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Draft Well Pile
Draft Well Pile
Draft Well Pile
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
GUIDELINES ON
ISSUED BY
FOREWORD
20 years have passed since Manual on the Design and Construction of Well
and Pile Foundations was published in 1985. Since then lots of advances have
occurred in well design and construction. These developments have been captured
in recent A&C slips and editions of IRS Substructure & Foundation Code, IRC:78,
IS:456, and IRS Concrete Bridge Code.
Engineering has also issued two technical instructions 1 & 2 for design and
construction of well foundation. All these developments, including learnings from
experiences of renowned ex-civil engineers like Vijay Singh, L. Singh and H.K.L.
Sethi have been captured in this draft guideline. We hope to get further suggestions
and comments from Zonal Railways for making it better.
I congratulate Mr. A.K. Gupta, Director/B&S/CB-II and his team consisting
of Mr. P.P. Singh, ADE/CB-II and Mr. Binay Kumar, SE/Design for coming out
with this draft.
( Lalloo Singh )
ED/B&S
CONTENT
Sl.No.
Description
Page No.
1.0
Introduction
2.0
3.0
3.1
Circular Well
3.2
Double D Well
3.3
3.4
Rectangular Well
3.5
3.6
4.0
4.1
4.2
5.0
Design parameters
5.1
10
5.2
12
5.3
15
6.0
Material to be used
16
6.1
Concrete
16
6.2
18
6.3
Steel
20
7.0
21
7.1
21
8.0
24
8.1
Preliminary Design
24
8.2
25
8.2.1
Design
25
8.2.2
31
References
37
38
Introduction:
Well foundations had their origin in India and have been used for hundreds
of years for providing deep foundations below the spring water level for
important buildings and structures. The technique of sinking masonry wells
for drinking water is very ancient and even today small drinking water wells
are constructed all over the country using the same methods as were
prevalent centuries ago. Well foundations were used for the first time for
important irrigation structures on the Ganga canal including solani aqueduct
at Roorkee (India), which were constructed in the middle of the nineteenth
century. With the advent of Railways in India, construction of a large
number of bridges across major rivers became necessary and it was
recognized very soon that much bigger and deeper well foundations were
required for their piers and abutments.
2.0
i)
Well foundations provide a solid and massive foundation for heavy loads as
against a cluster of piles which are slender and weak individually and are
liable to get damaged when hit by floating trees or boulders rolling on the
river bed in case of bridge piers.
ii)
Wells have a large cross sectional area and the bearing capacity of soil for
this area is much greater than that of the same soil at the same depth for
bearing piles of small cross-section.
iii)
Well foundations can be provided upto any depth if only open sinking is
involved and upto a depth of 33.5m if pneumatic sinking is required to be
done. Pile foundations are generally economical upto a depth of 18m and in
some cases for depths upto 27m.
iv)
Piles can not be driven through soil having boulders. Logs of wood which
are very often found buried even at great depths also obstruct a pile. It is
possible to sink a well after over coming these obstructions.
v)
vi)
Wells are hollow at the center and most of the material is at the periphery.
This provides a large section modulus with the minimum cross-sectional
area. They can resist large horizontal forces and can also take vertical loads
even when the unsupported length is large.
individual piles in a cluster is small and cannot carry large horizontal force
or vertical loads when the unsupported length is considerable as in case of
bridge piers and abutments in scourable riverbeds.
vii)
viii)
Masonry in the steining wells is done under dry conditions and the quality of
masonry or concrete is much better than in case of cast in situ piles for
which concreting is done below the ground level and in many cases below
the water level, where it can not be inspected. Even in case of precast piles,
the concrete is subjected to a lot of hammering and damage to it cannot be
ruled out.
ix)
In case of wells raising of the well steining and sinking are done in stages
and a decision about the foundation level can be taken as the work
progresses piles and the strata conditions become known . In case of precast
piles, a decision about the depth has to be taken in advance. If the bearing
capacity of the piles at the design depth is found to be less than the
calculated value after testing, it may become necessary to redesign the
foundation and the piles of short length already cast may have to be rejected
or additional number of piles may have to be provided in each cluster. On
the other hand if the strata is too hard, it may not be possible to sink them to
the design depth and the piles may have to be cut which is costly and
wasteful. This does not apply to cast in situ piles.
