Q. J1 Engng Geol. 1977. Vol. 10 pp. 57-95, 37 figs.

Printed in Great Britain

i

THE PRINCIPLESAND APPLICATIONSOF GROUTING

H. Cambefort
Ingrnieur Civil des Ponts et Chaussres, Professeur Honoraire h l'Ecole des Travaux Publics

SUMMARY
Soils are injected with grouts, the choice of which depends on the nature of the medium to be
injected (fissured rock or sand and gravels) and the results desired: imperviousness, con-
solidation, cavity filling, the jacking-up of buildings.
Grouts may be unstable, stable, liquids or foams, and are characterized by their decanta-
tion, setting time, viscosity and rigidity.
They produce their effect either by impregnation or by "claquage". For the injection of
unstable grouts, the final injection pressures must be limited to a high value, whilst for stable or
liquid grouts it is the quantity injected that must be fixed in advance.
The applications envisaged relate to:
The treatment of galleries,
cavity filling, and
the jacking up of buildings.
Over-strict specifications lead to disappointing results because of the heterogeneity of soils.
Controls must relate to results and not to methods.

Introduction
The injection of soils as practised in Civil Engineering is very old-established;
it was used by Berigny for the first time in 1802 (Glossop 1960), but it is only over the past
few decades that it has become a real construction process.
The methods employed develop slowly, and while every engineer knows that grout is
injected in boreholes, either upwards or downwards, with a tube-&-manchette or a split tube,
he does not always know how to choose the grout and the injection procedure best suited
to achieve the result required. Usually he simply looks for the most economical grout likely
to give a high final strength, and he uses low injection pressures in order to reduce absorp-
tions and avoid disorganizing the soil. It is therefore not surprising that results are sometimes
poor, as in the case of the Hoover Dam.
In what follows we shall therefore examine the different principles of injection which
must be adhered to, and then we shall illustrate them through a few typical examples.

Part I: Principles
Injection or grouting consists of causing a grout, which hardens over a period of time, to
penetrate the soil; we should therefore be familiar with the properties of grouts which can be
This paper is the text of an invited lecture to the Engineering Group.
 58 H. CAMBEFORT

used for this purpose, and know how they are propagated in rock fissures or soil interstices.
This is the essential basis on which satisfactory treatment can be performed economically.

Characteristics of grouts
The principal categories of grouts normally used are given in Fig. 1. There are two main
categories:
Suspensions of particles: cement, clay, bentonite, or if need be very fine sand, which
depending on their rate of settling give stable or unstable grouts.
Liquids, usually colloidal solutions, which turn into gel after a period of time which
may be predetermined and which is called the setting time.
Almost all these well-known grouts can, like concretes, be air-entrained, but in recent
years Caron has succeeded in transforming them into foams. This is an innovation which
calls for some explanatory remarks.

Foams
Foam grouts are merely a gaseous emulsion in an ordinary grout and hence they do not re-
quire large amounts of material. For example, a cement-based foam is comparable to a very
dilute bentonite-cement grout. But the behaviour of these two grouts is not the same.
Whereas the dilute grout is an almost Newtonian liquid, foams possess a rigidity such that

Chemical products
GROUT Bentonite Deflocculated Aerated grouts
Cement + Sodium -silicate Organic
TYPE Cement bentonite
Diluted gels Hard gel~ resins Cement organic

SUSPENSIONS
Aerated
STATE LIQUIDS
unstable stables EMULSIONS

Sand and gravels High

RANGE Fissures Cavities water
of uses K > 5.10-4m~s K >lO-4m/s U >10-5 m/s >10-4 m/s > 10-6 m/s flows

GROUTING Refusal
Limited QUANTITIES
pressure Filling
control

Relative 4.2 1
COST deposit (:cement 2 kN 10 to
for the with 0.8tol 2 to4 1.2 10
bentonite 500
products
~'d = 1.5) 300 N)
to fill
1 m 3 voids

FIG. I. Principal grouts employed.

 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 59

the grout practically no longer flows after it leaves the pipe. This simple feature means that
the two types of grout have completely different fields of utilizition.
A foam is characterized by its expansion coefficient (g), the ratio of the volume of gas to
the volume of liquid. This is the equivalent of the voids ratio of a soil. Its maximum value is
3 for cement-based foams, but it may attain 50 in the case of organic foams. We may also
take into consideration the bulking coefficient (f), the ratio of the final volume to the initial
volume. We then have:
f=l+g

or again the air ratio (a), equivalent to the percentage of voids:

g
a--
l+g

The surface tension of the liquid surrounding the bubbles has a very great importance.
It is this which brings out the rigidity of the foam when the bubbles all come into contact,
like the grains in a heap of sand for example. It is observed that there has to be a expansion
coefficient of about 0.8 in order for a certain degree of rigidity to occur. This rigidity in-
creases with the expansion coefficient. Such a rigidity does not occur with air-entrained
grouts whose expansion coefficient is approximately 0.2.
To prepare a foam, all that is necessary is to add to the liquid grout a suitable foaming
agent together with a few other ingredients. The resulting bubbles are appreciably spherical
and almost all of the same size. If their mean diameter is d, 80 per cent of them lie within
the limits d + 0.2 d. In other words, their particle size distribution curve is very steep. On
the other hand, the value of d is a characteristic of the foaming agent used. However, in
organic foams with a very high expansion coefficient the bubbles are dodecahedral, of which
the two-dimensional aspect is a honeycomb. The veryhigh expansion coefficient of these foam
grouts corresponds to this perfect imbrication of the bubbles. If we wish to draw an analogy,
we may say that organic foams are the "negative" of a regularly jointed rock, while cement-
based foams are the "negative" of a pulverulent soil.
The modification of the surface tension of the liquid with a tensio-active agent such as
Teepol gives a foam by simple agitation. Its formation is almost instantaneous. This is the
method of physical preparation, which gives foams whose bubbles have a diameter not
exceeding one millimetre.
We may also proceed chemically, by adding to the liquid grout one or more substances
which can react with one another or with one of the constituents of the grout, liberating a
gas which remains in the form of bubbles. For example, powdered aluminium liberates
hydrogen in contact with the lime present in cement. Since this is a chemical reaction, the for-
mation of the foam may take 10 to 20 minutes, sometimes longer. Raising the temperature
reduces this time and increases the expansion coefficient. The bubbles, still approximately
spherical, are less uniform than with the physical process, and their maximum diameter may
attain several millimetres.
By combining the two processes, physical and chemical, or by using several foaming
agents, it is possible to obtain bubbles of different diameters, that is to say to extend their
particle size distribution. This improves the expansion coefficient, as well as other properties
60 H. CAMBEFORT

of the foam, in particular stability. Furthermore, we may in this way match the character-
istics of the foam to the result it is desired to achieve, for physical foam is more resistant and
more permeable than chemical foam.
Lastly, reference may be made to organic foams incorporating monoconstituent poly-
urethane, which form and polymerize in the presence of water, even in movement. These
foam grouts make it possible, in wide fissures, to stop violent circulation of water which
carry along traditional grouts. Against this, their mechanical strength is negligible and it is
necessary to inject a resistant grout subsequently.
These principles of preparation are very simple, but in reality only in the laboratory can
the composition of these foam grouts and the manner in which they are employed be
properly specified. We cannot, as with a simple bentonite-cement grout for instance, leave
the people on the working site to manage on their own.
After this slight digression on the subject of these new foam grouts, we shall briefly
examine the essential properties of different grouts, namely:
(i) the settlement of suspensions and emulsions, or grout stability.
(ii) the setting time.
(iii) the viscosity and rigidity.

Settlement
In a pure cement grout, the particles of cement are held in suspension only by the agitation
of the mixer or the turbulent flow through the pipes which, for this purpose, must be of small
diameter, generally one inch. Since the diameter of the grout hole is larger, the particles of
cement gradually block it up, leaving only channels leading to the fissures and in which the
flow remains turbulent (Fig. 2). But these channels may become blocked before the fissures
are properly injected. The refusal pressure which is suddenly attained is artificial. All that is
necessary to resume injection is to re-drill the grout hole.
Pure cement grouts are unstable. With them, we perform a simple hydraulic fill. For

FIt~. 2. Core sample of cement (diameter 55 mm) taken in a borehole after injection. Note the
presence of a channel.
2ol

I
~ " ' ~ ~ o CEMENT A = 200

15 rch

lO

...

