21st Indonesian Annual National Conference, Nov.

7, 2017

Mega Infrastructure Soil Improvement

Technologies and Case Studies
Stone Column / Deep Cement Mixing

Xiaoming LOU, Xiaoqiang GU

Ⅰ 复合地基基本理论
Basic theory of composite foundation

Ⅱ
Design, construction technology and
case studies of stone column

Ⅲ
Design, construction technology and
case studies of cement-soil mixing pile
 Ⅰ
复合地基基本理论
Basic theory of composite foundation

1. Definition of composite foundation

2. Classification of composite foundation

3. Bearing capacity calculation of composite foundation

4. Settlement calculation of composite foundation

5. Stability calculation of composite foundation

 Composite foundation
1. Basic definition
Composite foundation refers to the foundation that, during the ground improvement
process, part of the natural foundation is enhanced, or replaced, or mixed with
reinforcement material, thus the improved foundation is composed of the natural soil and
the reinforcement. The original soil and the reinforcement shall bear the load together.
 Composite foundation
2. Classification of composite foundation
Vibro stone column
composite foundation
Stone column
Granular composite
Dry-bottom and feed with
material foundation
top mounted motor
composite Sand column composite foundation
Vertical
foundation composite
reinforcement Dynamic compaction and
composite foundation stone replacement composite
foundation foundation
Bagged stone column
Composite
Foundation
Flexible pile
Adhesive composite Deep Cement Mixing
Horizontal material foundation composite foundation
reinforcement composite
composite Rigid pile CFG pile composite
foundation
foundation composite foundation
foundation Precast pile composite
foundation
 Composite foundation
3. Bearing capacity calculation of composite foundation

fspk  K11mf pk  K22 (1  m) f sk

fspk  1  m(n  1)  f sk

𝐴p 𝐴

Stress ratio: Replacement ratio: 𝑚 = 𝐴p /𝐴

 Composite foundation
3.1 Bearing capacity of granular material pile
The ultimate bearing capacity of granular pile is mainly determined by the maximum
lateral strength that can be provided by the surrounding soil. The value should be
determined by a vertical loaded test on a single pile. For preliminary design, it can be
calculated according to the following formula ：

ppf = ru Kp
 Composite foundation
3.2 Bearing capacity of adhesive material pile
The ultimate bearing capacity of adhesive material pile should be determined by a
pile load test. For preliminary design, it can be calculated according to the
following formula ：
Shaft friction

ppf   fSa Li  Ap R  Ap

Take the End bearing

minimum
value
ppf   f cu Ap
Strength of the pile body
 Composite foundation

4. Settlement of composite foundation

𝑠 = 𝑠1 + 𝑠2
 For the deformation of the
reinforcement part S1, it can be
calculated as follows: S2

𝑛
∆𝑝𝑖
𝑠1 = 𝜓s1 ෍ 𝑙 𝐸sp𝑖 = 𝑚𝐸p𝑖 + (1 − 𝑚)𝐸𝑠𝑖 = 1 + 𝑚(𝑛 − 1)𝐸𝑠𝑖
𝐸sp𝑖 𝑖
𝑖=1

 For the deformation S2 of the layer under the improved area, it can be calculated
as follows:
𝑛
∆𝑝𝑖
𝑠2 = 𝜓s2 ෍ 𝑙
𝐸s𝑖 𝑖
𝑖=1
 Composite foundation
5. Stability analysis of composite foundation

 Circular sliding with total stress method shall be used to analyze the stability of
the composite foundation stability as follows:
𝑇s
𝐾=
𝑇t
𝑇s ——The total shear resistance along the critical
sliding surface ;
𝑇t ——The total shear force along the critical sliding
surface

 The shear strength parameter of the composite soil

layer can be calculated as follows:

𝑐sp = 1 − 𝑚𝜇p 𝑐s
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑sp = 𝑚𝜇p 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑p + 1 − 𝑚𝜇p 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑s
𝑛
𝜇p =
1+ 𝑛−1 𝑚
Ⅱ Design, construction technology and case studies of stone colum
复合地基基本理论

1. Concept and reinforcement principle

2. Content of design

3. Technology of construction

4. Case of application
 Stone column
1. Concept and reinforcement principle
•Stone column refers to the method in which holes in the soft foundations are
formed by vibration, shock or water, etc., and then the hole is filled with coarse-
grained soil. These dense piles make the composite foundation together with the
surrounding soil.
•This method is applicable for loose sand, silt, fill soil, miscellaneous fill,
cohesive soil, collapsible loess, and saturated clay soil which does not require
strict control of deformation.

