GROUND IMPROVEMENT
TECHNIQUES
Harmanpreet Singh
AP
Civil Engineering Deptt.
ABSTRACT:
Ground Improvement is the most imaginative
field of geotechnical engineering. It is a field
in which the engineer forces the ground to
adopt the projects requirements, by altering
the natural state of the soil, instead of having
to alter the design in response to the grounds
natural limitations. The results usually
include saving in construction cost ad
reduction of implementation time.
There are number of techniques available for
improving the mechanical and engineering
properties of the soil.
To improve the strength of the soils, especially
in case of granular type of soils, COMPACTION
METHODS are found as best methods among
all type of techniques. Based on the
mechanism applied for compacting the soil, it is
sub divided into different methods like dynamic
compaction, blasting, vibro techniques… etc.
INTRODUCTION:
Large Civil Engineering Projects are being
executed in all over the country in order to
enhance the infrastructure of the country. Thus
it is increasingly important for the engineer to
know the degree to which soil properties may be
improved or other alternations that can be
thought of for construction of an intended
structure at stipulated site.
If unsuitable soil conditions are encountered at the
site of a proposed structure, one of the following four
procedures may be adopted to insure satisfactory
performance of the structure.
By pass the unsuitable soil by means of deep
foundations extending to a suitable bearing material.
Redesign the structure and it’s foundation for
support by the poor soil. This procedure may not be
feasible or economical.
Remove the poor material and either treat it to
improve and replace it (or) substitute for it with a
suitable material.
Treat the soil in place to improve its properties.
GROUND IMPROVEMENT
TECHNIQUES:
On the basis of mechanism by which they
improve the engineering properties of soil, the
most of common of these can be divided into the
following major categories. These are
Densification Techniques.
Reinforcement Techniques.
Stabilization Techniques.
Miscellaneous Methods.
Apart from the methods listed above, there are
some other simple methods like removal and
replacement of soil. In this paper these are
discussed first before taking up above
techniques.
REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF
SOIL:
One of the oldest and simplest soil
improvement methods is to simply excavate
the unsuitable soil and replace them with
compacted fill. This method is often used
when the problem the soil is that it is too
loose. In that case, the same soils used to
build the fill, except now it has a higher
unit weight (because of compaction) and
thus has been better engineering properties.
This is a common way to remediate
problems with collapsible soils.
Removal and replacement is generally practical only
above the ground water table. Earthwork operations
become more difficult when the soil is very wet, even
when the free water pumped out, and thus are
generally avoided unless absolutely necessary.
PRE-COMPRESSION OF SOIL:
It requires only conventional equipment
earthmoving equipment, which is readily
available. No special or proprietary equipment
is needed.
Any grading contractor can perform the work
The results can be effectively monitored by
using appropriate instrumentation and ground
level surveys.
The method has a long track record of success.
The cost is comparatively low, so long as soil for
preloading is readily available. However, there
also are disadvantages.
The surcharge fill generally must extend
horizontally at least 10m beyond the perimeter
of the planned construction. This may not
possible for confined sites.
The transport of large quantities of soil onto the
sites may not be practical, or may have
unacceptable environmental impacts (i.e., dust,
noise, traffic) on the adjacent areas.
The surcharge must remain in place for months
or years, thus delay in construction.
DENSIFICATION TECHNIQUES:
The strength and stiffness of the soil is higher when the
particles are packed in a dense configuration than they
are packed loosely. As a result, densification is one of the
most effective and commonly used means of improving
soil characteristics. This can be approaches in following
ways.
VIBRO TECHNIQUES:
Vibro techniques use probes that are vibrated through
soil deposit in a grid pattern to densify the soil over
the entire area of thickness of the deposit. These are
classified in to the following methods. These are
VIBRO COMPACTION:
Vibro Compaction is a method for compacting deep
granular soils by repeatedly inserting a vibratory probe. It
is also known as VIBRO DENSIFICATION.
By inserting depth vibrations, the vibrations are produced
by rotating a heavy eccentric weight with the help of an
electrical motor with in the vibrator. The vibratory energy
is used to rearrange the granular particles in a denser
state. Penetration of the vibro is typically aided by water
jetting at the tip of the probe.
The Vibro-Compaction Process
SOME OF ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
OF THIS METHOD ARE GIVEN BELOW.
It is often an economical alternative to deep
foundations, especially when considering the added
liquefaction protection in seismic ares.
It is most effective in granular soils
It cannot be sued in cohesive soils.
