Ground Improvement Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Ground Improvement Pages 117 doi: 10.1680/grim.900027 Paper 900027 Received 27/08/2009 Accepted 08/06/2010 Keywords: columns/embankments/foundations

Institution of Civil Engineers & 2011

Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles

1 j Pittaya Jamsawang 3 j Panich Voottipruex

Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, King Mongkuts University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
2 j Dennes T. Bergado

Associate Professor, Faculty of Technical Education, King Mongkuts University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

Professor, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Klongluang, Pathumthani, Thailand

1 j

2 j

3 j

Full-scale pile load tests were performed on soft Bangkok clay improved by stiffened deep cement mixing (SDCM) piles and deep cement mixing (DCM) piles installed by jet-mixing to compare their performance. The SDCM pile is a DCM pile with a precast reinforced concrete core pile inserted in the middle. A series of full-scale tests consisting of axial compression, lateral and pullout interface between the concrete core pile and surrounding DCM material were performed. The length of the concrete core pile inuenced both the ultimate axial bearing capacity and the settlement of the SDCM piles more than its section area. Furthermore, the section area of the concrete core pile affected both the lateral ultimate bearing capacity and the lateral displacements of SDCM piles signicantly. Moreover, the SDCM piles with area ratio (Acore /ADCM ) of 0.17 and length ratio (Lcore /LDCM ) of 0.85 increased the axial and lateral ultimate bearing capacities so that they were as much as 2.2 and 15 times higher than the corresponding values of DCM piles, respectively. The exural strength of the DCM pile obtained from the laboratory was 16% of its unconned compressive strength whereas that obtained from full-scale lateral load tests was much lower at 47% of its unconned compressive strength. The strength reduction factor, Rinter , at the interface between the concrete core pile and DCM pile in the eld averaged 0.40, which agreed with the data from laboratory tests of 0.380.46.

Notation
Acore Acore /ADCM ADCM cDCM csoil cu,end cu i DDCM E50 e fc 9 fy Gs Hi IDCM section area of concrete core pile (m2 ) area ratio section area of deep cement mixing pile (m2 ) undrained shear strength of deep cement mixing pile (kPa) cohesion of soil (kPa) undrained cohesion of the soil at the bottom end of the pile (kPa) undrained cohesion of soil layer i (kPa) diameter of deep cement mixing pile (m) modulus of elasticity of deep cement mixing pile (kPa) eccentric distance (m) compressive strength of prestressed concrete pile (MPa) tensile strength of steel specic gravity soil layer thickness (m) moment of inertia of deep cement mixing pile (m4 )

Lcore Lcore /LDCM LDCM MR Mult Nc Pmax Po Pult Qult Qpile ult Qsoil ult qu Rinter Su Tult Wn

length of concrete core pile (m) length ratio length of deep cement mixing pile (m) modulus of rupture (kN/m2 ) ultimate bending moment (kN-m) bearing capacity factor effective maximum past pressure effective overburden pressure ultimate lateral load (kN) ultimate axial bearing capacity (kN) ultimate axial bearing capacity in case of pile failure (kN) ultimate axial bearing capacity in case of soil failure (kN) unconned compressive strength of deep cement mixing pile (kPa) strength reduction factor for interface undrained shear strength ultimate tensile load (kN) water content 1

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

ycrack h,crit nter

depth of crack location (m) adhesion factor of the interface of deep cement mixing pile total lateral pressure acting on the pile at critical section (kPa) interface shear strength (kPa)

1.