Vibro-Replacement Dry Bottom-feed with

(Wet Method) Top Mounted Motor
 Stone column
1. Concept and reinforcement principle

Composite
Replacement foundation
Clayey
soil Vertical
drainage Consolidation
channel

Vertical drainage channel

Sand
cushion

Stone column
 Stone column
1. Concept and reinforcement principle
d
Sandy Composite
Replacement
foundation 𝑆
soil

s
𝐴p 𝐴
Densification Spacing of piles
Densification effect Design
𝑒1 = 𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝐷rl (𝑒max − 𝑒min )
Equilateral triangular pattern：
𝜋 2
4 𝑑 = 𝑒0 − 𝑒1 𝑆 = 0.95𝜉𝑑
1 + 𝑒0
𝑉
Δ𝑉 3 2 1 + 𝑒0 𝑒0 − 𝑒1
H 𝑠
2
Square pattern：
𝜋 2
1 + 𝑒0
4 𝑑 = 𝑒0 − 𝑒1 𝑆 = 0.89𝜉𝑑
3 2 1 + 𝑒0 𝑒0 − 𝑒1
𝑠
2
 Stone column

2. Content of design
Improvement depth and scope:
Should be determined base on the importance of the building and site condition, usually
greater than the area of the base.
Thick：determine by the requirement
of post settlement
Thin：penetrate the soft soil layer

Thickness
Should be determined of soft soil For 75 kw vibrator,
according to the Effective less than 15m;
bearing capacity or pile Depth of Machine for For 130kw vibrator,
construction
stability requirement of length improvement the maximum depth
the weak layer below. is 25m
liquefaction

Penetrate the liquefiable soil layer

 Stone column

2. Content of design
Fill material and amount：
 Clay Content in the fill material ≤ 5%.

 Vibration pile： For vibrator of 55kw, diameter of fill material 30~100mm;

For vibrator of 75kw,diameter of fill material 40~150mm.
For dry bottom-feed with top-mounted Motor：
The maximum diameter should no more than 50mm.

 The amount of fill material in the hole of stone column shall be determined by
field test. For estimation of fill material amount, it can be multiplied by the
filling factor β, β is 1.2 ~ 1.4

Cushion：
 After construction of stone column, usually the top 1 meter column is loose or
low density which will need be compacted by roller to be dense. Then a
drainage layer of sand or stone shall be spread with thickness of 300 ~ 500mm.
 Stone column
3. Technology of construction

Equipment for vibration construction

 Stone column
Construction of Vibro - replacement Stone Column
 Stone column
Equipment for Dry Bottom-feed with Top Mounted Motor method:
Equipment ： Top Mounted Motor Vibrator,
rack, tube (with a flap steel pile tips at the
bottom), hopper.

Motor

Feed
mouth
 Stone column
Construction of Dry Bottom-feed with Top Mounted Motor method

𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒑 𝒕𝒊𝒑 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒑

 4.Case of Stone Column
4.1 Case1——Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company
Oil Refinery Tens of thousand Oil Tank Project
(1) Profile
Two oil tanks are constructed. The height is 16m, ring beam foundation, with
diameter 30.4m. The design pressure at the base is 190kPa and the allowed relative
tilt of oil tank is 0.004.
The geological condition of the site is shown bellow. layer ② is clayer silt and
easy to liquefied. Layers ③a and ③b are newly deposited and weak.
Internal
Water Unit Plastic Cohesi unconfined Bearing
Dept Void Compress friction
conten weight ity on compressive capacity
No. Name h ratio ibility angle
t γ index c strength qu R
(m) e0 a1-2 ɸ
w (kN/m³) Ip (kPa) (kPa) (kPa)
(Mpa-1) (°)
Fillin
① 0.65
g soil
Claye
② 5.70 32.1 18.4 0.95 9.8 240 20 6.0 59 100
y silt
Muck
③a y silty 8.60 38.8 17.7 1.16 11.6 480 19 7.0 38 90
clay
Silty
③b 34.8 17.9 1.10 11.0 350 18.5 7.0 55 100
clay
 Stone column

(2) Parameter of stone column

Average diameter: 0.8 m

 Spacing:1.5m, Square pattern,

diameter of improvement is 39.4m.

