CONSTRUCTION OF BOTH EMBANKMENT AND BUILDING PLATFORM OVER SOFT CLAYEY AND

PEATY GROUNDS USING BAMBOO GRID FRAME – GEOTEXTILE METHOD

(Extracted from “Guidelines for Construction on Peat and Organic Soils in Malaysia”, Ministry of
Works Malaysia & CIDB publication, Oct 2015, Kuala Lumpur)
1.0 General

As peaty ground is fertile it is often found that shrubs and even trees, large and small alike,
strive well on it (see Plate 1). However as the peat itself is organic in nature and soft
because often soaks in water due to high water table (see Plate 2) it is learnt from previous
experience that it is justifiable to omit site clearing to remove vegetation like grass, dwarf
shrubs and trees etc. from ground surface which is commonly carried out in conventional
engineering practice. The reason being adding further but comparatively small amount
organic material to the already existing thick layer of organic peaty ground will not alter
the prevailing situation significantly. Note that any attempt to remove the vegetation as
unsuitable material in soft ground often attract construction machineries bog in problem
as shown in Plate 3 causing substantial resources (financial and time) to be utilized for
their extraction rather than carrying out the site clearing work itself. The same scenario
and problem will emerge if the method of removing and cart away unsuitable material (i.e.
peat) and import suitable material for its replacement is adopted. Machineries bog in,
tedious, time consuming, costliness and difficulty in finding a dumping ground for peat are
among the usual problems faced and thus renders this method of construction
impracticable and probably be excluded.

2.0 Principles of the Method

In the supporting system provided, the bamboo grid assumes the role of a structural
element which resists the vertical applied stress of the embankment/platform by bending.
In addition the lightweight of bamboo (Specific gravity between 0.7-0.8) will
advantageously give rise to buoyancy which in practice which in this case can be used to
offset and curtail the magnitude of the vertical stress that could possibly be applied onto
the underlained soft peaty subgrade. On the other hand, the geotextile placed on top of
the bamboo grid frame will act as a separator to prevent any possible mixing of the
suitable imported fill placed above and the soft peaty subgrade below it.

More importantly, as the vertical stress applied, vis always given by:

v = F/A ---- Eq. 1

Where,
F = Applied load (derived from the embankment)
 A = Area

From the above equation, while the applied load, F, designed for tends to remain constant,
one can modify the area, A, over which the applied load act so that the resultant stress will
reduce. This, in fact, is what the Bamboo Grid Frame is provided for. Furthermore, since, in
practice the area, A, created by the Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile System that cover the
entire job site is usually very large that from Eq.1 when the denominator, A, is infinitely
large, the resultant stress applicable on the soft peaty subgrade anywhere within the
covered site will be minute. This situation is realizable when Bamboo Grid Frame –
Geotextile is provided at an affordable cost. In practice, since the magnitude of total
settlement exhibits in a soft soil is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stress
applied, a significantly reduced stress make possible by the Bamboo Grid Frame –
Geotextile system will produce a greatly reduced settlement. On the other hand, as the
level of stress everywhere within the treated area is very small due to infinitely large area,
A, created, accordingly the difference of two very small stress values between any two
points would be negligibly small that the differential settlement shown between then
would be also be insignificant. Indeed, this explains how this system can be deployed
advantageously in allowing very heavy construction to be constructed safely and most
affordably over very soft clayey subgrade including peat that could extends to great depth.

Furthermore, the durability of bamboo culms, especially embedded under water, say, in
water laden soft peat that lied below the high water table level, has been confirmed by
evidences obtained from various different sources including from the trek records on its
performance in previous projects, the longest that carried out by the author is 20 years
approximately. It is recognized that the very slow anaerobic process of causing
decomposition to living things including plants by microorganisms where no oxygen is
required by the microorganism for the decomposition to take place may perhaps provide
the answer for the seemingly longevity of the bamboo in saturated ground, a phenomenon
commonly observed in Malaysia for bakau poles installed below water table level.

3.0 SERQUENTIAL STEPS OF CONSTRUCTION

This following section summarises the sequential steps leading to the successful
construction of an embankment, bund and/or building platform over very soft inorganic
and organic clayey materials including peat by supporting the construction over an
intermediary so-called “Bamboo Grid-Geotextile Buoyant System”. In addition, the
underlained soft subgrade or peat may extend to significant depth.
STEP Description

1. Apart from the omission of site clearing to remove short vegetation growth it is also
not necessary to prepare a smooth cleared subgrade surface for subsequent
construction work. As a result, when compare with conventional methods of
construction, it shows the site preparatory work an easy task and as expected
would result in substantial time and cost savings. Hence, renders this method very
attractive. Nevertheless, however, it is necessary of course to remove tree trunks
and any object more than 200mm above the ground.