Introduction

Ground improvement by deep cement mixing (DCM) piles has been widely used to improve the engineering properties of soft clay layers. The DCM piles can effectively reduce settlements of full-scale embankments (Bergado et al., 1999; Lai et al., 2006). The DCM piles also have low strength and stiffness, especially exural strength (Petchgate et al., 2003a, 2003b, 2004), and may lead to low axial and lateral ultimate bearing capacities and large deformations. Consequently, a DCM pile is not suitable for carrying high compression and lateral loads. Liu et al. (2007) introduced geogrid-reinforced and cast-in-place concrete piles to support embankments on soft clay. Dong et al. (2004) stated that a concrete or cast-in-situ pile is deemed uneconomical as a friction pile for embankment support because much of the

strength of the pile materials has not been utilised when the surrounding soft ground fails. Hence, a new composite pile has been introduced. It consists of an DCM with a concrete core pile inserted in the middle and is called a stiffened deep cement mixing (SDCM) pile. The concrete core pile with higher strength and stiffness serves to resist the compressive and exural stresses on the pile shaft and carries most of the load which is, in turn, transmitted to the DCM pile through their interfaces. Previously, the eld pile load test on a DCM pile in soft Bangkok clay under axial compression and lateral loads had been studied by many researchers such as Petchgate et al. (2003a, 2003b, 2004), as shown in Figure 1 and the behaviour of a DCM pile under embankment loading involving axial and lateral loads had been studied by many researchers such as Chen (1990), Honjo et al. (1991), Bergado et al. (1999), Lai et al. (2006), and others. A series of pile load tests were conducted to investigate the behaviour of SDCM piles in China by Wu et al. (2005) and Zheng and Gu (2005). Most of the test results were concerned with only the axial bearing capacities of the SDCM piles. Jamsawang et al. (2008) studied and simulated the settlement behaviour of a composite foundation consisting of an SDCM pile and untreated

Problems of DCM pile Petchgate et al., (2003b) 00 10 25 Backfill clay Weathered clay 0 1 Soft clay Su 16 t /m2 2 Undrained shear strength: t /m2 0 20 40 60
PL1 PL2 PL3 PL4 PL5 PL6

Bearing capacity Pile failure 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Max. load in case of pile failure Measured max. load Soil failure

Depth: m

Load: t

DCM pile 05 m 60 90 Medium stiff clay

5 Soil failure

3 4 5 Q pile ult

Pile failure

ADCM (3h,crit qu,DCM)

soil Q ult

Qf Qc

CD
6

CM

Qf CDCM of 30 t /m2 was expected Qu(pile fail) 14 t Qu(soil fail) 10 t (controls) DCM DCM

Qc

Figure 1. Low quality of DCM piles on soft Bangkok clay (Bergado et al., 1999; Lai et al., 2006)

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

soil in the laboratory. However, full-scale pile load tests on SDCM piles under vertical and lateral loading as well as pullout interface test have not yet been studied. To continue the previous research, a series of full-scale tests consisting of SDCM piles and DCM piles in soft Bangkok clay under axial compression load, lateral load and pullout interface test were conducted to compare their performance. Thus, the scope of the present paper is to present the data related to the aforementioned full-scale tests on soft Bangkok clay improved by SDCM piles and DCM piles installed by the jet-mixing method and the effects of the crosssectional areas and lengths of the concrete core piles on the bearing capacities and settlements of SDCM piles.

3.

Concrete core pile

Each SDCM pile was constructed by inserting a prestressed concrete core pile in the middle of the DCM pile with 0.6 m diameter (Figure 3(a)). The DCM pile had a diameter of 0.6 m. The prestressed concrete pile was selected to behave as a stiff core because it has high strength and stiffness and it was cheaper than a steel pile. The concrete core piles (Figure 3(b)) consisted of 0.18 m 3 0.18 m and 0.22 m 3 0.22 m square cross-sections with 4.0 and 6.0 m lengths. The corresponding area ratio (Acore / ADCM ), dened as the cross-sectional area of the core pile over the cross-sectional area of the DCM pile, and the length ratio (Lcore /LDCM ), dened as the length of core pile over the length of DCM pile, were 0.11 and 0.17 as well as 0.57 and 0.85, respectively.

2.