3.0
3.1
Circular well
This type of well is used most commonly and the main points in its favour
are its strength. Simplicity in construction and ease in sinking. It requires
only one dredger for sinking and its weight per sq. metre of surface is the
highest due to which the sinking effort for this well is also high. The
distance of the cutting edge from the dredge hole is uniform all over and the
chances of tilting are the minimum for this type of well.
The well is
generally adopted for piers of single track railway bridges and those of
bridges on narrow roads. When the piers are very long the size of circular
wells becomes unduly large, which makes them costly and disadvantageous
hydraulically also as they cause excessive obstruction to the flow of water.
Nine metres is generally considered as the maximum diameter of circular
wells. Allowing cantilever of one metre on either side the maximum length
of the pier resting on this type of well is about 11 metres.
3.2
Double D well
This type of well is most common for the piers and abutments of bridges
which are too long to be accommodated on circular well. The shape is
simple and it is easy to sink this type of well also. The dimensions of the
well are so determined that the length and the width of the dredge holes are
almost equal. It is also recommended by some engineers that the overall
length of the well should not be more than double the width.
The
3.4
Rectangular Well
These type of foundations are generally adopted for bridge foundations
having shallow depths. They can be adopted very conveniently where the
bridge is designed for open foundations and a change of well foundations
becomes necessary during the course of construction on account of adverse
conditions such as excessive in flow of water and silt into the excavation.
3.5
however, advantageous where the length of the pier is considerable and the
sizes of the double D or octagonal wells become unduly large to
accommodate the pier. If , however, the soil is weak, the larger size of
double D or double octagonal wells may be required to keep the bearing
pressure on the soil within limits. Twin circular wells are advantageous only
when the depths of sinking is small and the foundation material is soft rock
or kankar or some other soil capable of taking fairly high loads. Design of
well caps for the twin circular wells also requires special care. Allowance is
made for relative settlement of the two wells and this adds to its cost. The
possibility of development of cracks in the pier due to relative settlement can
not be ruled out inspite of the heavy design of the cap except where the
wells are founded on rock or other incompressible soils.
3.6
4.0
4.1
The wells were designed in mass concrete with 9 ft. thick steining. The
wells were provided with cement concrete plugs both at the top and at the
bottom, the intermediate portion being filled up with sand. A grip equal to
one third of the maxm. scour was required, while according to Gales a grip
of 65 ft. should be provided. Keeping in view the enormous discharge and
the importance of this bridge, a grip of 65 ft. was provided. This gave a
depth of 126 + 65 = 191 ft. below the HFL. Two wells next to abutments
were sunk 10 ft. deeper to counter the extreme scour conditions, which may
be experienced around them.
Jogighopa Bridge near Jogighopa on river Brahmaputra2
4.2
The
Design Parameters3
5.0
L. Singh 1998
5.1
incoherent alluvium and are free to adjust their width of flow and their depth
with equal ease, acquire an elliptical cross section in the straight reaches
with the highest flood level as their major axis.
a)
Where f is the silt factor for representative sample of bed material obtained
from scour zone, and value of f for different bed material is given in para
4.6.5 of IRS Substructure Code (applicable for medium sand) = 1.76 m (m
being diameter of bed material in mm over scourable depth),
The value is generally taken as 1.00 which is in itself quite conservative.
Extra allowance should however, be made when the bank or a portion of the
river bed are non scourable.
Before applying Laceys equation for scour depth, the width of the
channel should be measured and checked with the width calculated
by the following equation given by the Lacey:
L = 4.85Q
10
0.61
water way and w is the Laceys regime width. Alternatively; For design
discharge intensity in cumecs due to constriction of waterway on account of
pier width, as per provisions of IRS Substructure Code {DL = 1.34 (q2/f)1/3}
where q is the discharge intensity in cubic metre per second per meter width
and f is the silt factor
When the bridge piers are placed in the flow due to obstructions
caused by them, the scour increases around them. The multiplying
factor is given in para 4.6.6 of IRS Substructure Code. Increase in
depth of scour for design of foundation due to local scour around
nose of piers = 2DL
This, however, needs to be checked from observed scour around piers as per
hydraulic model study. Scour depth reported by model study need not be
doubled as in case of calculations done for normal scour.