2. At the onset of the project, prefabricated bamboo-grid frames are manufactured by

workers adjacent to the site ready to be used. The finished products are stacked up
for efficient space utilization as shown in Plate 2. The plan view of a typical
prefabricated bamboo grid frame is shown in Drawing No.1.

3. Where circumstances necessitate and deem necessary by the design engineer, used
rubber tyres and spent mineral water plastic bottles with caps on will be placed
below the Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile system to provide a more balanced
planar platform created by the system for more effective load spreading and at the
same time generation of higher buoyancy effect at little extra cost to offset the
vertically applied stress in existence . From experience, this is particularly effective
if the area of the site to be treated is exceptionally large, say tens of acres in one
operation.

4. However, it should be noted that, depends on the existing site and ground
conditions, the centre-to-centre spacing(s) of the bamboo grids of the
prefabricated Bamboo Grid Frame is determined based on some calculations and
laboratory test results. In addition, the number of bamboos used, their size, type
and characteristics/property requirements of the bamboos to be used are decided
based on some rudimentary design calculations and laboratory modeling carried
out.

5. Once the site is ready to receive the prefabricated Bamboo Grid Frames following a
simple site preparation exercise involving lighter construction machineries like back
pusher, backhoe and some general workers, suitable number of prefabricated
Bamboo Grid Geotextile Frames will be carried by a backhoe each time to a location
very near to the area where these Frames are to be laid. Then individual frames will
be carried by workers and placed on the designated locations on the ground
surface of site and be connected together by tying their respective connecting
lengths using thin wires in order to form into a larger piece in due course as shown
in Plates 5 and 6. Depending on the CBR value of the subgrade, the minimum
 overlapping length recommended is about 0.6m for effective stress transfer at the
joint.

6. Following the completion of Step 5 above, the geotextile as separator will be

unreeled/unrolled to over the huge ‘single’ bamboo-grid frame so constructed. To
do so, the geotextile can either be simply overlapped or attached together by
sewing. In water ponding area, it is recommended to sew where possible. For pure
overlapping alone the overlapping length depends on the CBR value of the
subgrade. For CBR<0.5, the minimum overlap recommended is about 0.5 to 0.6m
(see Plates 7 to 9) . Sewing on the other hand will result in some savings of the
quantity of geotextile used and provides effective stress transfer at the joint. In
general the overlapped width for geotextile sheets that are sewn together should
be between 25mm to 75mm. The most common types of sewn seam is the prayer
seam. The stitch can be either single or double thread.

7. Initial fill placement can be carried out using dump trucks, tipping the backfill in
reverse position so as to avoid direct contact of the wheel on the geotextile.
Alternatively, a backpusher or light vehicle can be deployed to spread the fill over
the geotextile from a fill stockpile.

8. The loose thickness per layer must comply to the design thickness or determine
from the trial compaction carried out. It may be 400-500 mm but the compacted
layer must not exceed 300 mm. Before more suitable materials are imported to
continue the embankment or building platform construction, each compacted layer
must achieve a compacted density equal or more than 95% to 98% of the Maximum
Dry Density (MDD) value of the borrowed material determined in the laboratory
before the commencement of the embankment construction work. This criterion
must be fulfilled and presumably this can be achieved only when the field moisture
content of the borrow material is close to the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) of
the material concerned during the compaction. Any rutting that may occur at this
stage will be filled during subsequent subbase placement to ensure stability.

9. After 500 mm of fill being compacted, Steps 7 and 8 shall repeat until it reaches the
full designed height of the embankment is achieved as shown in the Drawing 1.

10. In the event of an extremely soft (SPT = 0) subsoil or peat that extended to great
depth (say, 30m) being detected and an important construction is expected to be
built above it then a 2-layer Bamboo Grid Frame - Geotextile System as shown in
Drawings Nos. 2 and 3 is deemed relevant. In this case the method of construction
above each Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile is identical and can refer to above. In
other words, to construct the second tier of fill above the second Bamboo Grid
Frame – Geotextile system that placed above the first one located at the bottom,
every aspect of construction is similar to that before except the members of
 bamboo culms of the second Bamboo Grid Frame can either be alternate to the
first one below or just simply laid directly above the first one below, Refer these to
Drawings Nos. 2 and 3 for easy comprehension.

