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Ground Improvement Work On Soft Soil At

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Johor, Malaysia.

Conference Paper · January 2013

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 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Ground Improvement Work On Soft Soil At Universiti Tun Hussein Onn,

Johor, Malaysia.
 
Ir. Ramli Nazir, Phd, Assoc. Professor.
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
ramlinazir@utm.my

Ir. Ismail A. Rahman, M. Eng. Senior Engineer.

Department of Civil, Structure and Bridge Specialist Work, Public Works Department Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur.
ismail@jkr.gov.my

The corresponding author: Ir. Ramli Nazir, Phd, Assoc. Professor.

 
Abstract
The paper presents the history of ground improvement work adopted in the campus development
for Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Batu Pahat, Johor. Due to the limitation of construction cost,
ground improvement work is to be limited for roads and parking lot only. 11 numbers of
boreholes and 13 numbers of CPT tests were performed to established soil parameters needed for
the design works. Excessive long term settlement was the major concern for the area due to the
existing of soft soil within the area. In order to minimize the long term settlement, ground
treatment would be required. Various ground treatment methods had been assessed and it was
decided to use surcharge and Prefabricated Vertical Drain (PVD) method for the soft soil
treatment due to its financial value and simplicity in its works. Real time prediction using
Asaoka’s Observatory Procedure shows a reliable agreement for prediction of settlement in
ground improvement works for soft soil.

Keyword: Ground Improvement, Prefabricated Vertical Drain, Simplicity, Financial

1. Introduction
Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn is located in Parit Raja, about 25km to the east of Batu
Pahat Town. The area is considerably flat with existing ground level ranges generally between
1.2m to 2.4m above Sea Level. The construction begins in 2007 within an area of 145 Ha. It
comprises of construction for the Library and Chancellery, Faculty of Civil Engineering and
Environment, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Technology
Information and Multimedia, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing, Faculty of
Technical Education and Lecture Hall. The existing area which is to be developed has a Reduce
Level varies from +1.4m to +1.8m in the open area. A propose final platform level will be RL
2.5m since flood contributed by Sungai Semberong and Sungai Simpang Kanan was estimated to
be at highest level of +2.3m. However as a centre of attraction, the Library building will be
placed on a higher level than others at a R.L of +3.5m. The layout plan for the development area
is as shown in Figure 1.0.
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Figure 1.0 Location of site

2. Subsurface Conditions
Prior to the ground improvement work a site investigation scheme was performed throughout the
propose development area. The scheme suggested comprises of 11 boreholes and 13 CPT point
with Dissipation test from selected boreholes and CPT point respectively and laboratory test on
extracted samples. The laboratory testing includes strength and settlement parameters and also
physical testing. The subsoil information from the development area is divided into 3 zones. Base
from the overall soil profile cross section i.e:
i) Zone A (Profile BH1,BH2 and BH11)
ii) Zone B (Profile BH8, BH4, BH7)
iii) Zone C (Profile BH5, BH6, BH10)
Generally, the soil layer can be described as below:-

Table 1.0 Generalised Soil Profile

Soil Layer Description Ground Level Remark

(m RL)
Layer 1 Very Soft Clay From **EGL to -20m RL Existing Highly
Compressible soft
Alluvial.
Layer 2 Stiff to Very Stiff Clay From -20m CD to -24m RL Less compressible.
Assume insignificant
settlement
Layer 3 Stiff to Very Stiff Silt From -24m CD to -28m RL Insignificant settlement
Clay
Layer 4 Hard to Very Hard Silt Below -28m RL Good bearing Stratum
Clay

** EGL at about +1.4m to +1.8m RL.

 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Water level that has been monitored through boreholes ranged from 0m to 0.5m below the ground
surface. The water levels are slightly erratic initially but stabilized during most of the monitoring
period. To minimize the future settlement of the platform for infrastructure such as roads, parking
and open area after the completion of the development, subsoil treatment is necessary due to the
existence of soft layer within the development area. Figure 2.0 shows a typical cross section of
boreholes acquired during the site investigation work.

Figure 2.0 : Typical cross section of the area.