!~i,_, :o__,oo

0 I 9 I I i I [ I I

0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200

Considered sample height in cm
FIG. 3
Influence of the height of the sample on the
settling of different clay cement grouts,

FIG. 4

Sedimentation of a clay-cement grout

injected in a skeleton of glass balls 5 m m
in diameter. The scale is graduated in
centimetres.
62 H. C A M B E F O R T

this reason their injection must conform to quite special experimental rules concerning the
proportion of cement. The injection would probably be just as effective if the cement were
replaced by a powdered stone of the same particle size distribution, though doubtless not as
durable under the effect of water circulation. This explains why, as has always been observed,
it is pointless to maintain the pressure of the grout after refusal has been attained, so as to
enable the cement to set. When stage grouting is performed the immediate re-drilling of the
stage in no way adversely affects the quality of the treatment.
The addition of a suitable quantity of bentonite or clay to the cement grout transforms
these unstable grouts into stable grouts. The very slow sedimentation of colloidal substances
slows down the sedimentation of the particles of cement, but there is always a slight settling.
Stability is not perfect. This settling is not an intrinsic feature of the grout, for it diminishes
when the height of the sample increases (Fig. 3). This phenomenon is explained in terms of
the initiation of setting of the cement, which increases the viscosity and rigidity of the grout.
This settlement occurs even in the interstices of sand and gravel (Fig. 4). Small voids
appear which fortunately are not interconnected, but their very presence makes the permea-
bility of the medium injected markedly superior to that of the pure grout.
The injection of these grouts into a horizontal fissure merely reduces the width of the
fissure. If we wish to obtain a satisfactory result, this injection of stable grout must be com-
plemented by an injection of unstable grout, or else we must use a stable expanding grout.
The synaeresis of colloidal gels, manifests itself by a contraction of the gel and bleeding,
and is comparable to settlement. It is observed with normally diluted single phase silicate

80

D
LEGEND
60

9 SILICATE A PURE

o SILICATE B 20% sol9

+ SILICATE B 4 0 0 / o sol n
"
. - -
40 [] S I L I C A T E C 40 ~ sol.n

O~
C
13

2O

o
PURE Q~Q §

0 10 50 100 200 300 400 500

Specific area ( cm-1 )

FIG. 5. Influence of the specific surface S of a sand on the synaeresis o f a silicate gel.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 63

gels injected into coarse sand. But when the diameter of the particles decreases, correspon-
ding to a decrease in the dimension of the interstices, synaeresis disappears. Caron has
determined the limit by considering the specific surface of the sand (Fig. 5). When this
is greater than 30 or 40 cm -z, that is to say when the grains are smaller than 1.5 to 2 mm,
the gel retains all its properties. It is therefore imperative to commence the injection of a
sand-gravel formation with a clay-cement grout which can penetrate only the large inter-
stices. Furthermore, we see that it is impossible to preserve a sample of pure gel in water.
Its synaeresis presumably causes it to dissolve gradually, whereas this does not occur in soil.
The break-up of emulsions is also a form of settling:
Gaseous foam emulsion breaks up very easily if the basic grout is too fluid, but it
does not form if it is too rigid. This leads to substantial difficulties in the formula-
tion of these grouts.
On the other hand, commercial bitumen emulsions are too highly stabilised for
injection, and do not easily break up in the soil. For this reason they are not
commonly used. Furthermore, bitumen, however hard it is, is a strictly New-
tonian liquid which always flows when it is subjected to a pressure gradient. This
is a drawback if we wish to achieve long-term treatment.

Setting time
By definition, a grout must set after it has been injected in order to prevent its extrusion. It
must acquire a real rigidity, even if only 10 g/cm 2 like certain deflocculated bentonite gels.
Cements are manufactured so that they set after about 4 to 5 hours; this period is
standardized. But when they have been greatly diluted, sometimes they do not set at all. In
most cases, however, the setting is simply delayed for 10 or 15 hours.
The addition of clay or bentonite further delays the setting of cement, which means
that we no longer concern ourselves with the setting of the grout but simply with its harden-
ing, which proceeds slowly as time goes on.
For instance, with cement-based grouts we take absolutely no account of the setting
time of the grout in performing an injection. But this is not so with silicates or chemicals,
variations in the batching of which make it possible to obtain setting in a few seconds or a
few hours.
With chemical substances setting occurs suddenly and, since it results from an exother-
mic reaction, we have to determine when it commences under the following two conditions:
(i) isothermal, which is the condition prevailing in the soil during injection.
(ii) adiabatic, in order that the large quantity of grout present in the mixer does not
suddenly solidify.
Silicate gels, like cement, have an arbitrary definition of setting, because as we shall see
their evolution is very gradual. The procedure varies from one operator to another; some
completely overturn the receptacle containing the gel, others simply place it horizontally,
others shake it lightly to see whether the gel comes loose from the sides, or else perform a
miniature penetration test at the surface, as with Vicat's needle.
The existence of all these methods shows that there is nothing absolute about setting
time. It simply allows us to make comparisons, and it must always be calibrated against the
possibilities of flow of the grout during injection, which unfortunately is not often done.
64 H. CAMBEFORT

Thus, depending on the criterion adopted, injection can only be correctly performed during
half or two-thirds of the setting time measured.

Viscosity-Rigidity
Viscosity and rigidity are the two rheological characteristics on which the flow of grout in
the pipes and in the voids of the soil depend.
Pure cement grouts whose water/cement ratio generally lies above one behave almost
like water.
The addition of bentonite or clay, the purpose of which is precisely to thicken the grout
in order to render it stable, must not be too lavish. We then verify the possibility of flow of
the grout with the Marsh cone, as in the case of drilling mud. Thus we define the "Marsh
Viscosity" expressed in seconds, the time of flow of a given volume of liquid (28 seconds for
pure water and about 35 to 40 seconds for a stable grout). This is a misnomer, because it
results from not only the viscosity, but also the rigidity and the specific weight of the grout.
But the method corresponds perfectly to practical requirements because it defines very well
the flow possibilities of the grout. The use of fluidizing agents is sometimes necessary in
order to obtain both a satisfactory viscosity and a satisfactory stability.
In general, the addition of sodium silicate thickens the grout and markedly increases its
rigidity. It can also give it a thixotropic behaviour. Such grouts may be stable, even with
gravel in suspension. But they are also
~- Setting time for practically impossible to thin out, and
Dotn gels
they are used for injecting large fissures
20
in which there is not too much circula-
tion of water.
Silica gel Increasing rigidity reduces the dis-
tances along which the grout flows in
the fissures. We must therefore add
15 silicate when we wish to lift up a build-
ing by injection. This operation may
A AM 9 gel only be performed by "horizontal claq-
0.

O AM9 10%_ NTP 0,15% uage" of the soil and if the grout flows
A P 1%) too far in these "claquages" the work is
>.10
.m
unsatisfactorily controlled.

J
0 FIG. 6
0 10 20 30
Variation in viscosity during setting, for an
Time (rain.) organic resin and a silicate gel.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 65

With all these grouts, the evolution of viscosity as a function of time is sufficiently slow
for it to have no effect on the conduct of the injection. But this is not true of silicates and
chemicals.
Figure 6 typifies this evolution. The chemical grout is as fluid as water up to the
moment when it suddenly sets in the mass. On the other hand, the viscosity of the silicate
gradually increases with time, and this ultimately means that no satisfactory injection can be
performed well before setting occurs.
It might be thought that foams are too rigid to flow, but since the gas forming the
bubbles obeys Mariotte's Law, compression reduces their diameter. If this compression is
sufficient, the bubbles separate and become independent. This gives an air-entrained grout
which is easily pumped, as is shown by a test made with a foam with a bulking coefficient of
3 (Fig. 7). The foam which flowed through a 12 mm hose, 3.30 m long, became rigid as soon
as it left the hose. We note that the flow only begins under a pressure of 1 daN/cm2, * bring-
ing the bulking coefficient down to 1.5.

The flow of grouts in the soil

The theory of the flow of fluids in pipes of constant cross-section becomes very compli-
cated when the rigidity of the fluid cannot be neglected. There is therefore no question of
establishing the theory of the flow of grout in soil voids of variable cross-section, and this
is a great pity, because the absence of theory makes it possible, on the basis of correct
reasoning, but reasoning based on simplified hypotheses, to arrive at wrong conclusions.
Before reasoning, we must obviously observe what really happens. This is very difficult.
Furthermore, laboratory tests are not much use because it is impossible to represent the
compressibility and elasticity of a rock or alluvial mass correctly.

E
80

/
=- 40
r
o
/
/
2o

FIG. 7

0 N F l o w o f a f o a m grout in a 12 m m dia-
0 3 4 meter hose 3.30 metres long. Relation
Pressure (bar) between flow rate and pressure.

*1 d a N / c m -~is 0.1 N / m m 2 in S.I. units.