 Length ： To reduce differential

settlement, Stone column length in
the central area of the tank is 11 m
and 9m from the center to the tank
edge. The stone column length of
outside area is 5 m.

 Replacement ratio m：22%.

 Stone column

(3) Comparison before and P (kPa)

after improvement 100 200 300 400
0
a) Bearing capacity
(plate load test) 1

 Date: one month after Composite foundation

2
construction of the pile Pile No. 154

 Single pile load test (plate S(cm) Pile No. 168

3
diameter 0.8m) ： pile
number 154#、168# with
length 9m 4

 Composite foundation loa 5

d test (plate size 1.5m*
1.5m)：pile number 170#
 Stone column
4.1Case1——Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company
Oil Refinery Tens of thousand Oil Tank Project

b) SPT
SPT N values before and after improvement

Depth(m) 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 8.0

Before 3.0 4.0 4.0 2.0 2.5

After 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 9.5 9.5 11.0

 Stone column
(4) Settlement due to preloading with water filling
 Final settlement of oil tank on natural foundation(in theory)
The final settlement in the center and surrounding the tank area is respectively 84.4cm
and 53.6cm, with differential settlement 30.8cm.
 After improvement, calculated from the settlement-time curve of the foundation, the final
settlement in the center and surrounding the tank area is respectively 47.8cm and 39.2cm,
with a differential settlement 8.6cm.

 Due to the drainage function of the stone

column, the soft soil consolidated fast. 35
days after preloading with water,
consolidation degree in the center of the tank
reached 87%, and the average consolidation
degree in the surrounding area of the tank is
about 96%.
Average
Stone column significantly reduced settlement
the total settlement and the
differential settlement.
Settlement at
the center
 4. Case of Stone Column
4.2 Case 2——Sand liquefaction and comprehensive treatment
of soft soil foundation in Guangmeishan railway project
(1) Profile
The trial site is located in Shantou City in Guangdong province. The designed
earthquake magnitude is 8 degree.
 Stone column

(2) Parameter of stone column

 The determination of pile spacing not only considered the compacting effect of
soil between stone columns, but also considered the effect of vertical settlement.
Based on site investigation report, the average thickness of sand layer is 3m, if
measured by SPT, the average number of SPT value is 5, and the corresponding
critical SPT N value is 11.9 hit.

 The diameter of the stone column is 425mm, with spacing 3.7 times of the pile
diameter, the arrangement of the stone column is triangle pattern, and the
replacement ratio is of 7%.

 The depth of improvement takes the weak soft soil layer under sand layer and the
post-settlement as well as the impact of the load into account.

 DZ30 vibrator motor is used for the construction of stone column, filling
material is granite gravel without weathering. The gravel has a particle size of 10
to 50 mm and a filling factor of 1.25 is used
 Stone column
(3) SPT Values of liquefiable sand layer before and after improvement

No. B1 B2 B3 B4 B5
Period
Lithology N63.5 Ncr N63.5 Ncr N63.5 Ncr N63.5 Ncr N63.5 Ncr
3 10.9 1 9.8 8 10.4 13 11.2
Medium-fine sand
Before 12 12.2 5 12.1 5 12.2
improve Silty sand 0.9 20
ment Medium sand 9.2 17.1 19.3 15.6 19.3 16 26.7 15.1
Silty coarse sand 38.6 18.7 29.4 18.3
16 8 15 8.8 23 8.8 21 9 15 8.9
Medium-fine sand 26 9.6 35 9.6 34 9.8 17 12.3
22 11.9
Silty medium sand 21 11.9 22 12.7
After
improve Silty sand 6 18 7 12.3
ment 17 16.4 40 13 29 15 29 15.2 30 15
Medium sand
38 15.9
Silty coarse sand 40 16.8
Coarse sand 72 17.6 41 18
Ⅲ
Design, construction technology and case of
Deep Cement Mixing