Site characterisation 4. Test pile installation

The test site is located at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) which is 40 km north of Bangkok, Thailand. The soil prole and soil properties of the subsoil in the uppermost three layers at the AIT campus are presented in Figure 2. The uppermost 10 m of the soil prole can be divided into three layers. The weathered crust forms the uppermost layer having a thickness of 2.0 m and this is underlain by a soft clay layer which extends down to about 8.0 m depth. The undrained shear strength obtained from eld vane test of the soft clay was 16 to 17 kPa. A medium stiff clay layer was found to be underlying the soft clay layer at 8 to 10 m depth having an undrained shear strength of more than 30 kPa. The underlying stiff clay layer extended from 10 to 15 m depth.
Unit weight: kN/m3 14 16 18 20 0 1 2 3 4 Weathered crust

The DCM piles were constructed in situ by a jet-mixing method employing a jet pressure of 22 MPa. Both SDCM and DCM piles were installed at 2.0 m spacing. The water/cement (w/c) ratio of the cement slurry and the cement content employed for the construction of deep mixing were 1.5 and 150 kg/m3 of soil, respectively. Each deep mixing pile has a diameter of 0.6 m and a length of 7.0 m, penetrating down to the bottom of the soft clay layer. Each SDCM pile was constructed by inserting a prestressed concrete core pile in the middle of DCM pile. The concrete core pile was inserted after the deep cement mixing was completed but while the DCM was still soft and not yet cured. During the

Depth: m

5 6 7 8 9 10

Soft clay

P o P max Medium stiff clay Unit weight Gs 26 265 Gs 27 0 PL WN LL

40 80 120 0 20 40 60 0 50 100 150 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 PL, WN, LL OCR P Corrected Su: kPa o and P max from vane shear test

Figure 2. Subsoil prole and relevant parameters (PL, plastic limit; LL, liquid limit; OCR, overconsolidation ratio)

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

ADCM Acore 018 Concrete core pile Concrete f c 35 MPa 84 mm stands fy 1750 MPa 3 mm stirrups spacing varied

DCM pile

Lcore

LDCM

018

022 Concrete f c 35 MPa 84 mm stands fy 1750 MPa 3 mm stirrups spacing varied

Soft clay layer

Medium or stiff clay layer

022
Prestressed concrete core pile

Figure 3. (a) Schematic diagram of SDCM pile; (b) details of prestressed concrete core piles (dimensions in m)

curing period, the concrete core pile was anchored at the ground surface to prevent it from sinking. The deep mixing piles were allowed to cure until about 80 days. Subsequently, a series of fullscale load tests on SDCM and DCM piles under axial compression load and lateral load were performed to determine their ultimate bearing capacities and lateral resistances. In addition, pullout interface tests between concrete core and DCM piles were also conducted to determine the interface resistance between the concrete core and the DCM pile. The layout of the test piles is shown in Figure 4.

(Figure 5(a)). The values of unconned compressive strength ranged from 500 to 1500 kPa with the average value of 900 kPa while the modulus of elasticity ranged from 50 000 to 150 000 kPa with an average value of 90 000 kPa indicating that E50 101qu as shown in Figure 5(b). It can be seen that the correlation ratio of E50 /qu obtained from eld coring samples ranged from 60 to 150.

6.

Pullout interface and exural strength tests in the laboratory

5.

Unconned compression tests on deep cement mixing core samples

The pullout interface tests were conducted to determine the strength reduction factor for interfaces (Rinter ) in accordance with that dened by Brinkgreve and Broere (2006) as 1:

To obtain engineering properties of the DCM pile in the test site, three DCM piles were constructed (Figure 4) so that core samples could be extracted for unconned compression tests in the laboratory in order to determine unconned compressive strength, qu , and modulus of elasticity corresponding to 50% unconned compressive strength, E50 . Unconned compressive tests were performed on 50 mm diameter by 100 mm height samples. The values are scattered over the entire depth without any clear trend of the inuence of the depth on the values of unconned compressive strength and modulus of elasticity 4

