CE 4123
Soil Improvement Technique
Prepared b
Jhumana Ak
Assistant Profe
Dept. of BEC
KUET
ntroduction
If soil near the ground surface is strong and has sufficient bearing capaci
then shallow foundation is adopted.
If the top soil is weak loose, soft or saturated, then the loads of t
superstructures has to be transferred to deep foundation-Pile foundation.
Third method comes under the heading foundation soil improvement
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oft Ground
general, the following types of soil are
considered as soft found:
Soft clay
Soils which have large fraction of
particles as fine as silt
Clayey soils which have high moisture
content
Peat foundation (OC>25%)
Sand deposits with a loose state under
water table
Sand deposits susceptible to
liquefaction
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oft Ground
rom Geotechnical point of view, soft ground formed of:
Weak grounds which are accumulated naturally into alluvial laye
in alluvial plains
Swamps
Man-made lands in off-shore areas, lakes and marshy land
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oft Ground
echanical point of view:
Soil deposits having high compressibility and low shear
strength will be considered as soft ground.
Consistency, qu = 25 to 50 KPa
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ow to solve this problem?
Change the site
Wait until natural consolidation take place
Deep foundation (conventional)
Option to equip the soft ground
Excavation and replacement with suitable soil
Option for chemical stabilization
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oil Improvement
Soil improvement is frequently termed as Soil Stabilization, which
in its broadest sense is alteration of any property of a soil to
improve its engineering performance.
Soil improvement can be achieved through the following modes:
Increases shear strength
Reduces permeability, and
Reduces compressibility
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Why Soil Improvement?
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round Improvement Technique
Techniques that can be employed to improve ground conditions
or to change the properties of weak or loose soil.
Main Concept of Soil Improvement:
Drainage
Densification
Cementation
Reinforcement
Drying & Heating
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NDAMENTAL FLOW CHART FOR SELECTION OF SOIL IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUE
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Methods of Soil Improvement
A. Removal and replacement: Soils that will have to be replaced include
contaminated soils or organic soils
B. Compaction: To increase density by reducing void ratio at OMC
C. Precompression/ Consolidation: by preloading and/ or vertical drain,
electro-osmosis
D. Grouting: void filling to prevent excessive settlement
E. Soil Stabilization: using admixtures and/ or by ion exchange
F. Thermal stabilization: heating & cooling method
G. Reinforcement: inclusion/ installation reinforcement/ geotextile
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. Removal and Replacement Method
One of oldest and simplest methods is simply to remove and replace the so
Method is usually practical only above the groundwater table
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. Compaction Technique for Soil Improvement
The dense state achieved
hrough the reduction of the air
voids in the soil, with little or no
eduction in water content.
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ompaction & Objectives
• Decrease future settlements
• Increase shear strength
• Decrease permeability
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pplication of Compaction Technique
Applicable to wide variety of soils
Mainly used to compact granular fills
Particularly useful for compacting rock fills
Waste dumps, sanitary landfills and mine wastes
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ype compaction of suitable for:
• Soil type (degree of gradation)
• Degree of saturation
• Location of GWT
• Initial density
• Initial in-situ stresses
• Initial soil structure
• Specialty of the method
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dvantages of Compaction Technique
Rapid result can be obtained
Settlement completed by the end of the treatment
Easy than other method
Improvement in properties may continue over extended
time period
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ypes of Compaction
Compaction
Blasting Heavy Tamping Vibrocompaction
Vibrating Probes Vibroflotation Vibrocompozer SVS
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1) Blasting
eep compaction provide a rapid, low cost means for soil
improvement.
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rocedure:
Installation of pipe by jetting, vibrator etc. to desired dept
of charge placement.
Placement of charge (dynamite, TNT, ammonite) in pipe.
backfilling the hole.
Detonation of charges.
Pipe is withdrawn prior to detonation of charges in some
cases.
On others, after blasting a new section is welded to the
bottom and used again.