Grip length = one third of 2DL. However, adequacy of grip length should be
checked for stability of well pressure including safe bearing capacity of soil
with all vertical and horizontal loads as applicable under normal conditions.
(b)
11
moments for seismic forces as per dynamic analysis carried out by approved
methods like one done by IIT/ Kanpur or Roorkee etc.
c)
d)
The
SPT value.
For calculating Bending moment both active and passive soil pressures
around the well should be considered.
A factor of safety usually of 3 is taken.
5.2
a)
12
sectional area and ties of about 0.04% of the volume per unit length is found
to be adequate and should be adopted. Check against tensile stresses in
steining causing cracking should be made using following formula both for
seismic and non seismic conditions.
Soil Pressure =
F =
M
P
Z
A
Axw H1 ( w ) H 2 ( w )
+
+
X
P H3
w
H3
w
Where,
13
f=
A=
w=
P=
H1
H2
H3
Axw { w
P
w
4 w
x
7 P
The skin friction of soil varies at different level and is dependent upon type
of soil also. This can be calculated by using following formula:
F =1 / 2 ka.( Z 2Cka ) tan
2
3
Where,
F
14
Ka
This is calculated below LWL. But empirical values are also safely used
with fair degree of confidence.
Stiff and soft =
Clay
Dense sand
Dense gravel =
Grade of Concrete
Concrete steining for the well is traditionally and conventionally treated as
MCC/ Plain concrete only and never as RCC. This is not withstanding the
fact that reinforcements are provided in the concrete but they are meant for
temperature, shrinkage, and bond. This has been the practice in Indian
Railways for ages and has stood well. The concrete is generally not richer
than M-15 (1:2:4)
5.3
15
6.0
Material to be used:
6.1
Concrete
In specifying a particular grade of concrete, the following information
should be included:
a)
Type of mix, that is, design mix concrete as nominal mix concrete.
b)
Grade designation
16
c)
Type of cement
d)
e)
f)
g)
Workability
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
Degree of supervision.
17
maximum particle size, the cement content shall be at least 350 kg/m3 of
concrete.
(Clause No. 708.3.1 IRC 78:2000) In case of plain concrete wells, the
concrete mix for the steining shall not normally be leaner than M-15. In
case of marine or other similar conditions of adverse exposure, the concrete
in the steining shall not be less than leaner than M-20 with cement not less
than 310 kg/m3 of concrete and the water cement ratio not more than 0.45.
(Clause No. 708.7.3 IRC 78:2000) The well curb shall invariably be in
reinforced concrete of mix not leaner than M-25.
(Clause No. 708.8.2 IRC 78:2000) The mix used in bottom plug shall have
a minimum cement content of 330 kg/m3 and a slump of about 150mm to
permit easy flow of concrete through tremie to fill up all cavities. Concrete
shall be laid in one continuous operation till dredge hole is filled to required
height. For under water concreting the concrete shall be placed gently by
tremie boxes under still water condition and the cement contents of mix be
increased by 10 percent.
(Clause No. 708.8.3 IRC 78:2000) In case grouted concrete, e.g. concrete is
used, the grout mix shall not be laner than 1:2 and it shall be ensured by
suitable means, such as, controlling the rate of pumping that the grout fills
up all inter stices upto to the top of the plug.
(Clause No. 708.8.4 IRC 78:2000) If any dewatering is required it shall be
carried out after 7 days have elapsed after bottom plugging.
(Clause No. 708.10.1 IRC 78:2000) A 300mm thick plug of M-15 cement
concrete shall be provided over the filling.
6.2
18
Concrete cast under water should not fall freely through the water.
Otherwise it may be leached and become segregated. Concrete shall be
deposited continuously until it is brought to the required height. While
depositing, the top surface shall be kept as nearly level as possible and the
formation of seams avoided. The method to be used for depositing concrete
under water shall be one of the followingi)
Tremie- The concrete is placed through vertical pipes the lower end
of which is always inserted sufficiently deep into the concrete which
has been placed previously but has not set. The concrete emerging
from the pipe pushes the material that has already been placed to the
side and upwards and thus does not come into direct contact with
water.