Rinter inter = cDCM

where inter is interface shear strength between the DCM and concrete core pile and cDCM is the undrained shear strength of the DCM pile. Specimens were prepared by pouring cement-admixed clay into a PVC mould, and inserting a cement core pile at the centre as

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

DCM-L1

DCM-L2

SDCM-L1

SDCM-L2

SDCM-L3

SDCM-L4

SDCM-L5

SDCM-L6

SDCM-L7

SDCM-L8

20

DCM-C1

DCM-C2

SDCM-C1

SDCM-C2

SDCM-C3

SDCM-C4

SDCM-C5

SDCM-C6

SDCM-C7

SDCM-C8

Coring 1

Coring 2

Coring 3

SDCM-P1

SDCM-P2

SDCM-P3

SDCM-P4

SDCM pile

DCM pile

SDCM pile with inclinometer

DCM pile with inclinometer

Figure 4. Pile load test layout

0 1 2 3
DCM pile
Weathered crust

240 000 200 000

Modulus of elasticity, E50: kPa

15

0q

160 000 120 000 80 000 40 000 0

E50 101qu R2 05024

Depth: m

4 5 6 7 8 9
Soft clay

50

Medium stiff clay

Coring-1 Coring-2 Coring-3

Coring-1 Coring-2 Coring-3

E 50

60

qu

10 100 000 200 000 0 1000 2000 0 Unconfined compressive Modulus of elasticity E50: kPa strength, qu: kPa (a)

400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 Unconfined compressive strength, qu: kPa (b)

Figure 5. Field test results on DCM piles: (a) engineering properties of DCM piles; (b) relationship between E50 and qu of DCM pile

shown in Figure 6(a). The size of the concrete core pile was 17 mm diameter and the sizes of the DCM were 50 and 100 mm corresponding to area ratios of 0.12 and 0.03, respectively. The results are shown in Figure 6(a), in terms of peak interface shear strength plotted against the cohesion of DCM material obtained from unconned compression tests, and demonstrate that the strength reduction factors varied from 0.38 to 0.46. To evaluate the exural strength of DCM pile correlated to unconned

compressive strength of core samples, exural strength tests on cement-admixed clay specimens were performed. The use of a simple beam with three-point loading was conducted in accordance with ASTM D 1635-00 (ASTM, 2000) in the laboratory. The specimen dimensions were 100 mm 3100 mm in crosssection and 500 mm in length. The cement contents were varied, namely 0.3516, 15 and 20% by weight. The correlations of the test results are shown in Figure 6(b) showing that exural 5

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

300

Pullout load

180 160 Dead load 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 5 15 10 Cement content: % (a) 20 25

Interface shear strength, inter: kPa

250 DCM pile

100 mm inter

200

Concrete er core int

4 0

C 6c D

150

in
100

ter

8 03

c DC

50 Acore /ADCM 012 Acore /ADCM 03 0 100 200 300 400 500 Undrained shear strength, cDCM: kPa (a) Load 600 14 000 12 000 10 000 8000 6000 4000 2000 250

300

Flexural strength: kPa

Flexural strength: kPa

Modulus of rupture, MR: kPa

Test specimen 200 100 100 100 100 100 Unit: mm

100

018 018 Core size: m (b)

022 022

150

MR
100

01

6q u

Figure 7. (a) Flexural strength of DCM piles; (b) exural strength of concrete core piles

50

0 0 300 600 900 Unconfined compressive strength, qu: kPa (b) 1200

Figure 6. Laboratory test results: (a) relationship between interface shear strength and undrained shear strength; (b) relationship between modulus of rupture and unconned compressive strength

strength or modulus of rupture of DCM material corresponds to 16% of unconned compressive strength. The exural strength of DCM and concrete core piles is plotted in Figures 7(a) and (b).

7.

