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UNDER REAMED PILES I 2.

REFERENCE : IS 2911 (PART III ) 1980 UNDER-REAMED PILE : If a short bored pile is provided with one, two or three bulbs, to provide anchorage and / or to increase the bearing load, it is known as the underreamed pile. Due to their enlarged based they provide anchorage to structures founded on expansive soils, carry higher loads in comparison to uniform diameter bored piles and offer high uplift resistance. This type of pile is particularly useful in swelling soils like black cotton soils. 3. SUITABILITY : The choice of the pile is governed by site conditions, economics and time considerations. Under-reamed Piles are generally adopted in locations, where soft / loose soils occur at top and relatively compact layers are available at lower elevations. Best use is made of the existence of such compact soil layers by resisting the bulb ( at the bottom of the Pile Stem ) so that an increased bearing capacity ( Point Bearing ) of the pile is obtained. Under- reamed Piles are also used in locations where the top soils are of high swelling and high shrinking type in which case the bulbs are rested at a depth well below the zone of variation of moisture content. In case of expansive soils 9e.g) black cotton soils or filled up soils, under- reamed piles with bulbs provide a good anchorage. It is found that provision of bulbs in the under-reamed piles increases the lateral load capacity of piles. Under-reamed Compaction Piles: For loose to medium sandy and silty soils, bored compaction piles should be used since in such piles, the compaction process increases the load bearing capacity of piles.

Under-reamed compaction piles are basically cast-in-situ concrete piles having one or more bulbs. These combine the advantage of both the bored and driven piles. 4. CONSTRUCTION ASPECTS: General equipments required (a) Auger (b) Under- reamed (c) Boring Guide (d) General tools like cutting tools, extension rods and general T & P. Boring is usually done by manual earth auger, handled by tripod

hoist. Three men can easily advance 3.5 m of a hole of dia. up to 30 cm. in about 6 hours, in normal conditions. For Piles larger than 3.5 m and / or of the dia. larger than 37.5 cm. stem diameter, a tripod is required. After reaching the desired depth, the bore is enlarged with a special under- reaming tool. It consists of two collapsible cross- blades with a bucket at the bottom to collect the scrapped soil. The under-reamer is lowered in the bore hole and rotated with progressively increasing diameter. The scraped soil collected in the bucket is lifted up and disposed off from time to time. In sandy soils, the bore hole is to be kept filled with drilling mud if lowering is to be done under water. After the under-reamer is formed, boring is further advanced. Bottom spreads are made with tools. Piles should be concreted soon after boring, under the supervision of a qualified person. Pre- fabricated reinforcement cage is inserted in the hole and concrete of suitable workability (M20), slump 70 to 150 mm is poured down through a funnel. For under water construction, concrete of higher slump should be placed by displacement method using Tremie Pipe (not less than 150 mm diameter)

5. DESIGN ASPECTS: (1) (2) (3) Minimum length of Pile below ground level =3.0 m. Minimum diameter of Stem (D) in mud =250 mm.

For strata consisting of harmful constituents such as sulphate diameter =300 mm.

(4)

Bulb diameter (Du) Preferable

=2 to 3 times diameter = 2.5 times diameter =D

(5) (6)

Thickness of bulb

Maximum spacing of bulbs: Piles up to 300 mm dia. Piles greater than 300 mm dia = 1.5 Du = 1.25 Du

(7)

Minimum depth of top most bulb = 2 Du or 1750 mm for expansive soils.

(8)

Location of bottom most bulb from toe 0.55D

= Bucket length +

Bucket length (l ) for 200 to 250 mm dia. = (40 +/- 5 ) cm. 300 mm dia. = (45 +/- 5 ) cm. 375 mm dia. = (50 +/- 5 ) cm. 400 mm dia. = (55 +/- 5 ) cm. 450 mm dia. = (65 +/- 5 ) cm. 500 mm dia. = (70 +/- 5 ) cm. (9) Number of bulbs in a Pile = Maximum 2 (Restricted)

In case the site is such that the depth of fill is more and water table is high, as far as possible choose single under- reamed Pile.

If, on the other hand, the water table at the site is low and the depth of fill is less, choose single or double under-reamed depending upon the load capacity required. In case of double

under-reamed pile, the first under- ream should be 2 times the bulb dia. or 1.75 m below G.L. (10) Spacing of Piles : Maximum spacing of Piles =2 Du. Maximum spacing of piles in load bearing structure should not exceed 3 m to limit size of grade beam. (11) Location of Piles : Piles are provided on the corners of the buildings and wall junctions. For intermediate piles, they should be arranged in such a way that the doors and windows openings lie centrally as far as possible. For the structures with columns (e.g) multistoreyed complex etc., the piles should be first laid for columns and then for walls. The maximum spacing between two piles in a beam and pile construction should not normally exceed 3 m. (12) Mix: Minimum M20 concrete and minimum cement content shall be 400 kg/m3 in all conditions.

M15 concrete with minimum cement content 350 kg/m 3 shall be used for without provision for under water concreting and non-aggressive sub soil conditions. (13) Reinforcement:

Longitudinal reinforcement: Ast = Tension / st Minimum steel = 0.4% of c.s. area of stem for M.S. rod

=0.3% of c.s. area of stem for HYSD bars. Transverse Reinforcement : (i) 6 mm dia. M.S. circular stirrups at a spacing not more than stem dia or 300 mm whichever is less. (ii) For piles of lengths exceeding 5 m and dia. exceeding 375 mm use 8 stirrups. (14) Clear cover : Minimum clear cover to reinforcement Sides =40 mm (normal);75 mm in case of sulphate presence. Bottom =75 to 100 mm. 6. ULTIMATE CARRYING CAPACITY OF PILES: (1) (2) (3) From soil properties From load test (as per I.S.2911 (Part IV)-1985). From Table 1 of I.S. 2911 (Part III)-1980.

7. APPLICATION OF UNDER-REAMED PILES: Under- reamed piles are useful for both in expansive clays as well as in loose to medium no-expansive soils. It has been established that underreamed piles combine safety, economy and speed in construction, especially in expansive soils. Under-reamed piles are used for following structures: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) Residential buildings. Industrial sheds, workshops, godowns. Machine foundations. Retaining walls, boundary walls, fences Anchors, reaction frames. Transmission line towers and pole footings Water tanks, silos and bins, cooling towers Bench marks, international boundary posts.

8. LIMITATIONS OF UNDER-REAMED PILES: Under-reamed Pile foundation can be used in expansive soil strata and in other soils where the bore and bulb can be supporting or by mud fluids. In certain cases it is found that the upper most layer consists of medium to stiff consistency clay up to 1.50m to 2.0 m and beneath it very very soft consistency clay (bitter like nature) to considerable depth. In such cases the under-reamed pile foundation cannot be used. Under-reamed piles in expansive soils is one of the widely used solutions, but it cannot be considered the best. Failures of structures supported on under-reamed piles have been reported. As such, it cannot be treated as a fool-proof method. Important Note:For determining the N value the average may be taken up to a depth equal to the bulb diameter below the pile toe. 9. DRAW BACK: (i) Under-reamed piles are suitable generally only for structures contributing low loads (20 t to 40 t). (ii) Because of the presence of unreinforced portion of concrete in the under-ream bulb, there is a chance of failure of concrete by shear in the bulb portion. Hence the design engineer must carefully select the sizes of the pile while proposing under-reamed piles. Further concreting of under-reamed piles shall be done by tremie only since GW displacement

during concreting must not be allowed.

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