TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF CIVIL

ENGINEERING BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Embankments constructed on
soft foundation soils
Students
tefan Mihai
Paiu Alexandru
Tutor
Sef.
Sef. Lucrari Ing.
Ing. Andrei Constantin Olteanu

Location of the area of interest

at national and county level

Two road sectors of

10 km respectively
5 km in length

Stratification of subgrade soil

12m thick soft clay

layer resting on sand

oedometer modulus
M2-3=20003000kPa

moisture content
w=23.60%

consolidation coefficient
cv=0.057mm2/s

Settlement of the road structure before

ground improvement

The diagram clearly shows the presence of

high differential settlement

Ground investigation
Undisturbed Soil Sampling

Schematic drawing of an
open-tube sampler
Diagram of sampling operations

Improvement techniques

VIBROVIBRO-COMPACTION : VibroVibro-compaction cannot be employed

effectively where the fines content (silt and clay) exceeds about
about 20
percent.

DYNAMIC COMPACTION:
COMPACTION: Dynamic compaction is not effective in soft

alluvial or marine clays

TOTAL DISPLACEMENT:
DISPLACEMENT: This solution, tough usable, was rejected as
being totally unpractical from cost and duration considerations
VERTICAL DRAINS: This solution was taken into consideration
LIME COLUMNS (SWEDISH METHOD): This method was examined to
understand case history experience of lime usage in soft soil improvement
improvement

We chose the solution micromicro-piles made of

compacted dry quicklime

Settlement diagram of improved soil

After ground improvement
the settlement values are
roughly reduced by half

Reduced scale model

Reduced scale model of the soil

Natural soil sample
enforced with micro-piles made of lime
An identical natural soil sample was
The natural soil sample was taken enforced with micro-piles made of
from the site and it was placed in a
compressed quicklime powder.
10x10x10 box.
-

Same material was used as in the

case of the real solution.

The model is a reduced scale

representation of a section on the
entire width of the subgrade soil (12m
real = 10cm model).

The dimensions and positioning of the

micro-piles were computed based on
the above considerations.

Theoretical support

Numerical solution
2u
1
=
( u i 1, j + u i +1 , j 2 u i , j )
t 2
( z )2

u i , j +1 = u i , j +

cv t
(u i 1, j + u i +1, j 2u i , j )
(z ) 2

Depth-time grid

Vertical drains
Tv

cv t
d

Tr

ch t
2

4R

time factor for consolidation due to

vertical drainage only

time factor for consolidation due to

radial drainage only

c.v

Cylindrical blocks

Solution for radial consolidation

Computation of soil improvement solution

1
0

2
0

6
0

7
0

8
0

9
0

10
0

11
0

12
0

13
0

14
0

15
0

16
0

17
0

18
0

19
0

20
0

15

7.8

6.6

5.976

5.4288

5.04288

4.71226

4.44768

4.21886

4.02436

3.85332

3.70303

3.56872

3.44823

3.33908

3.23973

3.14873

3.06502

2.98765

15

15

12.6

11.64

10.584

9.8928

9.2592

8.76307

8.32332

7.95148

7.62112

7.33092

7.07029

6.83622

6.62358

6.42979

6.25196

6.08817

5.93661

5.79571

15

15

15

14.04

13.464

12.7728

12.2352

11.7145

11.2694

10.8582

10.4924

10.1569

9.85237

9.57211

9.31446

9.07593

8.85472

8.64872

8.45595

15

15

15

15

14.616

14.3088

13.9094

13.5531

13.1875

12.8503

12.525

12.2215

11.9338

11.6639

11.409

11.1691

10.9425

10.7273

10.5229

10.328

15

15

15

15

15

14.8464

14.6928

14.4778

14.2627

14.0292

13.7989

13.5668

13.3404

13.1185

12.9037

12.6957

12.4924

12.2949

12.1026

11.9155

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9386

14.8648

14.7542

14.6323

14.4926

14.346

14.1922

14.0361

13.8784

13.714

13.5486

13.3817

13.2146

13.0476

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9754

14.941

14.886

14.8199

14.7407

14.6537

14.5596

14.4421

14.3188

14.1875

14.0508

13.9092

13.7636

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9902

14.9744

14.9493

14.9178

14.8798

14.7894

14.6975

14.5953

14.4847

14.3658

14.2398

14.1075

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9961

14.989

14.9769

14.9606

14.9399

14.8963

14.8464

14.784

14.7125

14.6314

14.5418

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9984

14.9953

14.9896

14.9814

14.9704

14.9414

14.9045

14.8564

14.7991

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9994

14.998

14.9953

14.972

14.9442

14.9048

14.857

14.7991

14.7321

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14.9997

14.9511

14.9041

14.8486

14.7855

14.7129

14.6317

14.5419

15

15

360
A
(kPa)

3
0

348
Uvt
(-)

180
180
174
170.4
167.28
164.64
162.25
160.078
158.061
156.176
154.397
152.711
151.106
149.574
148.012
146.46
144.918
143.381
141.845
140.308
138.769

15
0

340.8

Tv
(-)
0
0
0.03333
0.05333
0.07067
0.08533
0.09861
0.11068
0.12188
0.13236
0.14224
0.15161
0.16052
0.16904
0.17771
0.18633
0.1949
0.20344
0.21197
0.22051
0.22906

4
0

15
0

334.56

Tr
0
0.00625
0.0125
0.01875
0.02499
0.03124
0.03749
0.04374
0.04999
0.05624
0.06248
0.06873
0.07498
0.08123
0.08748
0.09373
0.09997
0.10622
0.11247
0.11872
0.12497

5
0

15
0

329.28

15
0

324.499

15
0

320.156

15
0

316.122

15
0

312.352

15
0

308.794

15
0

305.422

15
0

302.211

14.8798
0

299.147

14.7894
0

296.024

14.6975
0

292.919

14.5953
0

289.836

14.4847
0

286.762

14.3658
0

283.69

0.66795

Conclusions

14.732

14.2398
0

Uvt
0.27

8.275

The solution that was chose was that of quicklime micromicro-piles

bored beneath the road embankment.
The calculus provided the following dimensions for the chosen
solution:
solution:
Compacted dry quicklime injected into boreholes will be used for the
micromicro-pilots;
The micromicro-pilots will have the following geometry:
15 cm diameter and 12 m depth (the bottom of the clay layer)
The positioning is of successive intercalary rows of piles
The spacing between piles is equal to the spacing between piles on a
row, 1 m.
For this geometry, placing and composition of the ground
improvement solution, complete consolidation of the soil (80%
)
(80%)
should take place within approximately 3 months.
months.

280.616

14.1075
0

277.537