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uidelines for Blasting
Charge size : 1 to 12 kg
Depth of burial : > ¼ to the bottom of layer to be treated
(1/2 to ¾ is common)
Charge spacing : 5-15 m
No. of coverage : 1-5 with 2-3 usual separated successively
by hours or days
Total explosive use : 8-150 gm/m3, 10-30 gm/m3 typical
Surface settlement : 2 to 10% of layer thickness
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2) Heavy Tamping
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3) Vibrocompaction
Suitable for deeper compaction & cohesionless soil
Grid triangular/ rectangular pattern (spacing 1.5 to 3m)
Different method are:
Vibrating probes (dia 0.76mm)
) Vibroflotation (dia 0.35 to 0.45m, 5m length)
i) Vibrocompozer method (dia 0.6 to 0.8m)
v) Soil vibratory stabilizing (SVS) method
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) Vibratory probe compaction
Long probe mounted onto a
vibratory pile driver compacts the
soil around the probe; penetrations
spaced in a grid pattern similar to
vertical drains
Limited use to cohesionless soil
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) Vibroflotation
Probe includes the vibrator mechanism and water jets
Main equipments: vibrator, extension tubes and supporting crane
Sand backfill is consumed at a rate of up to 1.5 m2/m during the process
Probes inserted in grid pattern at a spacing of 1.5 to 3 m
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Vibroflotation
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i) Vibrocompozer Method
A casing pipe is driven to the desired depth by a vibrator
at the top
The pipe is then withdrawn part way while compressed a
is blown to down inside the casing to hold the sand in
place
The pipe is vibrated down to compact the sand pile and
enlarge its diameter
The process is repeated until the pipe reaches GS
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gure: Schematic representation of vibrocompozer metho
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C. Precompression
Simply place a surcharge fill on top of the soil that
requires consolidation
Once sufficient consolidation has taken place, the fill can
be removed and construction takes place
Surcharge fills are typically 10-25 feet thick and generally
produces settlement of 1 to 3 feet.
Most effective in clay soil
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dvantages of precompression
Suited for soil that undergo large volume decrease and strength increase
under sustained static load.
By applying preloading shear strength can be increased with time.
For reducing excess pore water pressure, vertical drains are provided.
Vertical drains increase the rate of consolidation or decrease travel time.
Preloading increases effective stress.
surcharge loads are used to accelerate the pores.
Used to improve the foundation soil for building, embankment, highway,
abutment.
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ypes of Preloading
y system that leads to drainage of pore water and compression o
l may be suited.
Earth fill are most suitable
Water in tank (for small area)
Water in lined ponds (for larger area)
Vaccum preloading
Water table lowering
Electro osmosis
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ypes of Vertical Drain
Sand drain
Prefabricated vertical drain
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a) Precompression by Vertical Drains
Vertical drains are used to provide radial drainage and accelerate the rate o
consolidation by reducing the drainage paths thus accelerate the process o
settlement in order to and gain in strength of soft cohesive soil.
Vertical drains accelerate primary consolidation only as significant water
movement is associated with it.
Vertical drains are installed under a surcharge load to accelerate the
drainage of impervious soils and thus speed up consolidation
These drains provide a shorter path for the water to flow through to get awa
from the soil
Time to drain clay layers can be reduced from years to a couple of months
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Vertical Drains
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Wick Drains
Geosynthetics used as a
substitute to sand columns
Installed by being pushed or
vibrated into the ground
Most are about 100 mm
wide and 5 mm thick
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Typical installation of wick drains
• Typically spaced 3 m on centers
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accum Preloading with Vertical Drain
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lectro-osmosis
This method is the process of accelerating the flow of water through a soil by using dir
current
Usually space wells at intervals of about 35 ft-then drive grounding rods between the we
Attach a negative terminal of DC voltage at each well and the positive terminal on ea
grounding rod.
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A voltage of 1.5 to 4 Volts per foot between the well and ground rod is th
applied. This will increase the flow of water to the well.
The applied voltage should not exceed 12Volt/ft. The typical curre
requirements are 15-30 Amps per well. Which is a power demand of 0
2.5KW per well.
Studies have proven this method to be extremely effective for increasi
water flow through fine soil (clay).
Flow of water particles from anode to cathode will lead to the accumulatio
of water at the wells is at cathode which is pumped out as anode, as a resu
water
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content can be reduced.
. Grouting
Defined as the injection of a special liquid or slur
material called grout into the ground for the purpose
improving the soil or rock
Types of grouts
– Cementitious grouts
– Chemical grouts
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routing methods
Intrusion grouting
– Consists of filling joints or fractures with grout
– Primary benefit is reduction in hydraulic conductivity
– Used to prepare foundation and abutments for dams
– Usually done using cementitious grouts
Permeation grouting
– Injection of thin grouts into the soil
– Once the soil cures, becomes a solid mass
– Done using chemical grouts
– Used for creating groundwater barriers or preparing ground before
tunneling
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routing methods
Jet grouting
– Uses a special pipe with horizontal jets that inject grout into the ground
high pressures
– Jet grouting is an erosion/replacement system that creates an enginee
in situ soil/cement product known as Soilcrete.
– Effective across the widest range of soil types, and capable of being
performed around subsurface obstructions and in confined spaces.