66 H. CAMBEFORT

FIG. 8. "Claquages" in a block of sandstone.

Impregnationand "Claquage"
Let us consider a Newtonian liquid, water for example, placed under pressure in a borehole
with permeable walls, fissures or grains of sand. Under the effect of the pressure p the liquid
infiltrates the cavities in the mass, and its flow rate increases with pressure. This is impreg-
nation.
At the same time, this pressure p causes a tangential tensile stress of the same value p on
the walls of the borehole. If this stress is greater than the stress resulting from the weight of
earth, possibly increased by the cohesion of the mass, failure occurs. This is "claquage'"
(Figs 8, 9). This is only an artificial fissure which, depending on local conditions, is propa-
gated over a greater or lesser distance. It may in turn be a source of impregnation.
This "claquage", kept open by the pressure of the grout flow, which is variable, cannot
be of constant width. Thus its extension is limited. However, we may have an idea of the
evolution of these pressures, and consequently of the width of the "claquage", by applying
the laws of laminar hydraulics to a flow radiating from the borehole and occurring in a
fissure of constant thickness (Fig. 10).
The pressure decreases very rapidly in the neighbourhood of the borehole, and if R is
the range of action of the flow, in Dupuit's sense, we can easily calculate that the total
"claquage" force exerted by these diminishing pressures is the same as if we applied the
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 67

pressure maintained in the borehole in a jack of circular cross-section of radius approxi-

mately equal to R/3 or R/4. These values are confirmed by the intensity of the pressures
necessary for re-levelling concrete slabs surfacing roads and runways. The indetermination
of the diameter of the jack is due to the fact that the pressures in the fissure depend on the
diameter of the borehole. Thus in this example, in order that the distribution of pressures
remains the same, we must have 56 daN/cm 2 in a borehole of diameter 120 ram, and
68 daN/cm 2 in a borehole of diameter 40 ram. This result shows that the smaller the borehole,
the greater the pressure of injection can be.

Fi~. 9. Clay-cement "claquages" in sand and gravel. At the bottom, a thick isolated "claquage"
showing the different stages of injection.
68 H. CAMBEFORT

The application of Boussinesq's formula relating to the settling of semi-indefinite

masses gives:
(i) with a pressure of 50 daN/cm 2 and a range of action of about 10 m an aperture of
1.5 mm in a rock of Hooke's modulus of 100 000 daN/cm ~, which is about normal
for a fissured rock.
(ii) for a pressure of 10 daN/cm ~ an aperture of 3 mm in alluvial sand or clay whose
modulus is 1 000 daN/cm ~.
These values, which are obviously only orders of magnitude, show that the increase in
the width of the fissures is far from being negligible. It is this increase which, in particular,
allows the grains of cement to penetrate fine fissures.
If the "claquage" is filled with a liquid, a stable grout or a chemical, stopping the in-
jection allows the soil mass to spring back, the "claquage" closes, and the grout comes out
through the borehole. This is the phenomenon of back-flow.
But if the "claquage" is filled with a deposit of cement particles, the mass does not
spring back completely, and we may therefore prestress it. This is analogous to the hydraulic
fracturing of petroleum-bearing soils, but with impervious filling instead of permeable
filling.

100

~ ,E~=4Omm
75 I ~-~'= 120ram

Z t! 1:)I= 68.2 kg

~ P o = 56.2 kg
50
o
=..

==
==
a. \ ~ Pressure inside the fissure for a ,refusal pressure
25 " ' , , ~ , ~~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ j PProniSehtes t large bore hole and P1 in the small b.h.

j/ " " "-- ---- -._,.__.~--~----- ~ ._._~ _ _ _ _ _ ~ ~

Pressure inside the fissure for a refusal ----"-'--"------~~ /
pressure Po in the small bore hole 9 I
0 J 1 i I
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2'.5 3
I Distance from bore hole c e n t r e (m)
FIG. 10. Distribution o f pressures as a function o f the distance from the hole in the case of a
fissure of constant width.
 THE P R I N C I P L E S AND A P P L I C A T I O N S OF G R O U T I N G 69

The "claquages", always perpendicular to the smallest principal stress (Fig. 11), are
orientated in all directions. They begin by being vertical and finish up by being horizontal.
Their appearance can be detected by a break in the curve of flow rates as a function of
pressures, but such a control is never carried out on site; or again by a resurgence of the
grout through the grout hole when the injection pipe is disconnected, an operation which is
never performed while work is in progress. On the other hand, when they become large and
horizontal, the pressure becomes established at the level corresponding to the weight of
earth, which makes it possible to detect them more or less easily. They are then to be avoided,
because they cause heaving of the surface of the soil, and in alluvial soils this heaving can
easily attain 1 m or even more if care is not taken. This fault becomes an advantage when we
wish to lift up a building. We must then provoke as many horizontal "claquages" as possible
and use a very rigid grout in order to limit its length of flow.
In rock, beyond a certain depth, such heaving is never observed probably because the
propagation of the "claquage", which is always practically plane, is arrested by the presence
of fissures cutting across it. Thanks to this characteristic, uniquely experimental moreover,
w e may use very high pressures for injecting fissured rock. These pressures are exerted on a
small surface and are insufficient to lift the mass in the shape of a truncated cone which lies
above a horizontal "claquage" which is injected in just the same way as an ordinary fissure.

Laboratory tests
In order to throw light upon the injection of fissures with a pure cement grout, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers attempted to fill a metal box in this manner. When the box was
dismantled after the refusal pressure had been attained, it was observed that there was a
small non-injected channel in the upper part of the deposit, contrary to what is observed in
real fissures.
In an attempt to determine the best grout for injecting alluvia, Mecasol placed sand and
gravel in a tank with rigid sides of approximate volume 2.5 cubic metres. The lid was held
down with anchoring cables. Injection of a simple clay grout was impossible but after
placing a mixture of fine sand and granulated cork between the granular material and the
concrete walls of the tank, injection was performed normally. The appearance of the injected
alluvia was absolutelycomparable to that observed in situ: some levels perfectlyimpregnated,
others apparently not, large pebbles coated with grout, more or less large "claquages"
partitioning and stiffening the hole, small lenses of non-injected fine sand, but highly com-
pressed and with a dry density after injection 20 per cent greater than previously.
These tests clearly show the importance of the elasticity of the soil, both in the injection

Smaelst
principal stress

FIG. 11
Smaelst~ ~"~ ~~
principal
The "claquages" are orientated perpendicular
to the smallest principal stress. The initial
stress
"claquages" are almost always vertical.
70 H. CAMBEFORT

of sand and gravel and in the injection of cracks. It is probable that if the lid of the metal box
in the first test had been spring-mounted, the box would have been perfectly injected. The
pressure of the grout would have raised the lid, and after it was turned off the lid would have
returned more or less to its original position, removing the small channel essential to the
flow of the grout at the moment of refusal.
The laboratory results were also obtained in situ:
(i) The large pebble coated with grout in Fig. 12 was observed in a control excavation
of the Serre-Ponqon Dam. The envelope of grout obviouslydoes not correspondto
a void around the pebble.
(ii) It was only possible to obtain injection behind a fissured tunnel lining by allowing
the width of the lining fissure to increase by about half a millimetre at each stroke
of the pump.
(iii) soil deformations are confirmed by the behaviour of poor quality tube-/t-man-
chettes, which twist and flatten in the neighbourhood of the borehole injected.
Thus injection is possible only if the soil deforms, and when we wish to reduce or even
suppress deformations, for example by reducing the grout pressure, we can obtain only a
very poor treatment.
The injection of a liquid grout obviously reduces deformation, but with silicate gels
there is synaeresis in even the smallest voids, and organic grouts are very costly. Moreover,
experience has clearly shown that these deformations, unknown to the pioneers of injection,

FIG. 12. Large pebble coated with grout.

 THE P R I N C I P L E S AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 71

did not render the process unacceptable. Now that they have been discovered, it suffices to
control their evolution during the course of the work.

