBANGUNAN CAWANGAN KEJURUTERAAN GEOTEKNIK • J A B ATA N K E R J A R AYA M A L AY S I A