– Jet grouting is a versatile and valuable tool for soft soil stabilization,
underpinning, excavation support and groundwater control
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. Stabilization using admixtures
Most common admixture is Portland Cement
When mixed with soil, forms soil-cement which is comparable to
weak concrete
Other admixtures include lime and asphalt
Objective is to provide artificial cementation, thus increasin
strength and reducing both compressibility and hydrau
conductivity
Used to reduce expansion potential of clays
Used in surface mixing applications
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THERMAL STABILIZATION
Heating:
Due to heating, permanent change in soil properties are observed a
material becomes hard and durable.
ettlements of clay under a given applied load increases with increase
emperature.
he engineering properties of clay changes when it is heated to about 4000C
Heating breaks the soil particles down to form crystal products.
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) Freezing:
This method is based on conversion of in-situ pore water by use
of refrigeration.
This ice is then acts as a cement or glue, bonding togethe
adjacent particle to increase their combined strength resulting in
an impervious structure.
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. Reinforcement
Inclusion of both tensile and compression reinforcement
elements during construction or installation.
Suitable for any kind of soil ranging from very soft to hard
soil.
Types: Root/ Micro piles, Soil nailing, Reinforced earth,
Geotextile etc.
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) Root Pile/ Micro Pile
Root piles are small diameter (maxm dia 75 to 250 mm) piles with limit
lengths inserted into the ground using grouting or drilling equipment.
Cased boring is made by rotary or percussion drilling for it's insertion into t
ground.
Then reinforcement in the form of a single steel bar is inserted into the cen
of casing.
The hole is then filled up by high slump, cement rich, concrete (with sm
aggregate).
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During the withdrawal of casing, additional concrete is placed by pumping
high air pressure.
The capacity of individual root pile is 8 to 50 tons.
It can be used for any type of soil.
Main use is for underpining the structure.
If cluster type is used then the length of the piles can be limited.
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(ii) Soil Nailing
The fundamental concept of soil nailing consists of reinforcing the ground
passive inclusions, closely spaced, to create in-situ a coherent gra
structure and thereby to increase the overall shear strength of the in-situ
and restrain its displacements.
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Soil Nailing
Similar to root piles for ground strengthening.
Primarily used for slope stability and support of excavation, ground
strengthening.
Nails are usually steel rods of diameter 20 to 30mm that are grouted into
predrilled hole or driven using percussion drilling device.
Strength depends on fy (yield strength) and pull out resistance of grouted ba
Pull out resistance depends on surface friction.
Length may be 50% of the height of excavation to be supported.
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i) Reinforced Earth
Henry Vidal (1969) was first to formulize the rational design with “Reinforc
Earth” technique.
He used galvanized steel as strip metal reinforcement and quality sand a
gravel as backfill material.
Insertion of such kind of foreign material (reinforcing material) and th
compacting the soil to the strength in compression.
Can be used in case of retaining wall, dike, embankment.
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Reinforced earthwall construction
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v) Geotextile/ Geosynthetics
Geosysthetics are materials manufactured from a variety of polyme
used in contact with soil/rock and/or any other geotechnical materi
for Filtration, Drainage, Separation, Reinforcement, Protection, Sealin
and Packing and create cost-effective solutions in engineerin
construction project.
Modern civil engineering construction materials
• Modify/Improve soil/geologic material behaviour
• Developed/Synthesized for specific function or application in construction
• More than 1billion sq m annual use
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eosynthetics – composition
• Polypropylene
•HDPE
• Polyester
• PVC
• Synthetic Rubber
• Natural fibres – Jute, coir
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roperties of Geosynthetics
Ultimate tensile strength • Clogging/ blocking
Ultimate extensibility • Auto degradation resistance
Tensile modulus • Chemical resistance
Creep characteristics • Biological resistance
Abrasion resistance • Ultraviolet and high resistanc
Filtration capability • Tear resistance
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dvantages
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pplications
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ommon Types of Geotextiles
(1) Woven Geotextiles:
Woven fabrics produced from looms. In these fabrics, the wrap and weft threads lie at ri
angles to one another. Woven fabrics are generally preferred for applications where h
strength properties are needed, but where filtration requirements are less critical.
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2) Non-woven Geotextiles
A nonwoven geotextile in the form of a manufactured sheet, wrap and weft threads
directionally or randomly orientated fibres, filaments or other elements, mechanically and
thermally and/or chemically bonded. Nonwovens are used in Filtration, Drainage, Separat
Protection and/or Erosion Control applications.
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3) Directionally Structure Fiber (DSF)
DSF produced on a wrap knitting
machine where the rows of needles
effectively knots the fiber
intersections to produce a
Directionally Structure Fiber.
Fibers are arranged in an orderly
fashion, but can be oriented in a
variety of directions.