Injection of fissures
With an unstable grout like pure cement, we may imagine that cement is deposited in a
fissure in accordance with Fig. 13. The flow velocity diminishes rapidly with the distance
from the grout hole, and particles begin to settle out at a rate decreasing with the water/
cement ratio of the grout. Here we see the justification for one of the rules of injecting rock,
namely that we should begin with a very dilute grout if we do not wish to seal the walls of the
borehole irremediably, as is done in "artificial cementing" employed for facilitating the
drilling of very fractured rocks, but never on an injection site.
The gradual increase of the deposit of cement reduces the section of flow, and the con-
sequence of this is that the pressure increases. Since we cannot increase the pressure indefi-
nitely, we pre-set a limiting pressure called the refusal pressure, on the value of which there
is still much discussion because some engineers are extremely apprehensive of heave. But
Fig. 13 shows that this high pressure is
~r exerted only on a very small surface, and
[ ~ beyond a certain depth, and the jack thus
(~) I constituted does not necessarily force up
so l
If we do not wish to bungle the injec-
@l~~----~J~r~"pr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tion of a fissure, as happened in the test
with the box reported above, the refusal
pressure must be sufficiently high to
enlarge the fissure. Thus when injection
[ [ . ~ ceases, the rock, in springing back, sup-
presses the small channel above the deposit
- - 1 '~X, 5 of cement and at the same time compresses
Cement deposit advancing the cement. The fissure is then perfectly

~ ...... .,___ ------

t
Cement deposit once
" ~ downstream advance
has f i n i s h e d

~a ~'''-. . . . ..v. . . . . . . . ~ _ ~ _ ~
I
FIG. 13
Cement
t
deposit advancing Diagram showing how a fissure is injected with a
upstream pure cement grout.
72 H. CAMBEFORT

sealed. To open it again, we must exert a pressure at least equal to the refusal pressure. With
a low pressure, this phenomenon does not occur, and even the use of a very finely ground
cement able to pass through microscopic fissures does not give a satisfactory injection.
The need for these high pressures was discovered experimentally some fifty years ago by
Frangois and Arguillere when renovating the coal mines which had been destroyed at
the end of the First World War. In 1925 Arguillere was led to adopt refusal pressures of
80 daN/cm z. Professor Lugeon also systematically used high pressures for injecting the
grout curtains of numerous dams.
In some cases, for example horizontally stratified rocks, these high pressures employed
over a depth of about 7 to 8 m cause the surface layers to heave. Bringing the boreholes
closer together, which would seem to compensate the limitation of pressures to a low level,
does not give satisfactory results. The only method is to overload the surface of the soil in
order to enable high pressures to be used.
As a matter of interest, Fig. 14 shows the "claquage" pressures measured in the

Pressure P in da N J c m 2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
%\ i I I L I ' ~_.~

10 \N.~N
.'q
20

30

~ 4O
L,.
\
E \\
C
50 ~176 *, 9 ;
\
peee. ~ 9 9 0,,
N~xx 84
"r"

e"
611 9 % ~176 ,. 9 1 4 9

,'.~ 9 9 0o i9

ilJ
cl 711 9 II "9 I

80 9e ~ 9176 9 9

9 eo 9 9 I~-o

90 eel 9 ee 9 !

]
9 9 e9 o.

100

FIo. 14. "Claquage" pressures measured during injection of fissured quartzite-bearing sand-
stone.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 73

quartzite-bearing sandstone of the Latiyan Dam in Iran, where it was observed that injection
was satisfactory only if the refusal pressure exceeded the "claquage" pressure.
It will be noted that at a given depth the minimum and maximum "claquage" pressures
differ by about 25 daN/cm ~ and that beyond a depth of 50 m they remain practicallyconstant,
between 20 and 45 daN/cm 2. Doubtless a complex theory would be needed to explain these
results.
If the pressure rises too slowly during injection, we decrease the water/cement ratio of
the grout, which is commonly between 1 and 10. When the refusal pressure is attained, the
flow rate must not be greater than about 7 to 8 //minute in order to minimize the space
above the deposit in the fissure, in which the grout is still circulating .This limiting flow rate
can even be reduced if there is no risk of the pipes being blocked by cement. The fact that
they are very difficult to unblock clearly shows that after injection it is not necessary to
maintain the pressure while the cement is setting.
To evaluate the initial water/cement ratio in the grout we begin by injecting water and
measuring the pressure and flow rate of this water, and only if this summary test reveals
wide fissures or cavities do we switch to clay or bentonite-cement grout. Unfortunately this
is not always done, and some systematically use bentonite-cement grouts. This is a mistake,
because these grouts spread very far under a pressure which is inadequate to inject the
fissures properly.

Injection of sandsand gravels

Experience shows that a pure cement grout, however dilute, is not suitable for injecting sand
and gravel. All it gives is a misshapen pile of poor quality centered on the borehole (Fig. 15).
This is easily understandable because the voids in such a formation have very different
cross-sections. When the cross-section increases, the cement forms a deposit very near the
borehole (Fig. 16).
This injection can therefore only be performed with liquids or with stable suspensions,
bentonite-cement for example, which flow like liquids - insofar, obviously, as the particles
in suspension can pass through the interstices of the medium. Since it is impossible to have
even an approximate idea of the size of the small interstices (which is more or less increased
by the pressure of the grout) or even that of the particles of the grout (some of which is
flocculated) we can only refer to experience in order to determine the limit of injectability of
a grout. We shall revert to this point.
With these grouts, the pressure of injection depends mainly on the permeability of the
medium and the viscosity of the grout. When the grout sets, and even before, when the
viscosity becomes too high, the flow stops, the pressure rises, and "claquages" appear.
We must no longer envisage a refusal pressure, but we must inject a volume of grout
capable of filling the voids; its setting time must be regulated in order for injection to be
possible. This regulation is very important with silicate gels and with chemicals, but not in
the least important with bentonite-cement grouts, which in general do not thicken substan-
tially until many hours have passed.
Thus, to sum up, with an unstable grout like pure cement which is reserved for fissures,
we halt the injection when the predetermined refusal pressure is attained. On the other
hand, with stable bentonite-cement grouts used for large fissures or in sands and gravels we
74 H. CAMBEFORT

limit the volume injected to a predetermined value. The setting time of silicate gels and
chemicals is determined so that the volume of grout judged satisfactory m a y be injected.
These limiting volumes of grout are evaluated by estimating, apriori, the volume o f the
voids in the soil, which are approximately:
(i) a m a x i m u m o f 1 per cent for fissured rocks. Caverns must be present if this propor-
tion attains 2 or 3 per cent.
(ii) 30 to 40 per cent for sands and gravels, depending on their grading curve.

FIG. 15. Sand and gravel injected with a pure cement grout. The dimensions of the bIock
represent the range of action of the injection. Note the cement sleeve grout on the walls of
the hole.

Cement deposit
PURE cement grout
arriving ~

Sand grain
FIG. 16
Diagram showing the sedimentation of
an unstable grout as soon as it penetrates
sand or gravel.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 75

Because of losses from stray flows, the quantities must be increased--sometimes very
considerably, doubled for example--when a small volume of soil is treated, as in an injection
test or for a bridge pier.
It is obvious that particles of grout cannot penetrate all the voids. We know that stable
grouts settle only slightly, and that with silicate gels there is synaeresis in large voids. In
order to impregnate sand and gravel properly, we must therefore commence with a bento-
nite-cement grout and conclude with a deflocculated bentonite grout which is a suspension of
microscopic particles containing no lumps. These three grouts are often used in succession,
in the following order: bentonite-cement, deflocculated bentonite, silicate. Everything
depends on the quality of treatment desired.
A satisfactory injection may be obtained just as well by impregnation as by "claquage",
though in the latter case there is always a slight impregnation and a careful watch must be
kept for heaving of the soil. "Claquage" is in fact highly effective for since the "claquages"
are formed from different points of numerous boreholes, they cross one another and parti-
tion the soil. The most outstanding example of the quality of such a treatment is provided by
the grout curtain of the High Asswan Dam (Fig. 17). Spot checks of permeability in the cur-
tain have shown no significant decline in permeability. The measurement of piezometric
levels upstream and downstream from the curtain confirms that the latter is of the required
quality.
As in the injection of fissures, bringing the boreholes closer together and using penetra-
ting grouts do not greatly improve the treatment of surface layers, which must be overloaded
in order that they may be properly injected.

Limits of injectability
Chemical grouts, as fluid as water, can theoretically replace water wherever it is found,
silts and clays included. Unfortunately the very low permeability of these latter soils neces-

+196
+182 _Jr

..~.,,,~"'~//./ Upstream / R e x o \ ~ , / / / / / / / ~ . ~ . _
~//////p!ezometer s _~_~_~, +130

9 "./' Watertight ~ . * .'. ". "~ " '~ ~ I1:

9 ..-/-o 9 .. c u ~ ' . . . - - ~ .o- .~11=~
135m~ ,~ .~.. ". ~ ~ . . [ ~ P i e z o m e t e r s
9 " . ~ . .~ " . ~' " " ,~ , . " " " ~' . , . " 9 ' ~ " ,a 9
9

' - 9 " ~ " " " ~ . . -- U -" 9 , ~ . - . . <~ , ~ " , , . . - " ~ .