Equipment and procedures of full-scale load tests

platform. The platform was comprised of steel sheets and concrete boxes having a total weight of 500 kN supported by upper cross H-beams. The reaction beam or test beam was support by lower cross H-beams supported by a concrete box that distributed the total weight of the platform to the surrounding soil. The vertical load was applied to the test pile through a 600 kN capacity hydraulic jack. A 500 kN capacity proving ring was inserted between the jack and the reaction beam to measure the applied load. The ball bearing was inserted between the proving and the reaction beam to ensure the vertical direction of the applied loads from the hydraulic jack. The vertical settlement of the test pile under the applied load was measured using two dial gauges, which were connected to two reference beams placed on both sides of the jack. The axial compression tests were performed in accordance with ASTM D-1143 (ASTM, 1994a). The load was applied in increments of 10 kN. Each load increment was maintained for 5 min. The load increments were applied until a continuous increase of the vertical displacements occurred under a slight or further no increase in load. 7.2 Lateral load test Figure 9 shows the schematic set-up for applying the lateral loads to the SDCM pile using a hydraulic jack acting against the sides of an excavation. The base excavation was performed around the

7.1 Axial compression load test Figure 8 shows the schematic set-up for applying axial compression loads to the test pile using a hydraulic jack acting against a 6

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

Concrete boxes

Concrete boxes

Concrete boxes

Concrete boxes

Concrete boxes

Steel sheets

Upper cross-beams Support beams Reaction beam Lower cross-beams Concrete box supports Ball bearing GL. Hydraulic jack Dial gauge Reference beam Steel test plate Proving ring Concrete box supports Support beams

Prestressed concrete pile Test SDCM pile

Figure 8. Schematic set-up for pile under axial compression load

test pile at depth of 1.5 m from the original ground level to provide enough area at the side of the excavation for the necessary reactive capacity to the maximum anticipated lateral test loads. A concrete pile cap 0.4 m high was placed on the pile to prevent local failure on the pile head and the load was applied at 0.3 m from the base excavation level. A hydraulic jack with a capacity of 600 kN was used to apply lateral loads. The loads were read from a proving ring with capacity 100 kN and the lateral displacement at the load application level was read from one dial gauge connected to the reference beams. A ball bearing

100

was inserted between the proving and the reaction beam to adjust the horizontal direction of the applied loads from the hydraulic jack. Thick timber sheets were used as support to distribute the load from the hydraulic jack to the side of the excavation. The lateral load tests were performed in accordance with ASTM D3966 (ASTM, 1994b). The load was applied in increments of 0.5 and 1 kN for the DCM and the SDCM piles respectively. Each load increment was maintained for 10 min. The load was applied until continuous lateral displacements occurred at a slight or no increase in load. 7

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

GL.

150 m

Dial gauge Reference beam 030

Timber support 15 15 m Steel plate Hydraulic jack Proving ring Pile cap Ball bearing Bearing test plate

Prestress concrete pile Test pile

Figure 9. Schematic set-up for pile under lateral load

7.3 Pullout interface test Figure 10 shows the schematic set-up for applying axial tensile loads to the test pile using a hydraulic jack with a capacity of 600 kN acting between the test beam and reaction frame. The length of the cores embedded in the SDCM was 1 m with another 1 m protruding out of the SDCM to perform the pullout tests. In the preparation for the test, clay cement over the top 1 m of the SDCM was removed leaving 1 m of the core embedded in the DCM pile. A steel rod was connected to the test pile and the reaction frame in order to pull the prestressed concrete core pile from the DCM. The test beam was supported by a concrete box that distributed the total load to the surrounding soil. The vertical settlement of the test pile under the applied load was measured using two dial gauges, which were connected to two reference beams placed on both sides of the jack. The pullout interface tests were performed in accordance with ASTM D-3689 (ASTM,
Ball bearing