1. Concept and solidification principle of cement -soil

2. Content of design

3. Technology of construction and development

4. Case of application
 Deep Cement Mixing
1. Concept and solidification principle of DCM
• Deep Cement Mixing (DCM) method is a method in which the soil and the
binder is mixed by forced mixing through a deep mixer. Then the soil and the binder
will have physical and chemical reaction, and a cement soil reinforcement with
certain integrity will form. The construction process includes spray mixing method
(wet method) and powder jetting method (dry method).
 Deep Cement Mixing

Applicable soil

Applicability shall be determined

Applicable
by field test

Peat soil with high organic content,

Normal consolidated silt with
clay with a plastic index greater
muddy soil, normal fill, cohesive
than 25, groundwater with pH less
soil (soft plastic, plastic), silt
than 4 or corrosive, and
(slightly dense, medium dense)
unexperienced area.
 Deep Cement Mixing

Solidification principle of DCM

Reaction of
soil particles
and cement
Hydrolysis and hydrate
hydration of Carbonation
cement

Ion exchange
and Hardening reaction
agglomeration
 Deep Cement Mixing
2. Content of design
2.1 Pile body strength design of DCM
(1) Binder material：
Main binder material Cement
Strength of cement ≥32.5 MPa
Cement content 10%~18%
General soft soil Ordinary Portland Cement
Type of cement
High content of soluble salt soft Slag cement
soil
Content of sulfate soft soil Anti-sulfate cement
Complicated soil layer Indoor mix test is required
Water reducing agent Lignin sulfonic acid calcium
Early strength agent Triethanolamine, calcium chloride, sodium
carbonate, water glass
Retarder Borate, gypsum
Additional additive
Improve the performance of Fly ash, blast furnace slag
various aspects of cement-soil
For peat soil, organic soil Waste gypsum
For acid soil with pH＜4 Lime
 Deep Cement Mixing
2.2 Mixing pile strength design
Unconfined compression strength (kPa)

(2) Cement-mixed ratio：

Unconfined compression strength (kPa)

(3) Water content of soil：
 Deep Cement Mixing

Effect of organic content on the DCM strength

No. of soil Content of Compression strength/MPa

sample organic/%
7 days 28 days 90 days
1 0.76 1.38 2.63 3.41

2 1.59 0.62 1.60 1.72

3 2.80 0.50 0.79 0.90

Note：P32.5 cement, cement ratio 15%, the weight ratio of water to cement = 0.5
 Deep Cement Mixing

2.2 Structure
Length and diameter of the pile：

 Length：For general equipment, wet pile length ≤ 20m; dry pile length ≤ 15m. At
present, some new equipment can make it to 30m depth.
 Diameter：for single axis, 500-700mm; for double axis, 700mm;
for large diameter: 1200mm-1300mm.
Cushion：
 Thickness：150mm~300mm.
 Material：Medium sand, coarse sand, graded gravel, particle size ≤ 20mm.
Form of pattern：

Square pattern Triangular pattern

 Deep Cement Mixing
3. Technology of construction and development
3.1 Spray mixing method (wet method)

1 - rig; 2 - power head; 3 - connecting device;

4 - drill pipe; 5 - support frame;
 Deep Cement Mixing

3.2 Powder jetting method (dry method)

1-air compressor; 2-bulk cement

truck; 3-agitating blade; 4-stirring
shaft; 5-powder blender
 Deep Cement Mixing
3.3 Construction procedure
 Deep Cement Mixing
3.4 Construction equipment

Double-axis mixer Triple-axis mixer Four-axis mixer

 Deep Cement Mixing
3.5 Development of related technology

(1) Long PVD + Short DCM (Drainage Powder Jetting method)

(a) Plan (b) Profile

Function：When the under layer is weak layer, to solve the problem of

excessive post-settlement.
 Deep Cement Mixing

Function：
The cement spray and powder stirring in the
construction of mixing pile will cause lateral
pressure, and then the pore water pressure in
the surrounding soil will increase, which
will lead to the ground uplift, affecting the
neighboring buildings and cause other
issues.
1-Pile; Install the PVD in advance can reduce the
2-PVD;
ground uplift, and improve soil strength
3- Drainage
between the pile.
 Deep Cement Mixing

(2) Two-way mixing technology

Solved problem:
(1) uneven mixing, poor
quality of piles.
(2) mud spillover during the
construction.

