Geotec Hanoi 2011

Application cases and successful experience of Jet grouting method in Vietnam

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Dung
Hydraulic construction Institute, Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Web: www.thuycong.ac.vn; Email: nguyenquocdunghsc@gmail.com

ABSSTRACT: Jet grouting (JG) method was invented in the 1970's. Since 2005, this method has been applied in Vietnam. The first application by engineers from Hydraulic Construction Institute (under Vietnam academy for water resources), was making a cut-off wall to stop water leakage under sluice gates that crossed the river dykes. Since then, the working team have continuously developed applications of JG into different types of structures and obtained many encouraging experiences. This paper is going to demonstrate these experiences and successful JG applications in Vietnam. 1. INTRODUCTION Figure 1 Making a cut-off wall under sluice by JG
A small drilling hole over concrete base

Vietnam has more than 2000 kms of river dykes, and 3000 kms of sea dykes. There are thousands sluice gates constructed along dyke routes, most of which locate on sensitive foundations with permeable, such as fine sand clay and sand peat. In the past, water leakage under these sluices caused disasters when dykes were broken. For example, the disasters of Noi Doi (1986) and Cong Thon (1995), which are recognized as two of the most tremendous catastrophes recorded across the country, occurred due to water leakage under sluice foundation. The importance of efficient methods to stop water leakage under existing sluices was stressed in national research projects in 2004. At that time, popular remedies were using sheet piles and pressure grouting (TAM), etc; yet none of them provided a sufficient solution. Specifically, as sheet piles could not cut through existing concrete foundation, pressure grouting method conducted by TAM could be applied with fine sand clay. The goal was to make a cut-off wall under sluice foundation without damaging concrete bases. Therefore, JG has been chosen and proved to be a remarkably efficient method. Figure 1 and figure 2 illustrate the scenario: we first drill with a rod of 70mm diameter through a concrete base, then make soil-cement overlap columns cut-over sand clay layer. The problem is thus addressed.

Concrete base

A big overlap soil-cement under concrete base making a cut-off wall

Water flow to be stoped by wall

Figure 2 Making a big soil-cement column under concrete bases by JG The pilot JG project was conducted in Ha Nam province in October 2004. Up to now, many other JG projects have been conducted successfully in Vietnam, not only in making a cut-off wall to stop water leakage in hydraulic structures, but all so in treating soft soil for dykes and in earth filleding for dams, etc. This paper aims to introduce some experiences taken from previous successful projects.

2.

USING JG METHODS TO STOP WATER LEAKAGE THROUGH SLUICE GATES

5.1 The first project

As mentioned above, the first project was conducted in Ha Nam province. Although being built in 2002, the irrigation sluice underperformed due to strong and dangerous water leakage. During flood seasons, hundreds of young men are mobilized to support dyke enhancement. In 2003, local engineers of local flood control office used TAM grouting to repair it. In spite of the 300 million VND investment in 2
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months, the leakage remained unstoppable. During the 2004 flood season, this problem caused a heated scandal and a controversial debate between filling up and other treatments. Our proposed method using JG as being described in Figure 3 was eventually chosen.
M y K hoan P h t

Figure 4 Cut-off wall by using JG method in Song Cui project The most important advantage of JG method in repairing similar projects is the ability to construct cutoff wall without suspending irrigation services and without making coffee dam. As being described in Figure 3 for the assignment in Nhan Hien sluice (Hanoi, 2010), the fact that the implementation process was done during main irrigation time made this assignment a successful one.

3.
20 m

USING JG METHOD TO MAKE A CUTOFF WALL FOR EXISTING EARTH FILLED DAMS

12 m

Figure 3 Cut-off wall under concrete base for stopping water leakage through a sluice This assignment was carried out in two weeks with the cost of 200 million VND and the quality has been consistent ever since.

