SOIL IMPROVEMENT METHODS:

Soil improvement in its broadest sense is the alteration of any property of a soil to improve its
engineering performance such as strength, reduced compressibility, reduced permeability, or improved
ground water condition. This may be either a temporary process to permit the construction of a facility
or may be a permanent measure to improve the performance of the completed facility. We will discuss
about the details of soil improvement. Some of the methods for soil improvement are discussed below:

1) Removal and Replacement :- To reduce settlement and improve shear strength and
stiffness, complete or partial soil replacement can be a viable form of soil improvement.
This means removing unsuitable soil and replacing it with sand with better
characteristics. Or it can be a combination of removing and replacing soil and then
reinforcing it with compacted stone columns, sand-compacted piling, a variety of soil
mixing techniques, or local mixing of soils in a grid. Where a grid of geotextile-encased
sand columns, piles, or in-situ mixed columns is used, a bridging mattress may be
required across the site to transfer the surface loadings into the discrete soil supports.
Significantly less or no surcharging is required with these techniques and they generally
provide savings in time. These treatments are, however, typically more costly as soil
replacement requires finding better material – which may be at a distant location.
(Geotextile Encased Columns (GEC) offer a reliable means of ensuring
column integrity for the transmission of loads in extremely soft ground.)
2) Pre loading :- Preloading has been used for many years without change in the
method or application to improve soil properties. Preloading or pre-compression is
the process of placing additional vertical stress on a compressible soil to remove
pore water over time. The pore water dissipation reduces the total volume causing
settlement. Surcharging is an economical method for ground improvement.
However, the consolidation of the soils is time dependent, delaying construction
projects making it a non-feasible alternative.

Surcharge fills are typically 10-25 feet thick and generally produces settlement of 1 to 3 feet. It
Most effective in clay soil. Preloading method is used to remove pore water over time. This treatment is
very effective for the soils having high moisture contents, high compressibility and low shearing
strength. Another advantage is it removes the settlements that should otherwise be done after the
completion of the construction.

Merits and demerits of pre loading:

Pre loading contains many advantages and disadvantages. If we are provided with the material for
generating the pre loading at low costs and if the sufficient time is available for the pre loading to occur
then following merits are achieved:

 Particularly for the soils having heterogeneous characteristics the reduction in the post
construction settlement is achieved.
 For the general grading of the site the pre-load fills are usually used. They usually reduce the
considerable cost of the pre loading process, it is important because usually pre loading
processes are quite expensive.
 One of the best merits of this technique is that it is almost free of noise and vibration problems
that are faced in other technique. Therefore it is preferable in those places where
environmental restrictions are involved.
 Requires only conventional earthmoving equipment
 Any grading contractor can perform the work
 Long track record of success
Some of its demerits are:

 There could be an unexpected cost increment.

 Further improvement in the project requires the consideration of the pre loading programme.
 Their may be a unexpected time delay.

 Surcharge fill must extend horizontally at least 10 m beyond the perimeter of the planned
construction, which may not be possible at confined sites

 Transport of large quantities of soil required.

3) VERTICAL DRAINS:- Soil stabilisation using Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVDs) or wick drains
are applied in areas with loose, compressible and water-saturated soils such as clay and silty
clays. These soils are characterised by a very weak soil skeleton and a large pore space, usually
filled with water (pore water). When a load such as a road embankment, a hydraulic fill or a
dike, is placed on soft compressible soils, significant settlements may occur. These settlements
can create serious problems. Any increase in load can also result in an increase of pore water
pressure. In soils with low permeability, this water dissipates very slowly, gradually flowing from
the stressed zone. A vertical drainage system – drains are generally placed in a square or
triangular pattern, spaced at about 1 to 3 metres – allows for faster removal of excess pore
water, thus decreasing the risk of slip plane failure. The consolidation of soft cohesive soils using
vertical drains can reduce settlement time from years to months ensuring that bearing capacity
is adequate and construction can commence rapidly. Prefabricated vertical drains, also known
as wick drains, are one of the most commonly used techniques to make soft compressible
subsoil with a low bearing capacity constructible. Vertical drainage together with a surcharge
reduces the time of settlement substantially. Area’s that are sensitive to settlement are
characterized by a high water content as well as an open structure between the grains. When
loads are placed, excess pore pressures are formed because of the low permeability of the soil
layers. Without taking measures, this excess pore water will flow out very slowly. This leads to a
long period with high settlements and possible stability problems when loads are being placed
 too soon. These drains provide a shorter path for the water to flow through to get away from
the soil
Time to drain clay layers can be reduced from years to a couple of months.
4) IN-SITU DENSIFICATION:- Densification is the process of increasing the density of something. It
is also known as compaction. This is a physical process that occurs naturally whereby sediments
are compacted and combined. This process reduces the pore space within rock formations
because the grains are packed too close. Densification allows the sediments and grains to
consolidate over time with pressure and heat that forms rocks and other resources. There are
basically two types of in-situ densification.
1)DYNAMIC:- Dynamic compaction is a ground improvement technique for compacting
fills as well as soft or loose natural soils. It has proved to be an effective and economical
alternative to deep vibratory compaction and the smooth wheel vibratory roller
compactor. Some technologies available for this are VF, VSC, and DDC etc. The concept
of this technique is improving the mechanical properties of the soil by transmitting high-
energy impacts to loose granular soils. The impact creates body and surface waves that
propagate in the soil medium. In nonsaturated soils the waves displace the soil grains
and rearrange them in a denser configuration. In saturated ground the soil is liquefied
and the grains rearranged in a more compact state. In both cases the decrease of voids
and increase in inner granular contact will directly lead to improved soil properties.
2)VIBRATORY:- This compaction method is undertaken at the surface of the site using
vibratory rollers, plates and/or tampers. It is often used in road and airfield construction
to compact the sub-base and base courses consisting of granular material such as rock
fill and sand or in foundation construction to compact the soil underneath shallow
foundations. While moving forward, the vibratory rollers combine static pressure and
dynamic loading using vibrations with low amplitude and high frequency that re-
arranges the grains into a denser state. Non-vibrating pad foot rollers and tyre rollers
are more effective in cohesive materials as a result of their kneading action. This
compaction method involves various types of equipment:

 single-drum vibratory rollers,

 towed single-drum vibratory rollers,
 vibratory tandem rollers,
 hand-held tampers, and
 vibratory plate compactors.

Most of the vibratory rollers have a smooth drum and are suitable for granular material
only. Vibratory rollers have weights that typically range between 4 and 25 tonnes and
generally move at speeds not exceeding 6 kilometres per hour. A special development is
the polygonal drum roller consisting of three octagonal drum elements placed next to
each other. According to reports, the combination of this special drum shape (weight 14
to 26 tonnes) with the high dynamic forces enables an optimum introduction of the
compression and shear waves into the soil. The influence depth of vibratory rollers is
limited and varies between 0.30 m and 0.80 metres, depending on the type of soil to be
compacted and the equipment used. In practice, vibratory rollers are only used for fill
layers of limited thickness. However, discharge capacities of modern dredgers results in
 layer thicknesses not less than 2 to 3 metres. This implies that the use of vibratory
rollers is limited to the uppermost layer only.

5) VIBRATORY PROBE COMPACTION:- The principle of vibratory probes is based on compaction of

granular material as a result of vertically polarised waves transmitted into the soil by a long
vibrating probe. The vibrations are generated by a heavy vibrator clamped at the upper end of
the probe exciting the probe over its full length in a vertical direction. The probe is inserted into
the soil and vibrated down to the maximum depth. The spacing between insertion points of the
probe ranges typically between 1.5 and 4.0 metres and is generally smaller than for
vibroflotation. The probe is usually suspended from a crane or guided mast. Modern vibrators
are hydraulically driven and often the vibration frequency can be varied during operation.
Vibratory probes are developed to compact granular material to depths ranging from 10 to 15
metres.
6) VIBROFLOTATION:- Vibroflotation relies on the fact that particles of non-cohesive soil can be re-
arranged into a denser state under the influence of vibrations from specially designed vibratory
probes. The action of the vibratory probe, usually accompanied by water and/or air jetting to
temporarily reduce the inter-granular forces between the soil particles, allows the grains to
move into a more compact configuration. Vibroflotation is used for in-situ compaction of thick
layers of loose granular soil deposits to depths that may exceed 30 metres. In loose to medium
dense saturated sands, the strong ground vibrations in the immediate vicinity of the probe will
result in an increase of pore-water pressure in the soil column surrounding the vibratory probe.
Compaction with vibratory probes is limited to granular materials only. An increase of the fines
content will reduce the permeability and, hence, the efficiency of the compaction method. The
efficiency of vibroflotation is generally higher than the efficiency of vibratory probes without
water or air jets.
7) DEEP VIBRATORY COMPACTION:- During deep vibratory compaction grains are rearranged into
a more dense state by the vibrations transmitted from vibrating probes that are inserted into
the ground. Deep vibratory compaction has been developed to compact granular soils to depths
of more than 30 metres. The deep vibratory method is limited to granular soils, usually with a
maximum fines content of 10-15 percent. Probes are inserted into the ground at so-called
compaction points, which are most commonly arranged on a triangular grid pattern over the
area to be compacted. Operational parameters such as the grid spacing of the compaction
points, the duration of the vibration time, and the rate of withdrawal of the probe are in most
cases determined during compaction trials undertaken at the project site itself. The primary
difference between the various techniques of deep vibratory compaction is the design of the
probe. Based on this design deep vibratory compaction techniques can be divided into:

 vibratory probes without water or air jets vibrating in vertical direction;

 vibroflotation with water and/or air jets vibrating in horizontal direction.

In situ tests, such as the Cone Penetration Test may be carried out to verify the required quality
of the soil improvement.

8) VIBRO REPLACEMENT STONE COLUMN:- Vibro Replacement is a method of constructing

densely compacted stone columns using a depth vibrator to densify the aggregate backfill and
surrounding granular soil. The technology is used to treat clays, silts and mixed stratified soils
and improve their load bearing and settlement characteristics. Stone is introduced either down
the side or from the tip of the vibrator and is compacted bottom-up in controlled stages. The
stone columns reinforce soft soil, accelerate drainage and mitigates liquefaction due to a seismic
event. Typical applications for stone columns include settlement and stability improvement
below embankments and stockpiles; foundations for all type of building especially warehousing
and industrial buildings; wind turbines and liquid storage tanks.