\ x . " "
N \ \ \ \ .... \ , .. \ \ . ~. ~ . \ \ \

\ ~ . Very heterogeneous sandstone mixtures, low permeability x ~ . - " , x

Red rock

FI~. 17. Grout curtain of the High Asswan Dam.

76 H. CAMBEFORT

sitates excessively lengthy injection, and this duration cannot be reduced by increasing the
pressure, otherwise "claquages" appear. The limit of injectability then depends on economic
conditions, in the light of the permeability of the soil.
The injectability of silicates depends on a similar condition; moreover the flow is
slowed down by increase in the viscosity of the grout.
Suspensions of cement, the largest particles of which are about one-tenth of a milli-
metre in diameter, can only penetrate fissures 0.15 to 0.2 mm wide. For this reason some
engineers use very finely ground cement, or screen the cement to remove the largest particles.
But since the injection is satisfactory only if the refusal pressure is high, these are costly and
pointless operations. The fissures open sufficiently to allow the coarsest particles to pass,
or else they are firmly closed by the prestressing of the rock due to the injection of neigh-
bouring fissures.
Since the range of action of these grouts increases with their water/cement ratio, we
can almost say that the limit of injectability of fissures depends on the quantity of cement in
the grout.
Many experimental workers have attempted to define the limiting particle size distri-
bution curve of a sand capable of being injected by a suspension of given particle size. No
two results are identical, simply because it is not the grains of sand which are involved, but
the pores. Porometry should be performed, but since this depends on numerous parameters
we prefer to have recourse to permeability, which includes them all. The different limits in
Fig. 18 were determined experimentally in situ in this way. The practical lower limit cor-
responds to a soil whose permeability is in the neighbourhood of 10 .6 m/s, that is to say a
very fine sand containing a small amount of silt. Argillaceous silt, and afortiori clay, are
practically impossible to impregnate, but they can be improved by "claquage" at the cost of
a great deal of time and expense.
Because of their high rigidity, foams are used to fill very large cavities. It suffices to
pour them on to a heap of rubble comprising large voids to observe that the foam penetrates
these voids only very slightly (Fig. 19). This is a very appreciable property in the filling of a
cavern, the bottom of which is often covered by large piles of debris. This simple test shows
the great difference between the use of foams and the use of very dilute clay-sand grouts of
comparable cost. Only very small voids are not injected by the latter.
Paradoxically, though foams hardly penetrate at all, it suffices to aerate a grout to
make it penetrate voids which it would not otherwise fill. The gaseous bubbles, essentially
deformable, must prevent the solid particles from forming arches at the entrance of the
interstices, and they are too few in number to increase rigidity considerably. Hence aeration
increases the penetrating power of a grout, but to only a slight extent.

Injection pressures
In principle, we do not concern ourselves with the pressure of injection of stable grouts in
sand or gravel. But if the surface of the soil heaves, it means that horizontal "claquages"
have formed and that the pressure is too high. We must then use a more penetrating grout.
Whenwe use tube-~t-manchettes, the pressure measured at the top of the hole does not cor-
respond to that exerted in the soil, because of the very considerable losses of head through
the tube-~-manchettes and the fissures in the sleeve grout, so it is just as well that we do not
 THE P R I N C I P L E S AND A P P L I C A T I O N S OF G R O U T I N G 77
1000

,..,...

t-
100-

~ lO
Clay.cement ......
'Hard sodium silicate g e l - defloculated bentonite
S Semi-hard sodium silicate g e l _ Lignochromes
E
"0 J ' Very diluted silicate gel - Bitumen emulsions (the limit is governed
1
e- by the viscosity evolution )
Organic resins ( t h e limit corresponds
to normal grouting conditions)

0.1 I ~ I I I
10-6 10-5 10-4 10-3 10-2 10-1
Ground permeability (K) in m/s
FIG. 18
Limit of injectability of grouts,
based on the permeability of sands
and gravels.

FIG. 19

Partial penetration of a foam

grout in rockfill.
78 H. CAMBEFORT

have to control this pressure. It should be borne in mind that the grout sealing the tube-'~-
manchettes is sometimes so resistant that pressures of 70 to 80 daN/cm 2 are necessary to
open the sleeves. After this operation, the pressure measured drops to a reasonable value,
for example 10 to 30 daN/cm 2, depending on circumstances. On the other hand, if this sleeve
grout is not sufficiently resistant, it is extruded as soon as the pressure rises.
The control of the injection pressure assumes prime importance when we wish to bond
a metal sheeting to a concrete lining. Advantage must be taken of the injection holes made in
the sheeting in order to follow the progress of the grout and operate under static charge or
with a satisfactory calibrated valve so that filling is complete and is achieved without blistering
the metal. Fortunately it is almost always possible to calculate this blistering pressure.
These injections for bonding sheeting are unquestionably the most difficult to perform,
and they are often imperfect. This is due to the fact that the void to be filled is perfectly
demarcated and covers a large area. The jack effect is immediate.
Thus we may use high refusal pressure only if we are certain that the grout cannot easily
spread over a large surface. In order to be certain of this, it suffices to commence the injection
in such a way as to close these voids. In general, the fissuring of the rock is sufficiently
slight for this closure to occur automatically during injection. But this is not always so, for
example, when injecting behind tunnel linings where the excavation has caused decom-
pression and dislocation of the rock to a certain depth. Furthermore, voids often remain
between the concrete and the rock, especially in the crown. Injection must then be performed
in several stages, as indicated in the examples given below.

Characteristics of injected soils

We shall not stress the durability of treatment, which as experience shows is always excellent
when the grouts have been correctly chosen and injected in the prescribed manner. On the
other hand, we must know the effect of injections on mechanical strength and permeability.

Mechanical strength
Strengths measured on samples of pure grout are only of academic interest, because they do
not allow us to predict the behaviour of the injected soil.
Cement filling a fissure cannot collapse because it is a thin film. The most that can
happen is that it may crackle perpendicularly to its plane, which is not particularly trouble-
some. However, if the injection has been made with a too dilute bentonite-cement grout, the
compression of the fissure may cause the structure of the grout to collapse. This pheno-
menon can be reproduced by a simple consolidation test in an oedometer which defines a
limiting pressure, quite analogous to the consolidation pressure of clay.
If the grout is plastic, for example a silicate grout, the pressure causing its lateral ex-
trusion is given by Prandtl's formula (Fig. 20). For instance, with a cohesion of 1 N/cm 2
(100 g/cm~), e = 1 cm, 1 = 10 m, the mean limiting pressure is 50 daN/cm 2. This explains at
the same time why a thin clay filling of fissures is not dangerous. It is pointless to try to wash
it out at any price before injection. It can be easily verified that the pressure of water in the
plane of the fissure extrudes it only at still higher values.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 79

Epoxy resins, which are adhesives, make it possible to regenerate fissured concrete
structures. The filling is markedly stronger than the concrete, in compression and in tension,
but its modulus of elasticity is much lower: 30 000 daN/cm 2 as compared with 200 000 in the
case of concrete. This has an unexpected consequence: the deflection of a fissured beam
under load is the same whether the fissures are open or injected, which obviously does not
mean that injection serves no purpose.
With sands and gravels, the phenomena are different. Tests on samples of mortar show
that:
(i) if the volume of a stable grout injected exceeds the volume of the voids in the
medium, a soil with internal friction is gradually transformed into a uniquely
cohesive body (Fig. 21).
(ii) the injection of silicate gives strengths which increase with the specific surface of
the sand (Fig. 22); hence fine sands give the highest strengths.
(iii) certain organic resins have a true chemical affinity for grains of sand. They behave
like adhesives and the strength of the mortar bears no comparison with that of the
pure grout. It may be up to five times greater.
Resistance to extrusion may easily be very high. The tests summed up in Fig. 23 lead to
an extrusion pressure of about 18 daN/cm 2 for a deflocculated bentonite gel (C = 0.1 N/cm z
or 10 g/cm 2) injected over a distance of 1 m in a sand of average grain size 2 mm, which is the
limit beyond which synaeresis occurs.
It is only with foams that measurements of strength made on pure grout are acceptable,
since we use these grouts only for filling cavities. Fig. 24 gives an idea of the resistances which

p ~ t
2C 4 4e

P 2
2c
PRANDTL
distribution
I
Slip planes

I
plate

i I

plate

. t/z J
-I

Fit. 20. Pressure distribution causing flow of a plastic body between two rigid plates of infinite
length and width 1.
80 H. CAMBEFORT
+
T 40

3O

20
+.

2,05 ~+
./
2.00!
"o

1.95
/ Volume of voids
i n soil structure
10

1.90I",300 400 500 600 700 800 900 (cm3)

Grout volume per litre of sand

FIG. 21. Influence of the percentage of grout on the density and angle of internal
friction of a sand.