5.2 Other experiences

Another successful project using JG is in Song Cui tidal gate under sea dyke which is located in Long An province. In this sluice, steel sheet piles were used to prevent water leakage underneath the foundation. Due to mistakes in sheet pile construction, the sluice could not prevent salt water from leaking into farm site. Although local irrigation office tried to fix the problem, the case remained unsolved. In 2008, JG method was applied in the fieldwork and became a success (Figure 4). The implementation process done under the river current hindered the project when coffee dam could not be built since the river bed was very large.
Cu Giao thng trn cng My Khoan Pht Sn o

+2.5
Mc n c tri trong khi thi cng u

+1.5

Vietnam has thousands of small earth filled dams; most of them are located in remote areas where it is difficult to access. Because of the lack of experiences and skills in construction, many dams suffer from leakage over time. Many efforts and technologies are implemented to maintain the safety of these dams such as using TAM grouting, cement-betonite barriers, HDPE or clay-mat membranes, etc. Nonetheless, each of them has its own limitations. Using cementbentonite trenches requires decent road for trucks access, while TAM grouting is permanence in the long term, and Geo-membranes need empty reservoirs to construct. Within that context, JG method emerges as a good option in following cases. First example is Hao Hao dam in Thanh Hoa province in 2009. This earth filled dam locates on foundations with extremely complicated geoconditions. There is a sandwich layer of sand, at the depth of 10m under the river bed. Although they already used a barrier using cement-betonite trench, the dam could not keep water as the foundation was permeable. It was possible that a hall existed in a trench because of faults during construction. To rescue the dam, JG method was employed The advantages of JG method in this case are: (1) the ability to make a cut-off wall within sand layer, no other methods can do that; (2) at that time (May 2009), water level in reservoir is in +19.0. With just two months left before flood season, if the dam foundation had observed leakage, disaster could have had happened. No other method but JG could accomplish in such a short time; (3) Economic aspect is also the reason to choose JG. Figure 6 illustrates how the cutoff wall is applied in this dam.

Cht bao tI ct lm tng phn p

4 ~ 6m
Tm b t

-4,5

Hng c Latsen bh

Cc XM ng k 60Cm nh thi cng ch n ln nhau lm thnh t ng dy 40 Cm

-12.5

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Figure 5
Upstream Water Level Earth fill dam

Implementaion JG in Hao Hao Dam

Additional cut wall created by -off JG

Previous cement -betonite trench

Sand layer

Figure 6 Using JG to make cut-off wall whithin sand layer JG method is preferable in emergency situations. As mentioned above, many dams were treated by traditional methods (pressure grouting, etc.) without success, while other modern heavy equipments (clamshell, backhoes, etc.) are very difficult to transport. In this case, JG is a good choice. Figure 5 and 6 demonstrate this kind of projects.

4.

USING JG METHOD AS EMERGENCY MEASURES TO TREAT SOFT SOIL FOUNDATION

Hydraulic structures (dykes, embankments, etc.) located on soft soil foundations are subjects to slope slice, settlement and crack. Slightly different from roads, these kinds of structures have hydraulic gradient; so that normal soil improvement methods (such as sand columns, DVD tubes, etc.) are not always applicable because of permeableness. Soft soil treatment by CDM has following advantages and disadvantages: (1) no waiting time for consolidation; but (2) the cost increases around 20 - 30 % in comparison to sand or DVD columns. However, with hydraulic structures like dykes, time is an important factor because the job must be completed before flood coming. So in these cases, CDM recently become a good choice in Vietnam with Tra Linh dyke an example of which.

Tra Linh project funded by WB locates in Thai Binh Province. This project seek to prevent sea water, discharge flood for 50.000 ha of rice field (~1/3 area of the province), road and navigation transportation. The project includes Tra Linh sluice gates and connecting dykes. The dyke across old river bed with bottom in elevation of (-12,0) and crest of (+5,0), this dyke body was filling up by local soil. After 2 years of construction, completion date was projected at May, 2010, hopping before flood season coming at July. Unfortunately, on February 22, the dyke collapsed. Settlements was measured around 1,5 to 2,5m, on the dyke crest had many cracks. After site detections, engineers concluded that the reason of collapse was due to the soft soil foundation. Some alternatives were proposed, yet only CDM appeared a feasible remedy. As a result of the long technical discussions and documentation procedures, the construction time was limited to only 2 months left from early of May to the end of June. JG method was chosen in this case and performed successfully. Had the dyke not filled up to designed elevation crest in big storm occurred at early July 2010, the consequence would be beyond imagination. The assignment has been highly appreciated by the National Committee for flood and storm control. Figure 7 shows cross section of the dyke foundation that was treated by soil cement columns. The success in Tra Linh (Thai Binh) project opens the key to apply this method into some similar projects in Ha Noi, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue, etc.

