GROUND

IMPROVEMENT
TECHNIQUES

Presented by
K.B.SUNIL REDDY
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
alltype of techniques. Based on the mechanism
applied for compacting the soil, it is sub divided
into different methods like dynamic compaction,
blasting, vibrotechniques… etc.
Introduction:
Large Civil Engineering Projects are being
executed in all over the country in order to
enhancetheinfrastructureof the country.
Thus it is increasingly important for the
engineertoknowthedegreetowhichsoil
properties may be improved or other
alternations that can be thought of for
construction of an intended structure at
stipulated site.
Ifunsuitablesoilconditionsareencounteredatthe siteofaproposed
structure, one of the following four procedures may be adopted to
insuresatisfactory performance ofthestructure.
By pass the unsuitable soil by means of deep foundations
extending toasuitablebearingmaterial.
Redesign thestructureand it’s foundationfor supportbythepoor
soil.Thisproceduremaynotbe feasibleor economical.
Remove the poor material and either treat it to improve and
replace it (or)substituteforitwitha suitable material.
Treatthesoilinplacetoimprove itsproperties.
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.Theseare
 Densification Techniques.
 ReinforcementTechniques.
 Stabilization Techniques.
 MiscellaneousMethods.

Apart from the methods listed above, there are

some other simple methods like removal and
replacement of soil. In this paper these are
discussedfirst before takingup abovetechniques.
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
whentheproblemthesoil is that itistoo 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.
 Anygradingcontractorcanperformthework
 The results can be effectively monitored by using
appropriate instrumentation and ground level
surveys.
 Themethodhas a longtrackrecordof success.
 The cost is comparatively low, so long as soil for
preloadingis readilyavailable. However, there
alsoare disadvantages.
 The surcharge fill generally must extend
horizontally at least 10m beyond the perimeter of
theplanned construction.This maynotpossible 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)onthe adjacent areas.
 The surcharge must remain in place for months or
years, thus delayin 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
approachesin followingways.
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 thicknessof thedeposit. These are
classifiedin tothefollowingmethods.
These are
1Vibro Compaction:
Vibro Compaction is a method for
compacting deep granular soils by repeatedly
inserting a vibratoryprobe. Itisalso 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
tipof theprobe.
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
protectionin seismicares.
 Itis mosteffectivein granularsoils
 Itcannotbe sued in cohesivesoils.
Vibro Flotation:
In vibro floatation a torpedo like probe (the
vibro float) suspended by a crane is used to
density asoil deposit. Vibro floats usually12 to18
inch in diameter and about 10 to 16 ft long,contain
weights mounted eccentrically on a central shaft
driven by electricor 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
Principle of the technique

 Vibro floating is most effective in clear granular

soils with the contents less than 20% and clay
contentsbelow3%
 Vibro flotation has been used successfully to
densitysoils todeep[this of upto115ft]
 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
suchthatallowablebearing pressures of up to250 kpa
can be used with foundation settlements of the order
of 10 to20 mm.
 To increase in-situ density and in this way improve in-
situ permeabilityand/orreduceliquefaction potential.
What soils are suitable:

Most soil types can improved,

be including silts The most
commonlyand treated
somesoilsclays.
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
weightdropping.
Blasting:

 Blasting is most effective in loose sands

that contain less than 20% silt and less
than5%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
significantground movements.
Reinforcement Techniques:

In some cases it is possible to improve

thestrength and stiffness of aexisting soils
deposit by installing discrete inclusions
thatreinforcethesoil. These
inclusions may consist of
materials, structural such
timber and geomaterials such as
as steel, densifiedor
concrete
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
thelateralstressinthe soilsurroundingthe 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 with
reasonableeconomy todepthof about60 ft.
 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.
Jetgrouting 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
forminga columnof treated soil.
Because of high pressure, this method is
usable on a widerangeof 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
alternativeof piling cannot beadopted.
Conclusion:
 Unfavorable soil conditions can frequently be
improved using soil improvement techniques. A
variety of soil improvement techniques have been
developed. Howevera 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 andstabilization 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 thatstiffen and strengthen a soil deposit.
The high stiffness and strength of the inclusions
also tend to reduce the stresses imposed on the
weakermaterials betweenthe inclusion.
Thank You