150 m

Reaction frame

Proving ring

Hydraulic jack

Reaction beams Concrete support Reference beam Concrete support

Steel rod

100

100

Dial gauges

Prestressed concrete pile

100

DCM pile

Figure 10. Schematic set-up for pullout test (dimensions in m)

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

1994c). The load was applied in increments of 5 kN. Each load increment was maintained for 5 min. The load was applied until continuous vertical displacements occurred at a slight or no increase in load.

commonly occurred in DCM piles resulting in low bearing capacity (Petchgate et al., 2003a). 8.1.2 Axial compression pile load test on SDCM piles As shown in Figure 11, the ultimate bearing capacities of the SDCM piles with 0.18 m 3 0.18 m square section and 4 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-C7 and SDCM-C8) were 270 and 260 kN, respectively. The average ultimate bearing was 265 kN, which was 1.2 and 1.9 times higher than the values for DCM-C1 and DCM-C2, respectively. Similarly, the ultimate bearing capacities of the SDCM piles with 0.22 m 3 0.22 m square section and 4 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-C3 and SDCM-C4) were 280 and 270 kN, respectively, being 1.3 and 2.0 times higher than those of DCM-C1 and DCM-C2, respectively. Thus, the insertion of the concrete core pile into the DCM pile increased the bearing capacity. Moreover, the ultimate bearing capacity of SDCM piles with 0.22 m 3 0.22 m concrete core pile was slightly higher by 10 kN in comparison with the corresponding SDCM piles with a 0.18 m 3 0.18 m, 4 m long concrete core pile. Furthermore, settlements for the SDCM piles were less than those for the DCM piles at the same load. This implies that a concrete core pile can increase the stiffness of a DCM pile and offer more linear behaviour and reduced settlements. The ultimate bearing capacities of the SDCM piles with 0.22 m 3 0.22 m square section, 6 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-C1 and SDCM-C2) were 320 and 310 kN, respectively. The average ultimate bearing capacity of the SDCM pile was 315 kN which was 2.2 and 1.4 times greater than those of DCMC1 and DCM-C2, respectively. The ultimate bearing capacity of the SDCM, 6 m long core pile was greater than that of the 4 m long core pile by as much as 35 kN. Moreover, the settlements for the SDCM pile with a 6 m core pile were less than those for the SDCM pile with a 4 m core pile at the same load. This implies that a longer concrete core can add more stiffness than a shorter core pile and can transfer the load more efciently than a

8.

Test results and discussions

8.1 Axial compression load tests Two axial compression tests on DCM piles (DCM-C1 and DCMC2) and eight axial compression tests on SDCM piles (SDCM-C1 to SDCM-C8) varying the length and the cross-sectional area of the prestressed concrete core pile are listed in Table 1. Figure 11 shows the axial compression load plotted against settlement for all ten test piles. The ultimate bearing capacities of all test piles are tabulated in Table 1 and they were determined by the slope tangent method at the point of intersection of the initial and nal tangents to the loadsettlement curve, as suggested by Butler and Hoy (1977).

8.1.1 Axial compression test on DCM piles The ultimate bearing capacities of DCM piles, DCM-C1 and DCM-C2, were 220 and 140 kN, respectively. For the DCM-C1, the load was applied until continuous vertical displacements occurred between loads of 240 to 250 kN and there was no increase in load beyond a load of 250 kN. After the test, the failure mode of DCM C-1 was observed by excavation to 1 m depth from the top of the pile head. Cracks were observed around the pile head due to the high stress concentration at the pile head. Similarly, the pile DCM-C2 failed suddenly after increasing the axial load from 160 to 170 kN. The test procedure was stopped and the failure mode of DCM C-2 was observed at a depth of about 0.50 m from the top of the pile head due to low shear strength and the poor quality of this part of the DCM pile. The large difference in ultimate bearing capacities of DCM-C1 and DCM-C2, as much as 80 kN, conrmed the poor quality that