Rig of two-way mixer

(with clockwise, counterclockwise two sets of wings)
 Deep Cement Mixing

(3) Nail shape, variable cross section mixing technology

Construction flow chart of nail shape

mixing technology
Finished pile
Function：
Improve the replacement rate of roadbed reinforcement, optimize the design.
 Deep Cement Mixing

Construction flow chart of variable

cross section technology

Sketch drawing of reinforcement

Function：
Can be specially designed to strengthen the reinforcement of the weak interlayer
and optimize the design.
 Deep Cement Mixing

(4) Rigid Deep Cement Mixing Pile

Sketch drawing of rigid

cement-soil mixing pile Picture of the pile body
Function：
Significantly improve the strength of the cement-soil mixing pile, replace the
concrete pile, and optimize the design.
 4. Case of Deep Cement Mixing

4.1 Case 1 – To be Built Tank Area of Nanjing Refinery

(1) Profile
Nanjing Refinery planed to construct a 50,000m3 tank with diameter 60m, the needed
bearing capacity 240kPa. The site is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze
River floodplain, and the geological profile is shown below.
The soil to be improved is soft and plastic, with water content w = 47.3%, void ratio
e = 1.34, thickness 12-22m, depth 16-17m, the bearing capacity only 70-180kPa.

 It is difficult to meet the high

requirement of 4% of the radial
inclination of the tank by preloading
method or the flexible gravel pile
method;
 It is planned to use 16m 一 27m
cement-soil mixing pile.

The geological profile of the site

 Deep Cement Mixing
(2) Construction process of DCM
Two times of indoor cement ratio test, three times pile construction process trial,
and three times of in situ cement core sampling and unconfined strength test are
carried out. Finally the construction process of single DCM column was taken to
be two times of lift and spray, 3 times of mixing, spray in the middle of the blade.
3 layers of 6 stirring blades and 55 kw, 60r/min speed motor shall be adopted.
when weak part in the pile is detected during tracking, it is appropriate to
slowdown the motor to increase the times of mixing and content of cement.

The SPT N value with different times of spray

 Deep Cement Mixing
(3) Design and pile strength
Considering the special requirement of the settlement of
the tank foundation, following measures are adopted in
the design of the pile :
 Use variable length of piles to adjust the by uneven
settlement caused by different thickness of the soft
soil from north to south;
 The piles are constructed in the formation of radial
and ring to control the lateral deformation of the deep
soft soil;
 Two layers of geo-textile are spread at the top of the
piles so as to adjust the stress and deformation in the
tank and at the edge of the tank .

The replacement ratio under the ring beam area is 0.56,

within the ring beam area is 0.31. All the pile is required
to be 30cm into the sand layer, diameter 700mm, the
constructed length of pile 17~26.5 m; the bearing
capacity of the composed foundation after improvement
reached 240kPa .
 Deep Cement Mixing
(4) Effect evaluation by preloading with water filling
The final water level is 17.5 m, keep the pressure stable for 20d and then dewater.
a) Settlement of the ring beam and deformation at the ring beam area
 The settlement of the south tank is 29~34mm, 31.7mm in average; The settlement of
the north tank is 42 ~67 mm, 53.5mm in average.
 The small total settlement and differential settlement means the deep cement mixing
pile significantly improved the soil condition and eliminated the difference of soil in
the south and north.
 The inclination ratio is 0.6%, much lower than the specification requirement 4%.
 b) Pile stress and pile - soil stress ratio
 When the water is fill, the stress at the top of the pile, at
the bottom and the wall area of the tank is 602kPa and
324kPa, while at 0.3m above the bottom of the pile is
12kPa and 29kPa
 From the stress distribution of the pile it can be seen as
follows: as long as the strength of the soil in the middle
and lower part of the pile is guaranteed, the effective
depth of the deep mixing pile can reach more than 20m.
The distribution of axial force
 Pile-soil stress ratio changes with the external
load (including the pile filling load and water
load) over time is shown in the left drawing.
 The pile-soil stress ratio increases approximately
linearly with the increase of the filling height.
under the tank area it increases from 3.6 when the
water filling is 4.6m to 14.5 when the water is
17.5m