5.

USING JG INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL METHOD IN SPECIFIC SITUATIONS structure foundations

5.1 Soft soil improvement for specific hydraulic

Foundations of small hydraulic structure foundations located in soft soils area traditionally are treated by piles (bamboo or indigo piles, concrete piles, etc.). In many cases, these methods do not

1 b

1 d 1 e 3 a 4

6 a 6 7

Figure 7 Using JG to treat soft soil in Tra Linh connecting dyke

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sufficiently meet the demand as demonstrated in the following examples. In the Mekong river area, thousands of small irrigation sluices have been constructed. Recently, owing to push up reclamation process, a patent of mobile caisson dam was applied. In these structures, soft soil foundation treatment was one of the key factors in achieving technical and economical efficiencies. Traditionally, using concrete piles was not preferable due to limited construction time, tight site and high cost; indigo tree methods did not meet design load and specific under water conditions, etc. Soil cement columns created by JG methods were used in more than 10 pilot projects and thrived in this mission. Figure 8 illustrates a transporting mobile caisson dam; Figure 9 presents a picture of implementing JG to treat soft soil foundation for caisson dam. Successful examples of using JG for soft soil improvement were achieved in some other projects located in remote area, such as Quang Binh, Nam Dinh provinces, etc. In those projects, JG method was chosen instead of traditional methods for the same reasons.

buildings, as it has happened in Vietnam and traditional remedies appear rather problematic. JG method was used in Pacific building (in Ho Chi Minh City) and other places but the effectiveness is still being considered. Cho Mo Trading Center building project is other success of JG method that has been recorded. In this project, concrete piles of 21m length play the role of sheet piles instead of barret walls being used. These piles drive in to peat layer located from elevation of (12,0) to (-24m) in depth. In calculation, if the peat layer could not work, the deformation of piles would be extensive. JG method was approved and proved successfully. Fig.9 shows the idea to solve the problem mentioned above.

Figure 9 CDM mass supports concrete piles in Cho Mo Trading Center building

6.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Figure 8 Transporting mobile caisson dam in Mekong delta area

Figure 9 Implementing JG to treat soft soil foundation for caisson dam

5.2 As a support measures for underground

works constructions JG method has been successfully used in the world for constructing underground works. In Vietnam, following projects are recorded. A defect is possible remains in barret walls and in some cases it causes heavy damages for adjacent

CDM were applied in Vietnam since 2002, JG was later in 2005. So far to 2010, more than 5 million meters of CDM have been conducted; and around 200 thousand meters of JG have been used. There are essential statistics showing that the quality of soil cement of JG method is better, but unit cost is one and a haft more expensive than CDM. Nevertheless JG still has its place in civil engineering constructions in Vietnam thanks to significant advantages in specific conditions mentioned above. In term of technical code, there are TCXD 3852006 issued by Ministry of Construction. This code focuses on CDM with equipment using dry cement. There are some differences between CDM and JD method, such as facilities operation or quality control. Therefore, the document named "Technical guideline for using JG method to stop water leakage and soft soil treatment in hydraulic works" was issued by Vietnam academy for water resources in May 2010. In conclusion, the lack of experiences and research data related to CDM in general as well as JG method still is essential. The demand to further research and develop these methods needs continuous cooperation between civil engineers and researchers. The supports form oversea experts are also very valuable. 7. REFERENCES
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Nguyen, Q. Dung (2005). High pressure grouting (JG) method in soft soil treatments. Agriculture Publication, Hanoi, Vietnam. Nguyen, Q. Dung (2006). Final research project report named Finding methods to repair and upgrade suluices located along dykes of Hong river and its branches.

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