25 /

20 I/
"Eo
\
z 15 /-
/
Q
I-
j /

2 1 o j ~

CC /

v~
0
0 10 50 100 200 :300 400 500 600 800 1000
Specific surface area (cm-1)

FIG. 22. Compressive strength of mortars incorporating sand and silicate gel. It
varies linearly with the square root of the specific surface of the sand.
 THE P R I N C I P L E S AND A P P L I C A T I O N S OF G R O U T I N G 81

are possible. We note that physical foams are markedly stronger than chemical foams,
probably because their bubbles are much smaller. Doubtless there is no need to point out
that the higher the strength, the more costly the grout.
Lastly, it should be pointed out that account is never taken of the shear strength of an
injected soil. This is understandable in the case of fissures whose sides are rarely clean
enough to ensure satisfactory adherence between the grout and the rock. And with sand and
gravel, which are always heterogeneous, we are never sure that the grout has impregnated
them perfectly.

500

-I- Spheres ~ 16.1 mm /

9 .... ~ 10.3 mm /
x .... ~" 5.02 mm /4
400 o --,,-- ~ 3.15 mm / /
Z~ --',-- ~ 1.12 mm ,/" ~"

2.15 < C < 41.5 g / c m 2 / /

30 < 1. < 3 0 0 mm L,o~,f ,~"7" " o
.o.~ .O,e.,. ~o~ ~/ o/
,oo 7 ,-2' /
c ~Y I ,,~.',5," . 7
7 ',o7" , , + o ~ "

§
,/ 9 ~ x J
/~" "/: /"
100
/y
J+ x .f
,/
o /

++7. ~
o/0 100 200 300 400
].S (l-n)

FIG. 23. Extruding pressure P for a grout of cohesion C, in function of the specific surface S,
the percentage of voids n, and the length injected 1.
82 H. CAMBEFORT

75-

:e'a e grout
e- ..Q
50- 0

25- E
~

O3
Chemical ..<'x"~
ae rated ~ ~
grout ~ ..'~~,//
r
I I I

0.25 0,5 cement 0.75

water + gas

FIo. 24. Compressive strength of a foam grout incorporating cement (CLK 325) (expansion
between 80 per cent and 120 per cent).

Permeability
As in the case of strength, tests on pure grout allow only comparisons to be made.
The bubbles in air-entrainedgrouts have practically no effect on the permeability of the
grout. They are manifestly too few in number. But with foam grouts permeability increases
very markedly with aeration (Fig. 25). Injected into gravel, permeability increases very
quickly from the point of injection because, as a result of the drop in pressure, the bulking of
the foam increases (Fig. 26).
The final permeability of the injected medium is never uniform and depends almost
entirely on the proportion of non-injected voids which always remain: very fine fissures or
very fine sands, insofar as the latter are not partitioned by "claquages" as at Asswan
(Fig. 17). An outstanding example is provided by the grout curtain of the Notre-D ame de
Commiers Dam in which an attempt was made to perform impregnation only (Fig. 27).
Local permeabilities are very variable.
What counts is the average permeability, deduced from seepage measurement through
the completed curtains. We note, for example, that we cannot go below about 5.10 -6 m/s for
sand and gravel. And to arrive at this value, great care must be taken in the injection.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 83

In fissured rock it is possible to achieve about one-tenth o f this, namely 5.10 -7 m/s.
This is p r o b a b l y due to the fact that the percentage of voids in this m e d i u m is m u c h less
than that o f sand-gravel alluvia, and also to the fact that fine fissures which have not been
injected have been closed by the injection of others under high pressure.

10 -4 .

.,.,,

E <,
E
---' 10-5

~ lO-S_

3.111 - 6

10-6i ' ' i

,oo
' , ' ' , l

A E R A T I O N
. l . ,

z;o 70
s
|'

0
' I

1
'

D i s t a n c e from
I

2m

i n j e c t i o n point

FIG. 26. Permeabifity, as a function of the

FIG. 25. Permeability of a foam as a function of distance from the point of injection, of
its air ratio. a foam injected gravel (2.5-25 mm).

FrG. 27. Permeability measured in a grout curtain of the Notre-Dame de Commiers Dam.
84 H. CAMBEFORT

Part I1" Applications

This second part will be very short, because the many applications of injection have been
dealt with in numerous publications to which reference may easily be made. However, we
considered it worthwhile to give some examples concerning:
(i) consolidation of rock at very high pressure.
(ii) the filling of large caverns.
(iii) ground heaving.
Anchoring tie-rods, an operation much to the fore, may also be performed by injection.
But it is a special injection in soft soils. The grout is a paste of very high cement content
which must be as fluid as possible; we wish it to remain in a cavity, the borehole, and at the
same time to take advantage of the pressure in order to increase the diameter of the latter so
as to constitute a bulb (Fig. 28). This can be done without too much difficulty, but no specific
rule has yet been established.
Sealing in rock is not necessarily performed by injection, even for tie-rods of 10 M N
(1000 tons). But when we use injection, experience has shown that the sealing is more
satisfactory when the fissures in the rock have not been previously sealed. This is under-
standable, since the water is easily expelled from the grout.

Treatment of pressure tunnels

As in the case of the anchoring tie-bars, the water pressure inside a tunnel tends to increase
its diameter. If the modulus of elasticity of the rock is too low, the deformations may
fissure the concrete lining and even tear off the steel sheeting, which is particularly rigid. To

Fie. 28. Section of a tie-back bulb in a soft soil.

 THE P R I N C I P L E S AND A P P L I C A T I O N S OF G R O U T I N G 85

avoid these disorders, we must treat the part of the rock which is decompressed by the ex-
cavation of the gallery, so as to restore its initial characteristics.

The treatment of the pressure tunnel at Montpezat (Auroy 1956), 2.30 m in internal
diameter and 1446 m long, was performed as shown in Fig. 29.
First stage: Bonding the concrete lining. The holes penetrate only 20 cm into the rock.
Refusal pressure 10 to 15 daN/cm 2. Total absorption 2.71 M N (271 tons) of cement.
Second stage: Consolidation of the rock. The above holes are prolonged by 2 to 4 m
and the refusal pressure is increased from 20 to 100 daN/cm 2 to allow for the service load.
Total absorption 2.28 M N of cement.
Third stage: Bonding the sheeting. Refusal pressure 2 to 4 daN/cm 2. Absorption
0.83 M N of cement.
The grout was an unstable grout composed of cement, fly ash, and where necessary,
fine sand.
The different measurements made (seismic measurements, increase in volume and
diameter of the penstock under load) show that the modulus of elasticity of the decom-
pressed rock, estimated at 84 000 daN/cm 2, had risen to 124 000 daN/cm 2 while the sound
rock had a modulus between 128 000 and 180 000 daN/cm 2.

The head race gallery of the Roselend Scheme. After performing various fruitless tests to
waterproof the head race gallery with prestressed concrete lining, an attempt was made to
achieve the desired result by injection. For this purpose, a test cavern 45 m long was marked
out in the gallery excavated in crystalline schist. This test cavern was 2 m in diameter and,
to make the test sufficiently severe, it was located where the head race passes through a
major fault at a slight angle to the horizontal which had considerably crushed the rock
(Pousse & Jacquin 1961).
The treatment was performed with an unstable grout in a manner comparable with the
previously cited case, though much more progressively in order to allow for the substantial
fracturing of the rock (Fig. 30).
First stage: Filling of the voids behind the lining. The holes did not penetrate the rock.
Refusal pressure 5 daN/cm 2. Absorption 250 kN of cement and 50 k N of fine sand.
Second stage: The holes were prolonged a further 300 mm into the rock. Refusal
pressure 10 daN/cm ~. Absorption 50 k N of cement.

