Imporvement of Bearing Capacity of Sandy soils by grounting

Published on 19 Apr 2022. Written by Vinay Raj

In the world of rapid urbanisation, the construction of buildings is been increasing day by day. Due to the limitation of the land tall buildings are encouraged.

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But for the construction of a structure requires a good foundation and the bearing capacity of soil must be good enough to resist the loads from the whole structure.

If the structure is meant to be constructed on the weak ground it requires the soil to be having a good to best bearing capacity to ensure the safety and stability of this structure and also the surrounding structures. This can be achieved in sandy soils by different methods such as compaction piles, Vibro-floatation, etc…

This selection method depends on the variety of factors that includes soil conditions, type of structures that is been constructed on it, availability of the equipment, etc. Soil compaction is used to solve many foundation problems and is specially used to reduce the total settlement of the foundation and especially in sandy soils.

Sandy soils comprise of soil particles bigger than 2mm in diameter. It has very good drainage properties as there are a lot of voids present between consecutive particles. As a result, sandy soil has relatively less holding of nutrients. These soils are very suitable for irrigation as they won’t allow the water more than needed. One of the methods that can be used for soil compaction is grouting. Grouting is the process where it stabilizes the soil by injecting the solution or suspension into subsurface soil. 

Requirements:

Knowledge on Geotechnical engineering

Knowledge on performing CBR test

Performing tests like Liquid limit, plastic limit, etc…

Grouting apparatus

Project Implementation:

1. Collect the sandy soil sample.
2. Wash it with water free from salts and dry in the oven to ensure it is free from moisture.
3. Perform CBR, compaction, Liquid limit, Plastic limit on the sand (usually the result is zero for plastic and liquid limit).
4. Improve the properties of the sandy soil by performing grouting.
5. Perform all the test on the improved soil.
6. Report the results between both samples.

Advantages:

• Grouting is the only way to improve the foundation settlements problem instead of demolishing the whole building and reconstructing with deep piles.
• Grouting causes very little disturbance to the surrounding as well as to the structure when compared with other methods.
• Grouting will offer less risk of structural failure.

Conclusion:

Construction of buildings becomes easier with the use of sandy soil that offers more bearing capacity. It is also used to increase the bearing capacity of existing foundations.

Kit required to develop Imporvement of Bearing Capacity of Sandy soils by grounting:

• NA

Technologies you will learn by working on Imporvement of Bearing Capacity of Sandy soils by grounting:

• Geotechnical Engineering
• Soil Stabilization
• Grouting

Any Questions?