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4) Geogrid
A planar, polymeric structure consisting of a regular open network of integrally connec
tensile elements, which may be linked by extrusion, bonding or interlacing, whose openin
are larger than the constituents, used in contact with soil/rock and/or any other geotechni
material in civil engineering applications.
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5) Geonet
A planar, polymeric structure consisting of a regular DENSE network, whose constituent
elements are linked by knots or extrusions and whose openings are much larger than the
constituents, used in contact with soil rock and /or any other geotechnical material in civil
engineering applications.
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6) Geomembrane
A planar relatively impermeable, polymeric (synthetic or natural) sheet used
in contact with soil/rock and/or any other geotechnical material in civil
engineering applications
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7) HDPE
Impermeable geomembranes, particularly those made from High Density
PolyEthelene.
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8) Geocomposite
Geocomposite materials such as DSF/ non-woven composites and
laminated multi-layer composites where non-woven, woven and
membrane are bonded together.
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unctions of Geosynthetics
) Separation
) Reinforcement
) Filtration
) Drainage
) Infiltration barrier
) Protection
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1) Separation
Prevent the mixing of two different soils or materials using geotextiles,
geocomposites.
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2) Reinforcement
Reinforcement of walls/steep slopes: Provide tensile forces in the soil
using geogrids, and geotextiles.
Reinforcement of soft soil: Increase the bearing capacity using
bidirectional geogrids, geotextiles, geocomposites.
Reinforcement of concrete, asphalt: Provide tensile and fatique resistanc
bidirectional geogrids
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3) Filtration
Allow the passage of fluids preventing the migration of so
particles(geotextiles, geocomposites)
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4) Drainage
Provide a drainage function by transmitting liquid
within the plane of their structure.
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5) Infiltration Barrier
The infiltration barrier function can be performed by
geosysnthetics products that have hydraulic conductivity
low enough to provide containment to liquid or vapour.
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6) Protection
Avoid damages to a structure, a
material or another geosynthetic
using nonwoven geotextiles,
geonets, geocomposite.s
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unctions of Different Geosynthetic Product
GTX GM G.GRID G.COM G.COM. HDPE
SHEET STRIP
paration X X
nforcement X X X
ration X X
ainage X X X
tration barrier X
tection
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Ground Inclusion Technique
o insert stiffer and stronger material/ element into ground
epend on:
Comparing the ambient soil
Materials
Installation technique
Performance
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Types: stone column, granular pile/ sand compaction
piles, geopier, lime/ cement column
Granular piles are composed of compacted sand or gravel inserted into the
soft clay foundation by displacement method.
Ground improved by compacted granular piles is termed as composite
ground.
Strength and bearing capacity of composite ground increases &
compressibility reduces
Accelerate consolidation settlement & minimize post construction settlemen
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urposes:
Main purposes s to strengthening the soil, increase bearing
capacity and reduce compressibility of ground
Suitable for the cases of loading and unloading
Accelerate consolidation settlement and minimize the post
construction settlement
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nstallation Method
Rammed aggregate method
Cased bore hole method
Vibro-compaction method
Vibro-compozer method
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ammed aggregate method
(almost same)
ased bore hole method
Bore hole is created by displacement (better) or replacement method up to the designa
depth.
Dia and lenth of the bore hole depends on: Su, dimension of casing or Sand Compaction P
(SCP)
Good method considering cost
Suitable where equipment are not available
Used in absence of vibrocompaction & vibrocompozer
Can be done by : Dry displacement or Wet displacement method
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Ground Inclusion Technique: SAND COMPACTION PILES AND STONE COLUMNS
and Compaction Piles
Sand compaction piles consists of driving a hollow steel pipe with the bottom closed with a
collapsible plate down to the required depth; filling it with sand, and withdrawing the pipe
while air pressure is directed against the sand inside it.
The in-situ soil is densified while the pipe is being withdrawn, and the sand backfill prevent
the soil surrounding the compaction pipe from collapsing as the pipe is withdrawn.
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tone Columns
he method described for installing sand compaction piles or the vibroflot described earlier
an be used to construct stone columns. The size of the stones used for this purpose range
om about 6 to 40 mm. Stone columns have particular application in soft inorganic,
ohesive soils and are generally inserted on a volume displacement basis.
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ibro-replacement stone columns
Bottom-feed vibroflot
Top-feed vibroflot rig
Adding stone in top-feed installation
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FUNDAMENTAL FLOW CHART OF SOIL IMPROVEMEN
TECHNIQUE FOR SHALLOW FOUNDATION
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UNDAMENTAL FLOW CHART OF SOIL IMPROVEMENT
ECHNIQUE FOR DEEP FOUNDATION
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