The evolution of pile-soil stress ratio

 Deep Cement Mixing

c) Pore water pressure in the soil between the pile

 Since the load of water is mainly supported by the cement-soil pile, the pressure
on the soil is small, so the value of the excess pore water pressure is not large.
The excess pore water pressure at 1/2 R of the tank is as shown below.

The excessive pore water pressure during the water filling

 Deep Cement Mixing

d) Settlement of the tank base

 The settlement of the tank floor is generally W-type, which is closely related to
the replacement ratio of the pile: high replacement leads to small settlement,
low replacement leads to big settlement.

The distribution of settlement at the bottom of the oil tank

 4. Case of Deep Cement Mixing
4.2 Case2——Nail – Shaped Cement-Soil Mixing Pile
in Trial Section of SZJ Expressway
(1) Profile
The trial section is located in Shanghai - Jiangsu - Zhejiang Expressway. According to
the soil investigation, the distribution of soil and the main physical and mechanical
properties are as follows.
 Deep Cement Mixing
(2) Technical parameters and construction process
The nail-shaped cement-soil mixing pile and conventional cement-soil mixing pile are all
arranged at triangular pattern, and when the diameter of the pile is 500mm, the cement
content is 65 kg/m (for nail-shape expansion part, when the diameter is 1,000 mm, the
cement content is 260 kg/m); The water-cement ratio is 0.45 ~ 0.55, with pressure of
spray no less than 0.25 MPa, and the main design parameters are in the table below.

depth/ space/ diameter/ height of enlarged

Zone mileage type
m m mm base/m
A K30+050~K30+150 nail-shaped 16.5 2.0 1000/500 4
B K30+150~K30+250 nail-shaped 16.5 1.8 1000/500 3
D K30+350~K30+450 conventional 16.5 1.4 500

Construction procedure of nail-shaped pile

 Deep Cement Mixing
(3) Effect evaluation

To test the improvement effect of the nail-shaped cement-soil mixing pile on soft soil,
during the filling period, it was observed in three kinds of working conditions. The main
content included: settlement observation of the roadbed, lateral deformation observation,
layered settlement , pore water pressure and pile - soil stress ratio.

Horizontal Layered settlement

displacement monitoring
Earth pressure cell

Inclinometer
DCM composite foundation

Schematic of Filed Monitoring

 Deep Cement Mixing
a) The surface settlement – height of backfill - time curve in trial zone A, B, D

Zone B
Zone A

Zone D
 Deep Cement Mixing

b ) Layered settlement in trial zone A, B ,D

Zone A Zone D
Zone B
 Deep Cement Mixing

c) Lateral displacement(mm)

Zone A Zone B Zone D

 Deep Cement Mixing
d) Pore water pressure

Zone D
Zone B
Zone A
 Deep Cement Mixing

e) Pile –soil stress ratio

Zone A

Pile-soil stress ratio

Fill Height (m)
 Deep Cement Mixing
e) Pile –soil stress ratio
Zone B

Pile-soil stress ratio

Fill Height (m)
 Deep Cement Mixing
e) Pile –soil stress ratio
Zone D

Pile-soil stress ratio

Fill Height (m)
 Conclusions
 The stone column and deep cement mixing are two effective methods
for ground improvement. The bearing capacity and the settlement of
the composite foundation should be correctly calculated.

 To ensure the effectiveness, the mechanism of the method should be

suitable for the in-situ soil condition. The construction machines,
procedure and experienced contactors are very important factors for
the success of ground improvement.

 For important projects or unexperienced area, field trial tests and

monitoring are necessary during the ground improvement.
Terima kasih！