When concrete is to be deposited under water by means of tremie,
the top section of the tremie shall be a hopper large enough to hold
one entire batch of the mix or the entire contents the transporting
bucket, if any. The tremie pipe shall be not less than 200mm in
diameter and shall be large enough to allow a free flow of concrete
and strong enough to withstand the external pressure of the water in
which it is suspended, even if a partial vacuum develops inside the
pipe. Preferably, flanged steel pipe of adequate strength for the job
should be used. A separate lifting device shall be provided for each
tremie pipe with its hopper at the upper end. Unless the lower end of
the pipe is equipped with an approved automatic check valve, the
upper end of the pipe shall be plugged with a wedding of the gunny
sacking or other approved material before delivering the concrete to
the tremie pipe through the hopper, so that when the concrete is
forced down from the hopper to the pipe. It will force the plug (and
along with it any water in the pipe) down the pipe and out of the
bottom end, thus establishing a continuous stream of concrete. It
will be necessary to raise slowly the tremie in order to cause a
uniform flow of the concrete but the tremie shall not be emptied so
that water enters the pipe. At all times after the placing of concrete
19
is started and until all the concrete is placed, the lower end of the
teremie pipe shall be below the top surface of the plastic concrete.
This will cause to the concrete to build up from below instead of
flowing out over the surface, and thus avoid the formation of laitance
layers. If the change in the tremie is lost while depositing, the tremie
shall be raised above the concrete surface and unless sealed by a
check valve, it will be replugged at the top end, as at the beginning,
before refilling for depositing concrete.
ii)
iii)
Drop bottom bucket The top of the bucket shall be covered with a
canvas flap. The bottom doors shall open freely downward and
outward when tripped. The bucket shall be filled completely and
lowered slowly to avoid backwash. The bottom door shall not be
opened until the bucket rest on the surface upon which the concrete
is to be deposited and when discharged, shall be withdrawn slowly
until well above the concrete.
6.3
Steel: (Clause No. 708.3.4 IRC 78:2000) For plain concrete wells, vertical
reinforcements (whether mild steel or deformed bars) in the steining shall
not be less than 0.12 per cent of gross sectional area of the actual thickness
provided. This shall be equally distributed on both faces of steining. The
vertical reinforcements shall be tied up with hoop steel not less than 0.04
percent of the volume per unit length of the steining.
(Clause No. 708.3.5 IRC 78:2000)
20
7.1
When the wells to be sunk close to each other and the distances
between them is not greater than the diameter of the wells, they
should be sunk alternately i.e. one sunk the dia in advance of the
other as the wells tend to draw towards each other in case they are
sunk simultaneously. Similarly when two parallel rows of wells
have to be sunk with centers of each at about 1m apart one row
should be sunk before the other or they can be started on different
ends or from the center towards two ends. The purpose of this is to
disturb the least possible area of the soil in the vicinity of well at one
time. It is also advisable to sink the alternate wells in a row in
preference to sinking them one after the other.
21
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
22
the original pit of sufficiently larger sizes leaving about 6.8 metres
clear distance round the well and by not permitting steeper than 1:1
slopes for the walls of the pit.
viii)
Sometimes, in case of well situated in the river bed, the river stream
flow along one edge to the coffer dam made for the sinking of the
well. Generally, the dredged material is disposed off on that side
where derrick etc. are situated i.e. the edge close to the bank. This
causes adverse effect and the well tends to tilt towards the side on
which the river current is flowing. Arrangements have therefore to
be made for dumping the dredged material on the river current side.
ix)
x)
b) Sinking of wells:
The wells as far as possible be sunk true and vertical. Sinking should not be
started till the steining has been cured far at least 48 hours. A complete
record of sinking operations including tilt and shifts, kentledge, dewatering,
blasting etc. done during sinking shall be maintained.
c) Tilt and Shifts4:
As far as possible well shall be sunk without any tilt and shift. A tilt of 1 in
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Manual on the design and construction well and pile foundation-1985 Cl. No. 15
23
100 and shift of D/40 subject to a minimum of 150mm shall be taken into
account in the design of well foundation (D is the width or diameter of well).