3. Subsoil Treatment Method

Excessive post construction settlement of the area is the main concern. Various ground treatment
methods has been considered. After consideration of time, cost, effectiveness and practicality of
various subsoil treatment methods, Surcharge + Vertical Drain was chosen. This method had been
used for most of the project in Malaysia that encounter with the soft alluvial deposit. For this
project, earth fill surcharge was adopted due to its cost effective compared with other methods.
However to accelerate the process of settlement Vertical Drain will be associated with surcharge in
order to shortened the drainage path for the process of excess pore pressure dissipation. Sand
drains and prefabricated band shape drains are common types of vertical drains.
For this exercise, prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) was adopted. The PVD was installed at 1.5m
spacing. With the help of the vertical drains, water within the soft layer not only flows vertically
but also flows horizontally to the vertical drains. Thus, the drainage path is significantly
shortened. With shorten drainage path and higher horizontal permeability as mention by
Hansbo(1979), the consolidation process can be accelerated tremendously. The proposed
surcharged and PVD system targeted to treat the subsoil to more than 90% consolidation
settlement attributed to permanent loading from platform level of +2.5m. In order to increase the
shear strength of the soil base, geogrid system is introduced. The use of geogrid will allow base
strengthening on a soft formation and permit embankment construction to take place in a
controlled and safe manner. Depending on the design requirement, it can be placed as a single or
multiple layer reinforcement at the embankment base to intersect potential failure surfaces
extending to the surrounding area. Figure 3 to Figure 4 shows the selected area to undergo ground
improvement programme.
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Figure 3: Installation of PVD prior to surcharge

Figure 4: Complete Surcharge at Resting Period.

4.0 Monitoring Programme

Due to the inherent uncertainty of subsoil, it is very difficult to estimate precisely the magnitude
of settlement and the rate of settlement of the reclaimed platform especially when only limited
numbers of boreholes were made and distributed over large area. Monitoring of the subsoil
performance during construction is essential. Geotechnical instruments inclusive of
inclinometers, piezometers and settlement markers were installed during the process of
reclamation to monitor the subsoil performance. In the monitoring work, readings are taken once
a week from the beginning of filling activity until full surcharge load. The instrumentations that
have been installed are as follows:
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

i. Settlement Plates - 25 Nos

ii. VW Piezometer - 15 Nos
ii. Magnetic Probe Extensometer - 2 Nos
iv. Inclinometer - 2 Nos
v. Permanent Datum - 2 Nos
Results are plotted using measured instrumentation readings such as settlement versus time, pore
pressure development versus time and lateral movement versus time. These plots will show the
trend or behaviour of the soil related to the soil improvement work. A typical type of
instrumentation protective casing is as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 : A Typical Instrumentation protective casing installed on the

Embankment.

5.0 Results and Discussions

The results will be discussed into three main criteria:-
1. Embankment Stability
2. Monitoring Evaluation
3. Performance Analysis

5.1 Embankment Stability

Stability analysis need to be performed to ensure that embankment slope will not collapse during
the full load application. The specification allows a minimum Factor Of Safety of 1.5 for the
embankment. Figure 6(a) shows a deformation occurs at full load. The settlement occurs is
262mm which is within the estimated value of elastic settlement calculated before. The FOS
obtained is 1.7 which is more than specified in the work specification. The value is as shown in
Figure 11(b). Separator at grade TS30 is used since stability of the embankment is not a critical
issue. Zone A was selected for stability analysis since the area is more critical than Zone B and
Zone C.
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

(a) (b)

Figure 6: Slope Deformation and Factor of Safety through Simulation

5.2 Monitoring Evaluation

Due to an assumption on several soil parameters such as coefficient of horizontal consolidation,

horizontal permeability and well effect, evaluation base on theoretical or prescriptive value will
be used as guidance in obtaining the magnitude of related ground improvement. To ensure the
real time performance of the ground improvement, instrumentations were installed and
monitored. Monitoring was done once a week. It should be noted that from the specification
provided, the residual settlement should be limited to a maximum of 100mm within 5 years post
construction period. Figure 7(a) and Figure 7(b) shows a typical result obtained from monitoring
Magnetic Extensometer and Pressuremeter respectively. Inclinometer that is used to detect
movement of the embankment toe is plotted as shown in Figure 8. While a typical plots of
settlement plate is as shown in Figure 9. Based on the measured field data, back analysis to
verify the design assumptions and to predict the total primary consolidation settlement can be
carried out. Although back analysis always involves a number of simplifying assumptions which
may compromise the reliability of the compute values, Asaoka (1978) had applied his back
analysis method successfully based on field settlement observation using simple graphical
procedures. In this procedure the settlement analysis was employed using the latter method.

