國立臺灣科技大學

Special topics on
soil improvement

Site visit report:

XinYi Line Extension Project

Professor: Hung-Jiun Liao

Student: Luca Brambilla

ID: E10705015
Xinyi line extension project

Site location

TBM Launching pit

TBM receiving pit

TBM layout
Soil Grouting
Grouting is a method often applied as a soil and ground improvement method whereby a flowable
(pumpable) material is injected into the ground under pressure to alter the characteristics and/or
behavior of the ground.
Chemical grouting
Chemical Grouting (Permeation) generally refers to the use of commercially available agents that will
permeate through existing pores and voids of a soil mass. As a general rule, chemical grouts are complete
solutions, in that there are no particulate solids in suspension. As such, chemical grouts may be able to
permeate into finer soil gradations (medium to fine sands and silty sands) and may contain dissolved
materials that react directly with the soils being treated. As an example, certain chemical additives may
stabilize expansive soils. Chemical grouting is commonly applied through sleeve ports of a grout pipe
placed in a predrilled hole.

Chemical grouts often contain reagents that chemically react with the soil, causing the mixtures to solidify
and harden with time. Others are mixed in place where they undergo polymerization with a second
catalyzing agent (and can be applied as a two-shot injection). The types of components and reagents can
be proportioned and mixed to control viscosity, strength, and durability. One distinct advantage of
chemical grouts is the ability to very precisely control set times to within a few seconds. These set or “gel”
times may be designed from seconds to hours, depending on the application and desired control.
Adjustments can be made to set times by careful control of mixture proportions. Some additives, including
water and calcium chloride (even including suspended solids, i.e., cement and bentonite) may be blended
with these grouts to modify certain properties, such as dilution, freeze resistance, strength, and better set
time control.

Polyurethane (and urethane) grouts have become popular, as they can be manufactured to quickly react
with water, making them suitable for applications with flowing water conditions. These types of
materials form an expanding foam and are often used in structural defects (i.e., cracks, joints) in
structural floors or walls, or used to fill voids.

Grouting Equipment – FOR CHEMICAL GROUTING

There are several types of equipment required for introducing grout material into the ground. Much of
this depends on the grouting method applied and the desired results for the particular application.

Virtually all grouting applications rely on pumps to place the grout and provide the required pressures for
various grouting methods. These pressures may vary widely from a few thousand to tens of thousands of
kPa. For cement grouts, the mixture of cement, water, and any other additives must be blended,
continuously agitated, and pumped into the ground before the material sets. In these cases, the water is
the catalyst and fluidizer, and must be part of the batch. Ideally, the pump system should have a volume
capacity to batch all of the grout needed for a single injection process.

The advantage of two-part chemical grouts is that the two portions may be pumped or added separately,
allowing the use of shorter and more controlled set times. These pump systems often have accurate (and
sometimes adjustable, computer-automated) metering of the component volumes for control of catalyst
concentrations and set times. Therefore, the critical criteria for a pumping system are adequate volume,
pressure capacity, and control of mix proportions (if not prepared in a single batch). A large variety of
commercial pumping configurations are readily available.
For more control over the precise depth at which the grout enters
the ground, sleeved pipes may be used. Sleeved pipes (also known
as tubes-a-manchette) were first introduced in the 1930s in France.
The use of sleeved pipes requires a predrilled hole into which the
pipe is inserted, and the annulus between the pipe and hole is filled
with a weak grout slurry. The sleeved pipe typically consists of a PVC
pipe with perforated holes at regular intervals. The holes are
covered on the outside of the pipe with a rubber sleeve.

In order to maintain grouting pressures and control where the grout

is injected into the ground, tight “seals” must be utilized. Balloon
packers are generally hydraulically or pneumatically inflated
membranes, which provide a seal above and/or below a grout
injection point to control the injection location within a grout hole
or grout pipe location. Use of multiple packers may be desirable to
isolate the injection point to specific subsurface horizon(s).

During application, a desired depth interval is isolated by a double

packer system and the grout pressure between packers forces the
grout past the rubber sleeve, through the weak grout, and into the
surrounding ground. The use of sleeved pipes has an additional
advantage in that specific horizons may be regrouted by
repositioning the injection point.

Quality control: check the pressure (at least 2 bars, but not too high - to avoid heaving) and check
permeability after finishing the job (drill a hole at 20 m and check if k is around 10^-5).

To see if there is a problem, nearby pipes can be checked to see if they present similar conditions.
Pollution-free chemical grouting – Solution of sodium silicate as ground stabilizer

MT hardener is the main auxiliaries to sodium silicate’s medical colloid solution in grouting. Quick-setting
type and Medium-setting type are the two materials for choice. They are having a good deal of
performances in many significant construction projects. The well received MT hardener is easy using,
economic, stable and excellent in quality.
JET GROUTING
Jet Grouting (Erosion) is a method that involves injecting the grout material under very high pressures
(300-600 bars) through high-velocity jets (600-1000 ft/s) so that they hydraulically cut, erode, replace, and
mix with the existing soil to form very uniform, high-strength, soil-cement columns. As such, jet grouting
could be considered a form of deep mixing with the advantages of generally higher compressive strengths
and more uniform soil treatment. Typical applications involve drilling to the maximum design depth,
followed by injection of grout (and other fluids) while the drill stem/grout pipe is rotated between 10 and
20 rpm, and then slowly raised to form a relatively uniform column of soil-cement.

There are generally three types of jet grout systems in common use: the single jet or monofluid system,
the two-fluid system, and the three-fluid system.

In single-fluid systems, grout alone is injected from

nozzles located above the drill bit and can create a
grouted mass to a radial distance of around 40-50
cm in cohesive soil and 50-75 cm in some granular
deposits. The radial distance will be a function of
the volume of grout placed as well as pressure and
soil type.

The two-fluid system combines air jetting with the

grout mixture, which can assist in increasing the
radius of influence by several inches.

The three-fluid system adds a water jet in addition

to the grout and air, which helps to cut and erode
the existing soil, enabling an even larger radius
column, but this also generates a larger volume of
wet spoil that must be collected at the surface.

For all system types, the drill bit is larger in diameter than the stem rod to allow an annulus for return of
spoils.

The main parameters for jet grouting are: lift up rate (min/step),
rotation speed (rpm), grouting pressure and grout flow rate (q=VA).

Generally speaking, the two-fluid system is to be preferred with

respect to the other two because of its easier application and lower
environmental footprint.

Quality control: install pipes with sensors at different lengths to detect

sound waves, check if the pipes lost the original color and check the
core strength of the pile, check pile diameter, drilling alignment (must
be as vertical as possible) and overlapping (usually we want to avoid
voids). Check the effective jet cutting distance which is a function of
jet pressure, flow rate, air pressure, nozzle size, rpm, lift up rate, w/c
of cement grout, soil type.
Constructed in various configurations, overlapped columns
can create seepage barriers, cutoff walls, excavation
support, and stabilization of large “blocky” masses of soil.
The grouted columns can be installed at considerable
angles, enabling application beneath existing structures
where vertical drilling is not feasible. More recently, jet
grouting has been used to stabilize very loose and difficult
ground conditions prior to tunneling and microtunneling.
Jet grouting has even been used to encapsulate radioactive
waste in situ with a special hot wax. Jet grouting can be
performed above and below the water table and can be
applied to a wide range of soil types, from cohesionless to
plastic clays. Available equipment now includes multiaxis
rigs with up to 30-m drill lengths for higher efficiency
production.