If greater tilts and shifts occur their effects on bearing pressure on soil
steining stress, change in span etc. should be examined individually.
d) Sinking of well by resorting to blasting
Blasting may be employed with prior approval of competent authority to
help sinking of well for breaking obstacles, such as boulders or far leveling
the rock layer for square seating of wells, blasting may be resorted to only
when other methods are found ineffective.
8.0
8.1
Preliminary Design
a)
ii)
The overall size should be sufficient to transmit the loads to the soils and
It should allow for the permissible tilt and shift of the well.
iii)
b)
24
ii)
iii)
Live load
iv)
Longitudinal forces
v)
Temperature forces
vi)
Water forces
vii)
Wind load
viii)
Seismic force
ix)
Buoyancy effect
x)
Earth pressure
xi)
Skin friction
8.2
8.2.1
Design
The design of well foundations shall be carried out for either of the
following two situations:
i)
ii)
Recommendations for
Estimating the Resistance of Soil below the maximum scour level in the
design of Well Foundation of Bridges. Elastic Theory Method gives the
soil pressure at the side and the base under design load, but to determine the
actual factor of safety against failure, the ultimate soil resistance is
computed.
25
The provisions given below shall not apply if the depth of embedment is less
than 0.5 times the width of foundation in the direction of lateral forces.
The resistance of soil surrounding the well foundation shall be checked :
i)
for calculation of base pressures by the elastic theory with the use of
subgrade moduli ; and
ii)
i) Elastic Theory
Step 1: Determine the values of W, H and M under combination of normal
loads without wind and seismic loads assuming the minimum grip length
below maximum scour level,
Where,
W
total downward load acting at the base of well, including the self
weight of well.
H
M
26
diameter
for circular well.
.D
M
(1+ ) - W
r
27
1
W ' P MB
}=
A
2I
2
where,
1 & 2 = max. and min. base pressure respectively.
A
B
= M/r
0 i.e. no tension
accordingly.
Step 8 : Repeat the same steps for combination with wind and with seismic
case separately.
28
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
0.41
0.45
0.5
0.56
0.64
NOTE: The values of Q for intermediate D/B values in the above range may
be linearly interpolated.
Ms = 0.10 D3 ( KP KA) L
Where,
Ms = Side resisting moment
29
(ii)
Step 4: The total resistance moment Mt about the plane of rotation shall be
Mt = 0.7 (Mb + Ms + Mf)
Step 5 : Check Mt not less than M
Where,
M = Total applied external moment about the plane of rotation, viz, located
at 0.2D above the base, taking appropriate load factors as per combinations
given below :
1.1 D
....
(1)
.
(2)
....
(3)
...
(4)
30
(5)
Where,
D = Dead load.
L = Live load including tractive/braking etc.
B = Buoyancy
Wc = Water current force
Ep = Earth pressure
W = Wind force
S = Seismic force
Note : Moment due to shift and tilt of wells and piers and direct loads, if
any, shall also be considered about the plane of rotation.
Step 6 : If the conditions in steps 1 and 5 are not satisfied, redesign the well.
Note : Notation, symbols given in the clause 3.0 of Bridge Substructure &
Foundation Code, Revised in 1985 are not applicable for the above
Appendix-V.
b)
8.2.2
Static loading,
31
ii)
Creep of the foundation structure under the constant axial load; and
iii)
In practice,
32
33
(a)
Ps =
(b)
Cc
p
E log 10 c
1 + e0
po
34
i)
ii)
iii)
2c
ka
35
(ii)
1 - sin
1 + sin
Density of soil
comprehensive test.
By neglecting tension crack (Z), the lateral pressure obtained is generally higher and
is considered more conservative.
36
References:
1.
2.
Vijay Singh, BE (Civil), IRSE, Chief Engineer, India Railway Wells and
Caissons, Nem Chand & Bros, Roorkee (U.P.), 1981.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Technical paper No. 335, River training and control for bridges.
10.
Manual on the design and construction of well and pile foundation (1985),
RDSO, Lucknow.
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37
Appendix-A
38
39
40
41
42