5.3 Performance Analyses

The final stage of evaluating the instrumentation reading is to provide performance analyses base
on its settlement and embankment stability. Throughout the resting period, the data was acquired
and it will be terminated whenever readings obtained from settlement plate are constant for a
minimum of three consecutive readings or by observing the piezometer readings and
extensometer readings.
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

(a) (b)

Figure 7 : Typical reading for Magnetic extensometer (a) and Menard Pressuremeter
installed in pre bore hole.
Instrument Type: Inclinometer Location : Primary Ring Road (Zone A)
Instruments ID : IN 1 Top of Tube RL : 2.3752 mRL
In Logger ID : 0001 Total Length of Tube Installed: 30.0 m
Inclinometer CD Cumulative Displacement (mm) Against Depth (m)
0
D Towards Site Entrance Towards Worker
BarrackC
1
2
3
4
5
Remarks 6
Commisioning on 7
8
02/10/07 9
Surcharge removed 10
13/05/08 11
12
13
14
15
Depth (m)

16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
-300 -250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Cumulative Displacement (mm)
2/10/2007 9/10/2007 23/10/2007 30/10/2007 6/11/2007
12/11/2007 19/11/2007 27/11/2007 4/12/2007 11/12/2007
18/12/2007 27/12/2007 31/12/2007 8/1/2008 15/1/2008
21/1/2008 28/1/2008 5/2/2008 14/2/2008 18/2/2008
26/2/2008 3/3/2008 11/3/2008 18/3/2008 25/3/2008
1/4/2008 14/4/2008 28/4/2008

Figure 8 : Typical Results for Inclinometer located at the toe of an Embankment

 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Embankment stability in terms of settlement and slope instability will be observed through the
settlement plate via Temporary Bench Marking point and Inclinometer respectively. This will
provides a real time performance observation during improvement period. At the initial stage, a
total settlement predicted to occurs are 800mm, 486mm and 572mm for Zone A, Zone B and
Zone C respectively. These values are inclusive of elastic settlement that occurs immediately
after the filling is place on the improved site. Base from observational procedure by
Asaoka(1978) the average value of settlement obtained from the analysis are as shown in Table
2.
Table 2: Prediction of Settlement using Asaoka’s Observation Procedure and Terzaghi
One Dimension Consolidation.

Zone Asaoka’s Terzaghi’s

Average (mm) Predicted
Settlement(mm)
A 490 675
B 460 360
C 420 450

At average all zones shows a settlement between 420mm and 490mm. In most cases, the
settlement from back analysis shows that Asaoka’s plots is lower than predicted except for Zone
B. The different in reading is expected, since the use of an analytical solution such as Terzaghi
one dimensional consolidation is not always effective factors concerning settlement magnitudes
in which sometimes it is quite uncertain in engineering practices. Figure 9 and 10 shows selected
typical results for Asaoka’s plot representing the zones. SP6 representing Zone A, while SP8 is
representing Zone B. Finally SP9 and SP10, is representing Zone C.

6.0 Conclusions
The whole area of the development sits on soft clay which is highly compressible. Due to
construction time constrain, a ground improvement need to be done to expedite the settlement
process of the area. A task of less than six month was given to improve the site before other
infrastructure works will be commencing. Surcharge method incorporated with PVD was used as
a ground improvement programs. The method was selected due to its simplicity and economical
in comparison with other available method within the region. The work was done by stages
starting from Zone A until Zone C. Settlement at each zone reached its final value within a period
of 5months from the day of the ground improvement work started. The surcharge height used
was 2.5m for both Zone A and B and 2.75m for Zone C. The final settlement occurs were
490mm, 400mm and 254mm for Zone A, Zone B and Zone C respectively. Geotechnical
instrument were installed to monitor the performance of subsoil. Back analysis based on
settlement monitoring results predicted using Asaoka’s Observatory method shows a reliable
agreement with Terzaghi’s one dimensional consolidation. It was thought to be useful to
understand the history of the development site before any settlement prediction is done to
eliminate overestimating of surcharge materials which might incurs to extra cost in construction.
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

Figure 9 : Typical reading monitor from Settlement Plate

 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

 
Figure 10 : Typical value of Asaoka’s plot for settlement prediction
 2013 International Congress on Engineering and Information, Bangkok, Thailand. 26th Jan -28th Jan 2013

7.0 Acknowledgement
The authors’ wishes to thank to all personnel involve during the construction and
monitoring of the ground improvement on site. Appreciation is to be given to UTHM,
JKR and Ecovest Sdn. Bhd. for allowing publishing the data available.

8.0 References
[1] Asaoka, A. 1978. Observational Procedure of Settlement Prediction. Soils and Foundations,
Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 1978. Japanese Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
pp. 87- 101
[2] Hansbo, S. 1979. Consolidation of clay by band-shaped prefabricated drains. Ground
Engineering, July, Vol. 12, No.5.
[3] Hansbo, S. 1981. Consolidation of fine-grained soils by prefabricated drains. Proceedings,
10th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 3,
Stockholm.
[4] Terzaghi, K. 1948. Teorethical Soil Mechanics. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
 

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