VIBRO FLOTATION
In vibro : a torpedo like probe (the
floatation
vibro float) suspended by a crane is used to
density a soil deposit. Vibro floats usually 12 to
18 inch in diameter and about 10 to 16 ft long,
contain weights mounted eccentrically on a
central shaft driven by electric or hydraulic
power.
The vibro float is initially lowered to the
bottom of the deposit by a combination of
vibration and water or air jetting through ports
in its pointed nose cone. The vibro float is then
incrementally with drawn in 2 to 3 ft intervals at
an over all rate of about 1ft/min to loosen the soil
above the vibro float temporarily and aid in its
with drawl. The vibrations produce a localized
zone of temporary liquefaction that causes the
soil surrounding the vibro float to densify.
PRINCIPLE OF THE TECHNIQUE
Vibro floating is most effective in clear
granular soils with the contents less than 20%
and clay contents below 3%
Vibro flotation has been used successfully to
density soils to deep [this of up to 115ft]
DYNAMIC COMPACTION:
Dynamic Compaction is normally used under the
following circumstances:
To increase in-situ density and this way improve
the bearing capacity and consolidation
characteristics of soils (or waste materials) to allow
conventional foundation and surface bed
construction to be carried out. The technique
typically improves the in-situ soils such that
allowable bearing pressures of up to 250 kpa can be
used with foundation settlements of the order of 10
to 20 mm.
Toincrease in-situ density and in this way improve
in-situ permeability and/or reduce liquefaction
potential.
WHAT SOILS ARE SUITABLE:
Most soil types can be improved, including silts and
some clays. The most commonly treated soils are old fills
and granular virgin soils. Soils below the water table are
routinely treated. However, careful control has to be used
to allow dissipation of excess pore pressures created
during the weight dropping.
BLASTING:
Blasting is most effective in loose sands that contain
less than 20% silt and less than 5% clay.
Although blasting is quite economical, it is limited by
several considerations, as it produces strong vibrations
that may damage near by structures or produce
significant ground movements.
REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUES:
In some cases it is possible to improve the
strength and stiffness of a existing soils deposit by
installing discrete inclusions that reinforce the soil.
These inclusions may consist of structural materials,
such as steel, concrete or timber and geomaterials such
as densified gravel.
COMPACTION PILES:
Compaction piles improve the seismic performance
of a soil by three different mechanisms. First the
flexural strength of piles themselves provides
resistance to soil movement (reinforcement).
Second, the vibrations and displacements produced
by their installation cause densification. Finally,
the installation process increses the lateral stress in
the soil surrounding the piles.
Compaction piles generally densify the soil with in a
distance of 7 to 12 pile diameters and consequently
installed in a grid pattern. Between compaction
piles a relative density of up to 75% to 80% are
usually achieved. Improvement can be obtained
JET GROUTING
JET GROUTING
In jet grouting the soil is mixed with cement grount
injected horizontally under high pressure in a previously
drilled bore hole.
Jet grouting uses a special pipe equipped with horizontal
jets that inject grout into the soil at high pressure. The
pipes are first inserted to the desired depth, then they are
raised and rotated while the injection is in progress, thus
forming a column of treated soil.
Because of high pressure, this method is usable on a wide
range of soil types.
ELECTRO OSMASIS AND ELECTRO
CHEMICAL HARDENING METHOD:
The electroosmasis process can be used to increase
the shear strength and reduce the compressibility of
soft clayey and silty soils beneath foundation. By
introducing an electrolyte such as calcium chloride
at the anode, the base exchange reaction between
the iron anode and surrounding soil is increased,
resulting in the formation of ferric hydroxides which
bind the soil particles together. However because
cost of electric power and wastage of electrodes,
electroosmasis with or without electrochemical
hardening can be considered only for special
situations where the alternative of piling cannot be
adopted.
CONCLUSION:
Unfavorable soil conditions can frequently be
improved using soil improvement techniques. A
variety of soil improvement techniques have
been developed. However a suitable technique
has to be adopt according to necessity of the
structure and economy.
Mainly soil improvement techniques can be
divided in to four broad categories; Densification
technique, Reinforcement technique, grouting or
mixing technique and stabilization technique.
Densification is probably the most commonly
used soil improvement technique. Most
densification techniques relay on tendency of
granular soils to densify when subjected to
vibrations. However there is a possibility of
damaging adjacent structures and pipelines due
to application of this technique.
Reinforcement techniques introduce discrete
inclusions that stiffen and strengthen a soil
deposit. The high stiffness and strength of the
inclusions also tend to reduce the stresses
imposed on the weaker materials between the
inclusion.
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