The Art of Grouting and Ground Treatment
The Art of Grouting and Ground Treatment
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David Lees
Grouting and Foundation Works Australia
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Grouting and ground treatment in particular is an art form. Why? Not because of
the civil engineers who do not understand it, and mockingly suggest the addition
of a few bats wings and frogs legs to the grout mix will overcome all problems.
But because although we can put some numerical applications to our treatment
of the ground, how the ground actually reacts to our treatment will vary and
requires experienced personnel at the face to ensure the intended outcomes are
achieved.
In the 1970’s concern over health and environmental pollution led to a ban on
many chemical grouts particularly in Japanxii CIRA produced guidelines on the
safe use of chemical grouts in the UK in 1981xiii.
Our own Australian guru Clive Houlsbyxiv greatly improved the interpretation of
the multi-pressure Lugeon tests in his publication in the Quarterly Journal of
engineering Geology in 1976.
. Biggart xix presented a table of ground treatment based on soil grain size:
Dewatering - The first choice of any ground treatment in soft waterlogged ground
to stabilize the ground or stop groundwater entering an excavation. Well points
are installed around the area. A wellpoint is a tube approximately 7m long and
5cm in diameter. The bottom one-metre length forms a screen through which the
ground water enters. Wellpoints are usually jetted into place, a technique in
which water at high pressure loosens the ground to aid penetration of the tube.
Jetting is suitable for soils of moderate to low permeability such as fine sand and
sandy silt with an average permeability in the range 10-4 m/s to 10-6 m/s.
Twenty-five to 50 wellpoints are usually connected to a single 25-50 m3/hr pump
header.
A filter well consists of a screened casing inserted into a drilled hole with a
graded filter material packed around the screen. For temporary installations, the
usual diameter of casing is 0.3m to 0.4m.
In particular whilst soils may be more uniform in nature as determined by the soil
grading curves, and ground water flow through it may be represented as an
average permeability, ground water flow through a fractured rock cannot be
defined in terms of average permeability. The permeability of a rock mass is
determined by the fractures, joints and bedding planes within it. Where the rock
is not fractured it will be relatively impermeable but where a single open fracture
occurs flows may be as high as several litres per second. Hence even
determining the RQD of a rock mass may not necessarily determine the water
ingress or its groutability.
As stated by Terzaghi14 “No fissure can be cemented with a width of less than
about 0.1mm. For the same reason no fine sand or gravel can be grouted if the
effective size of a compact sand is smaller than about 1.4mm or that of a loose
sand smaller than 0.5mm – the grout merely replaces the material”
GR = D15
D95
Where D15 is the particle diameter of the soil to be grouted 15% of which is finer
by weight and D95 is the particle diameter of the grout 955 of which is finer by
weight.
However still the most practical method of determining groutability is still the
water tests, after all if the ground will take water it may take grout but if the
ground will not take water then there is no point in trying to get grout into it.
Maurice Lugeon’s 13 unit still used international today for grouting:
1 Lugeon unit is defined as as water take of 1 litre per metre of test length of hole
per minute at 10 bars (1,000kPa or 150 psi). The Lugeon scale is sensitive at low
values between 1 to 5 but with higher values of 50 or more and accuracy of +/-
10 Lugeons is adequate, and at more than 100 Lugeons an accuracy of +/- 30
Lugeons is appropriate.
Houlsby also interpreted the data the help determine the ground characteristics
as shown in Figure 5 below:
Ground Treatment Techniques
Permeation Grouting – is the filling of
interstices of the rock or soil, using
appropriate materials and techniques to
control water or to improve the structure
of the ground. Vibrocompaction uses
this aspect to compact the soil particles
closer together.
Compensation grouting – is
essentially conducted through
sleeved grout pipes or tube-a-
machettes to adjust ground levels
as tunnels pas through
compressible ground and was used
extensively on the Jubilee Line
Extension project in London.
Jet grouting – In jet grouting grout is passed at a very high pressure out of the
side of a rotating tube. This grout cuts into the ground around the central hole
and mixes this material to form a cylinder of grouted ground It is a grouting
process developed in Germany and Japan for uniform sands and silts using very
high pressures to provide pile columns up to 1.5m in diameter. A lower pressure
form of this technique is soil mixing.
Soletanche-Bachy have been
responsible for developing soilmixing
with their patented system Colmix®. It is
a technique for consolidating face slopes
in cut and fill in inaccessible or restricted
places and is suitable for very poor
engineering ground. The loose soil is
stabilised and compacted with the aid of
two or more augers which first break up
the material before adding a special
binder and recompacting the resulting
pile.
Consolidation grouting – involves the filling of open joints, bedding planes, fault
zones, cavities and other openings up to some distance beyond the excavation
hence strengthening the ground and reducing groundwater flow
There are essentially four groups of grouts, particulate grouts, colloidal solutions,
pure solutions and others.
Particulate grouts are the most commonly used. These are essentially
suspended mixtures with Bingham properties. This group consists of neat
cement grouts (including microfine cements), clay/bentonite cement grouts, and
cement grouts with other additives to enhance penetration. Depending on the
mix, the grout may be stable or unstable (having significant bleed). Water to
solids ratio is the prime determinant of their properties and basic characteristics
of stability, fluidity, strength and durability. These grouts are generally unsuitable
for sealing high water flows, or high head conditions where they are likely to be
diluted or washed away prior to setting
Pure solutions are organic resins. Their viscosity remains essentially consistent
with the adjustable setting time. These are non-aqueous solvents capable of
forming a gel or foam with specific mechanical properties under normal
temperature conditions and in a closed environment such as poly-urethane, poly-
acrylamide, and epoxies. Resins are used where particularly low viscosity is
required and fast strength gain. They are particularly resistant to high
groundwater flows.
The tunnel boring machine was 10.75 metres in diameter and over 75 metres
long, the largest ever used in Australia and the fourth biggest diameter tunnel in
the world. The assembly shaft for the TBM was located in waterlogged ground
Excavation of the tunnel then continued with drll and blast of the frozen ground
and shotcrete support.
Permeation Grouting – TransGrid Cable 41 Support