Q
10 _ S e a l i n g _
O
3 ~ Sealin.g_
FIG. 29
the concrete 2 o_ Treatment the lining_
10 to 15 da N/cm2 100 daN/cm2 4 daN/cm2 Treatment of the Montpezat
pressure tunnel.
86 H. CAMBEFORT

Third stage: The boreholes were further prolonged 1 m into the rock. Refusal pressure
20 daN/cm 2. Absorption 120 kN of cement.
At this stage, the cavern was filled and subjected to a pressure p. If q is the rate of flow
of leakage in litres per minute per metre length, we can write q = Ap. This test gave A = 0.89,
as compared with A ----- 12 before the construction of the lining. This was an appreciable
result, but an attempt was made to improve it.
Fourth stage: Intermediate rings of holes were drilled, comprising 3 boreholes instead
of 4, and drilled to between 4 and 4.5 m into the rock. In one out of every two of these rings,
the refusal pressure was 50 daN/cm 2, and in the others 60 daN/cm 2. Absorption of cement
300 kN. This time A =- 0.20.
Fifth stage: Eight new rings of holes, identical to the previous ones and also spaced
2 m apart, were set up in the most crushed zone of the fault. Refusal pressure 100 daN/cm 2.
Absorption of cement 120 kN.
The rapid loading of the cavern gave A = 0.089, and a test lasting one month and a half
brought this value to 0.051 as compared with 12 initially, a 235-fold reduction.
It cannot be said that high pressures damaged the rock.
The gallery was treated by means of rings of 12 radial boreholes 3 m long spaced 2.50 m
apart. One borehole in two was injected at 40 daN/cm 2, then they were all injected at
80 daN/cm 2. The cement absorption was about 5 kN per metre of gallery.

The tail race tunnels of the Coo-Trois Ponts Power Station must have a lining prestressed at
least to 52 daN/cm 2. They are excavated in phyllites, more or less quarzitic. The treatment
was developed following a test on 20 m of the gallery 5.5 m in diameter, astride a clay-filled
fracture 2 to 3 cm thick. Several
different control measurements
were made in the course of the

Q
work (Funcken et al. 1971).
.30m ~ lm

1. Void filling
5 da N / c m 2 2 . Sealing. the
concrete 3 . Treatment
10 da N / c m 2 begins
20 da N / c m 2

4.50 m
M
4 . Overall t r e a t m e n t
5 0 & 60 da N J c m 2

5 . Localized t r e a t m e n t
FIG. 30
100 da N / c m 2 Trial treatment of the Roselend head
race tunnel.
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF G R O U T I N G 87

Subsequent operations were similar to those described previously (Fig. 31):

First stage: Filling of the upper section with a cement-sand-bentonite grout. Refusal
pressure 2 daN/cm ~. Total absorption of dry materials 607 kN, equivalent to 1.32 kN per
square metre of contact.
Second stage: Bonding of the lining with 8 holes penetrating 20 cm into the rock.
Cement grout with a water/cement ratio of 4 containing 3 per cent bentonite. Refusal
pressure 10 daN/cm 2. Total absorption 100 k N (0.22 kN/m2).
Third stage: The holes were extended 5 m into the rock. Injection of pure cement grout
with a water/cement ratio between 8 and 1. In some rings, the boreholes were injected in the
forward direction in two stages, each 2.50 m long. Refusal pressure in the neighbourhood of
the lining were 40 daN/cm 2, in depth 70 daN/cm 2. But for other rings, the holes were
injected at 70 daN/cm 2 in a single 5 m long stage. Total absorption of cement 340 kN,
equivalent to 71 N per cubic metre of rock.
Measurement of the contraction of the concrete on the side of the gallery showed that
the required prestressing had been achieved (Fig. 32). However, an 8 per cent prestress loss
was observed at the end of four and a half months. This was obviously taken into account in
the final treatment.
Furthermore, seismic measurements showed that the wave velocity, initially 2000 m/s,
increased to 5000 m/s, which was highly satisfactory.
In conclusion, these three treatments, which gave satisfactory results, have two points
in common:
(i) the use of an unstable grout, mostly a pure cement grout.
(ii) refusal pressure increased as the voids were filled, reaching a very high final
value of 70 to 100 daN/cm2.
On the other hand, the number of bore-
holes, their layout and their length must be
adapted to local conditions.

1~ Void filling 2~ Sealing

10 da N/cm2
2 da N/cm2

3 0 . Treatment
4 0 tO 70
da N / c m 2

Fro. 31.
Trial treatment of the tail race tunnel at the Coo-
Trois-Ponts power station, Belgium.
88 H. C A M B E F O R T

9 - 4 0

E -20
t)
0 c
09 ._0
O"
E
'E'
+ 20-
~,ii,%

"10
e-
+40" V II Ill

1 ~

.c

01
r-
r

4...
+ 60"

+ 80"
~
I
r . . . - .......
Requ"~red value -y
...
""~....""
( concrete modulus 2.25 x 105 da N / ~ 7 2 )
.. .........

0
r +100"
u~ ~i,,a'" 0~""" %%%.,,,m,,...... e... o.... =.D.ee,,,H,o..e...e"=""" "''"='e'ee

+ 120

+140 i | i |I | ; i

MARCH I APRIL I' ' ' MAY

' ' '1 . .JUNE
. . 70 "!
400
Aureole
1 & 12 t Aureoles Aureolesi

L
2 to 6
7toll I
~nd 2 injection
plugs stages 362 kN
55kN
z

300'

G;

FIG. 32
E
183 kN
200 - Quantities of cement injected and con-
traction of the concrete in the Coo-
Trois-Ponts tunnel, in the four measure-
ment profiles.

0 100-

124 kN

MARCH APRIL MAY i JUNE 70

 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 89

This method, which has proved its worth in rock, has been adopted with some modifi-
cations for sand treatment. For instance, in the Litani Tunnel (Lebanon) a vertical vein of
extremely fine sand rendered boiling by the presence of water, was first injected with sodium
silicate, then consolidated by an injection of cement, the pressure of which was brought up
to 150 daN/cm 2. This obviously caused "claquages" (Halwani et aL 1965).

Cavity filling
The iron mine at May-sur-Orne, now disused, is to be used for underground storage of
petroleum products. One of the ore veins, 5 to 7 m thick, is almost vertical, with shale on one
side, and sandstone on the other. In some places the shale, insufficiently strong, has caved in,
filling the working space and forming a dome of subsidence (Fig. 33). To avoid the progres-
sion of this phenomenon, the dome above the rockfall had to be sealed.
The purpose of the sealing was to prevent the fall of further masses of material, so it
was pointless to fill the voids in the voluminous rubble. Consequently, an impervious
blanket was laid on this rubble by spraying it with a combined physical and chemical foam
grout which would become rigid very quickly.
The dome could then have been filled with a very dilute grout, but the discovery of
lateral faulting made the use of a foam grout almost essential. A physical foam was chosen,
prepared on the surface and sent through a pipe 300 m long. There was a foam generator at
the pipe outlet.
123 160 m 3 of foam were thus placed in two chambers. Its bulking coefficient, measured
on core samples taken for control purposes, was slightly more than 2. Its compressive
strength was in the neighbourhood of 3 daN/cm ~.
9 These boreholes also showed that the layer of foam had
penetrated the rockfall to a depth of less than 3 metres.

FIG. 33
Transverse section of a working chamber
of the May-sur-Orne mine. The rockfalls
from the dome in the shale have partly
filled it.
90 H. CAMBEFORT

h
§ 21.10 T

Y
6) Settlements

5) FUGRO reference

( 4 ) Deep reference
point
9 ~.0o
"

, (7) Fill =:

1) New piles
(8 ) Fine
@ _ silty sand
(2) Grout.holes

~ " 191 Fine

" ~ - ~ _ _ ~ e sand

9 20.0o
0 100 bars 200 "2i.00
ca uu u .~
(!2) Point resistance JE_

Piles "25.00

SCALE : 0 .2 4 6 8 10 m
I l I I I I

VERTICAL CROSS- SECTION

OF THE REFINERY ( 3 )Measured level

(A-A') f ~,-35.o0

FIG. 34. Transversesection of the factory.

 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 91

Jacking-up of buildings
Injection is not frequently used for jacking-up buildings, but it is not a recent method, since
about 25 years ago Pleithner & Bernatzik (1953) re-levelled the Hessigheim hydroelectric
power station, containing two turbines, by means of local uplifts of 17 cm.
At that time, stable grouts were in their infancy, and it was necessary to surround the
structure with an impervious curtain so as to limit the grout consumption. Thus the structure
behaved like a piston in a cylinder.
Nowadays, rigid stable grouts make it possible to do away with cofferdams of this kind.
We shall take as an example a factory building in Rotterdam, about 100 m from the Meuse.
This example is also interesting from the geotechnical point of view (Cambefort & Puglisi
1971).
The plant is founded on wooden piles of an unknown depth, but not more than about
20 m (Fig. 34). For its extension, some piles were bored to a depth of 20 m in the neighbour-
hood of the building (Fig. 35), but this operation, which was interrupted as a result of an
incident in the course of boring, initiated settlements at the corner of the building. Despite
the construction of a grout curtain along the fa?ade, these settlements did not become
stabilized and attained 30 mm, disorganizing the structure (Figs 36, 37). This simply shows
that the emergency injection had not been satisfactorily designed.

.f i ~ ~ . . . . . .