11. Once Step 10 is accomplished, the construction of road sub-base, buildings etc. will
commence to proceed with the rest of the project (see Plate 12 to Plate 15) and
periodic post-construction inspection on the completed structures is useful to
gauge the effectiveness of the Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile system used via the
performance shown, especially in terms of settlements (total and differential alike)
produced (see Plates 16 to 17). This would be better if suitable instrumentation of
the site is provideds, say installation of settlement gaues, inclinometer, porewater
pressure gauges etc. This will provide a fair platform for the performance of the
Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile system to be assessed objectively.

12. Optional: In the case of constructing a road on the embankment, chemical soil
stabilization technique for road base construction may be deployed as an
alternative method for the conventional stone road-base construction. Soil
stabilization represents a cost-effective and time saving approach. The fact that it
affords effective load spreading and thus avoid stress concentration and lead to
stress minimization allows a better and stronger road pavement construction and a
reduction in asphaltic concrete road base course and wearing course will attract
significant cost saving in its construction.
Plate 1 – Lush vegetation commonly found on peaty ground

Plate 2 – Peat commonly found soaked in water due to high water table
Plate 3 – Frequent soft ground problem to construction machineries

Plate 4 – Bamboo-grid frames prefabricated are stacked up adjacent to the job site for
ready use subsequently.
Plate 5 – A larger Bamboo Grid Frame is formed by overlapping and connecting individual frames’
connecting lengths together

Plate 6 - The entire site is now covered by a ‘single’ large piecewise Bamboo Grid Frame
Plate 7 – Geotextile begin to unroll over the Bamboo Grid Frame

Plate 8 – Unreeling and overlapping of geotextile sheets over Bamboo Grid Frame in
progress
Plate 9 – The Bamboo Grid Frame is completely covered by the overlapped geotextile
sheets

Plate 10 – Fill placements have began

Plate 11- The compacted building platform is accomplished

Plate 12 – Building of single-storey semi-detached houses on bamboo grid frame –

geotextile system is in progress
Plate 13 – Building of houses is ongoing

Plate 14 – Construction of Infrastructure is ongoing

Plate 15 – Construction of infrastructural works is completed

Plate 16 – Post-construction inspection to assess the conditions of buildings in order to

gauge the effectiveness of the Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile system
Plate 17 – Further examine on the conditions of the surrounding the house to assess the
performance of the Bamboo Grid Frame – Geotextile system
Can be single,
double or more
layers as
circumstances
necessitate.
IMPORTANT NOTE:

A WORTHNOTHY FEATURE OF THE SYSTEM IS: IF WARRANT AND NECESSARY, THE SYSTEM MAY
REPEAT ITSELF MANY TIMES DURING CONSTRUCTION TO BECOME A MULTIPLES SYSTEM THAT A
TRULY SOLID LIKE ROCK STRATUM WILL BE FORMED CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING AN
EXCEPTIONALLY HEFTY LOAD OVER AN EXTREMELY SOFT DEEP CLAYEY AND PEATY SOIL
STRATUM BELOW WITH SPT’S N VALUE EQUALS TO ZERO THAT MAY EXTEND TO GREAT DEPTH
WITH THE PATENTED BUOYANT SYSTEM** (SINGLE OR MULTIPLE LAYERS) BEING SANDWICHED
IN BETWEEN.

NUMEROUS PROJECTS OF VARIOUS SIZES HAD BEEN IMPLEMENTED WITH SUCCESS WITHOUT
ANY COMPLAINT BEING RECEIVED FROM ANY PARTY (THE CLIENT OR CONSULTANT ALIKE).

THE LARGEST SINGLE PROJECT BEING THE NEW MIRI BASE AT KUALA BALAM DISTRICT IN
SARAWAK COVERING AN AREA OF 167 ACRES AND THE ORIGINAL GROUND UNDERLAINED BY
7m OF SOFT MARINE CLAY AND 10m OR SO THE SOFT PEAT. THE PROJECT WAS COMPLETED IN
1997 WITHOUT GIVE RISE TO ANY SIGNIFICANT SETTLEMENTS; MAY IT BE TOTAL OR
DIFFERENTIAL.