/ / /-J'~"
/ /~' /"
/ / /"
/ , . _

9 Grout holes
7

T Penetrometer 6
12m ~-

o New piles 1--~ o"o

,,", / / I
i Ii
4 / I

Heave / " ~ - /f /
contours 3 ' ~ o.-" / /

~ ~_

/
/

FIG. 35. Heave contours of the soil.

92 ft. C A M B E F O R T

Injecting under the lower tip of the piles was then contemplated, after having im-
proved-again by injection--their skin friction, which was manifestly inadequate.
During the execution of one of the first holes of this preliminary stage, when the casing
was 12 m deep, drilling mud rose unexpectedly to a height of 3 m above the ground. A rough
calculation of pressure equilibria explained the phenomena by the presence at that depth of
a fluid of a specific gravity 1.52. A very fine (mean diameter 70 t~) and very loose sand was
therefore present, rendered boiling by the circulation of water resulting from the drilling.
This provided an explanation of the origin of the settlements, similar occurrences having
been observed in the course of execution of the piles. The skeleton of the layer of sand, in
unstable equilibrium, was believed to have failed under the effect of water circulation, and
the settlements corresponded merely to the establishment of a fresh equilibrium of the grains
of sand, which took a long time to occur because of their fineness and as a result of the low
permeability of the medium.
Jacking-up was achieved by injecting the six holes along the faqade to a depth of be-
tween 20 and 25 m. Beforehand, the skin friction of the foundation piles had been improved
by injecting to a depth of 10 to 20 m.

A
E
E 10
PROFILE ON
l-
0.1.70
z 15
uJ
=E
uJ
..I
p 2O
I- A I ! N T ~
IJJ
U)

-'-
T-
25

30

o Corner
z I

= ~ E51 ~,,/ 1
,.., I--
I !
< 01 Reference ~ 2 3 4 6
point ' Fugro '

FIG. 36. Settlements along the faqade before and after injection.
 o o o

oo o oo o o

e:~c)
~-.__~ 2
c~

I
,'ezl
c~
,r

.0-,
m ~

~o

_n ~o N~...". ...... _
0
o ~ :\~. ..........
~ ,.g t,. ~0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0
m i.-.-- -'-- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
"c:l

LO c .o
0 I
"6
>.
,-.~ .,-
c~ |
a o. r-:

= o II
0 9 [~

i o

i' I~= "

Z
M.

n,.

m m m ~

S . l . N~g IN : : J ' I . L . L g S (L)

94 H. C A M B E F O R T

The grout employed was a stable grout incorporating cement whose rigidity increased
very rapidly in the course of injection, for example attaining 0.1 N/cm 2 (10 g/cm ~) in
90 minutes.
The injection procedure was conditioned by the measurement of the differential heave
of the fagade (Fig. 36), which necessitated up to 15 stages of injection in a given hole.
A clearer picture is provided by the fact that injection commenced with 120 litres of grout
per metre of borehole and at a pressure of about 10 daN/cm ~, and ended with 480 1/m at a
pressure of 20 daN/cm 2. The total quantity of grout injected was about 200 m s, which was
far from being excessive in such loose sand.
The owner did not want the jacking-up to exceed the 10 mm achieved after a month and
a half of work, because this value was sufficient for the normal operation of the plant and to
bring the excess tensions of the framework produced by the differential settlement back to
an acceptable level.
The surface of the ground was obviously lifted also (Fig. 35), but it would be noted that
the outside contour corresponds to a settlement of 0.1 mm. This is not surprising, because
injection almost always causes a slight settlement due to the reorganization of the skeleton,
which is subjected to high stresses by the circulation of the grout.
Despite their imprecision, these curves show that the range of action of the injection
was about 5 m. This value, which is really small when horizontal "claquages" are systemati-
cally created, was obtained only thanks to the rigidity of the grout and the way the injection
was performed--adapted constantly to the results already achieved.

Conclusion
Though necessarily limited, this rapid review draws attention to the essential facts which
should be known about injections.
This technique, which was quite primitive only forty years ago, has developed con-
siderably in respect of the production of grouts and their application on site. One might
almost think that there is no longer any need for know-how. This is perhaps true with
regard to the formulation of grouts, which obey precise physical and chemical laws, but it
can never be true on site, because the soil is always heterogeneous, even if it does not seem to
be at first sight. Furthermore, the heterogeneity observed at one point, different from that
prevailing a few metres away, means that it can only be defined when the work is actually
carried out. And it must be taken into consideration at all times in the injection procedure,
so as to avoid an unsatisfactory result.
This may be illustrated by a real example of a dam grout curtain made in sand and
gravel. A satisfactory trial injection was performed under the direction of a specialist. All
the details of the work were carefully noted, including the change in diameter of the tube-
~t-manchette due to difficulties of supply. A contractor then thought that in order to obtain
a satisfactory curtain it was sufficient to make sections, one after the other, injected exactly
like the trial section. Naturally, the result was unsatisfactory and the specialist had to be
recalled.
There is a danger in specifications which are too strict and which do not make it
possible to take account, as should be done, of the heterogeneity of the soil, which is
 THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF GROUTING 95

discovered as the work advances. Specifications may, if need be, indicate the broad classes
of grout to be used: unstable, stable or liquid; but on the excuse o f facilitating control of the
work they must not cover the way in which the different stages of the work are performed;
this is entirely the d o m a i n o f the specialist contractor.
The control must relate to the results obtained in the course of injection. It is therefore
imperative to:
(i) limit to a reasonable value the heave or deformations of the soil which, as we have
seen, are unavoidable. This simple measure conditions the whole injection
procedure; the pressure, quantities injected, and the nature of the grout.
(ii) perform control borings to evaluate the quality of the work. They m a k e it possible
to take core samples if need be and to carry out permeabilitytests. Their obligatory
injection, and not artificial cementing, also provides information.
Lastly, once the treatment is completed, an overall control is effected, although it must
be admitted that it is difficult to do this. Depending on the nature of the work we m a y
content ourselves, for example, with seismic measurements or with measurements o f piezo-
metric levels. In this connection, it m a y be recalled that these piezometric measurements at
the High Asswan D a m showed the quality of the curtain, which permeability tests did not.
We must not aim for everything at once. Frequently it need not be necessary, and some-
times it is impossible.

References
AUROY, F. 1956. Chute de Montpezat, Le percement du lac d'Issarl6s. La conduite forc6e de l'usine souter-
raine de Montpezat. Ann. LT.B.T.P. Dec. 1956, n ~ 108.
CAMBEFORT,H. & PtJGLISI,R. 1971. Soul6vement d'un bfttiment par injection du sol. Ann. LT.B.T.P. May 1971
n ~ 281.
FUNCKEN,R., MONJOLE,A. & SttROEDER,C. 1971. Essais de mise en pr6contrainte par injection d'une galerie
en milieu fissur6 et contr616s par m6thode sismique. Symposium sur lafissuration des roches, Nancy. III,
10.
GLOSSOP,R. 1960. The invention and development of injection processes. Pt I. 1802-1850. Geotechnique, 10,
91-100.
HALWANI,S., JANOD,A. & LAJEAT,J.P. 1965. Le percement du tunnel d'Awali de l'am6nagement du Litani.
au Liban. Travaux. May 1965.
PLEITHNER,M. & BERNATZIK,W. 1953. Nouveau proc6d6 de remise ~tniveau de bgtiments affaiss6s, au moyen
d'injections de ciment. Third ICOSOMEFZurich, 4, 26
POUSSE, L. & JACQUIN,P. 1961. Revatements et 6tanch6it6 de la galerie d'amen6e Roselend, La Bathie.
Seventh ICOLD, Rome. Q. 25-R. 89.

Bibliography
This short bibliography completes that given in Volume 1 of the author's book "Injection des Sols" (Editions
EYROLLES).
CAMBEFORT,I"I. 1976 Les 6crans d'6tanch6it6 des digues. Ann. LT.B.T.P.S.F. 135.
, GERBER,Cn., SrEFAN. H. & BERTHAUD,R. 1965. Dilution des coulis newtoniens inject6s dans les
sols pulv6rulents. GOnie Civil, 1st and 15th June 1965.
CARON, C. & DRtJEZ, J. M. 1975. Remblayage ces mines et cavernes. Construction, April-Oct. 1975.
- -& TER MINASSIAN.1973. Noyaux d'6tanch6it6 internes par un groupe de travail du Comit6 Fran-
qais des Grands Barrages. (Chapter III), 11th ICOLD, Madrid, Q. 42-R. 28.
TAVERNIER, M. & Ct-IANEZ,R. 1965. Les coupures 6tanches inject6es, Travaux. April 1965.