Number DCM-C1 DCM-C2 SDCM-C1 SDCM-C2 SDCM-C3 SDCM-C4 SDCM-C5 SDCM-C6 SDCM-C7 SDCM-C8

LDCM : m 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0

DDCM : m 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60

Lcore : m 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0

Core size: (m 3 m) 0.22 3 0.22 0.22 3 0.22 0.18 3 0.18 0.18 3 0.18 0.22 3 0.22 0.22 3 0.22 0.18 3 0.18 0.18 3 0.18

Lcore /LDCM 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.57

Acore /ADCM 0.17 0.17 0.11 0.11 0.17 0.17 0.11 0.11

Qult : kN 140 220 320 310 300 300 280 270 270 260

Table 1. Comparison of ultimate bearing capacities (Qult ) in axial compression tests

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

Axial compression load: kN 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

6 m long core pile 10 4 m long core pile

20

Settlement: mm

000 30 100 200 40

Q Weathered crust SDCM-C1 (022 022 60) SDCM-C2 (022 022 60) SDCM-C3 (018 018 60) SDCM-C4 (018 018 60) SDCM-C5 (022 022 40) SDCM-C6 (022 022 40) SDCM-C7 (018 018 40) SDCM-C8 (018 018 40) DCM-C1 DCM-C2

Soft clay 50

800

60

Medium stiff clay 1000 Stiff clay

Figure 11. Curves of axial load plotted against settlement from eld tests

shorter core pile from the top part to the bottom part by transferring the load directly to the DCM material. Figure 12 shows the vertical bearing capacities of SDCM piles with varying area (Acore /ADCM ) and length (Lcore /LDCM ) ratios in comparison with that of DCM piles. Figure 12 demonstrates that the length ratio inuenced the vertical bearing capacity more than the area ratio. Referring to Figure 11, the length of the concrete core pile affected both the ultimate bearing capacity and
Vertical bearing capacity: kN
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 00 02 022 022 m (Acore /ADCM 017) 018 018 m (Acore /ADCM 011) 04 06 Lcore /LDCM 08 10

settlement and was more dominant than the cross-sectional area of the concrete core pile. 8.1.3 Modes of failure in axial load tests Lorenzo (2005) suggested that the ultimate bearing capacity of an individual DCM pile can be obtained depending on the mode of failure using the following relationship

Qsoil ult

DDCM

"

H i cu i soil failure

2:

DDCM 2 cu,end Nc 4

3:

Qpile ult

DDCM 2 3 h,crit qu 4

pile failure

Figure 12. Vertical bearing capacities of SDCM piles with varying area (Acore /ADCM ) and length (Lcore /LDCM ) ratios compared with DCM pile

where (Hi cu i ) is the summation of the product of soil layer thickness (Hi ) and the corresponding undrained cohesion (cu i ) of all soil layers within the depth of deep mixing pile installation; is the adhesion factor of the interface of deep mixing pile which can be taken as 1.0; cu,end is the undrained cohesion of the soil at the bottom end of the pile; Nc can be taken as 9.0; qu is the

10

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

Ultimate bearing capacity, Qult: kN

300 250 200 150 DCM-C2 100 50 0 0 DCM-C1

4:

Qpile ult

DDCM 2 q u 4

pile failure

The ultimate bearing capacity in the case of soil failure was calculated at 320 kN whereas the ultimate bearing capacity in the case of pile failure depended on the unconned compressive strength of DCM piles as shown in Figure 13. The ultimate bearing capacities of DCM-C1 and DCM-C2 indicated that the unconned compressive strengths of DCM-C1 and DCM-C2 were 800 and 500 kPa, respectively, which did not reach the average unconned compressive strength of 900 kPa as shown in Figure 5(a). Moreover, in order to obtain the calculated ultimate bearing capacity in the case of soil failure of 320 kN, the unconned compressive strength of the DCM pile should be greater than 1100 kPa. As shown in Table 1, the ultimate bearing capacities of SDCM piles with concrete core lengths of 6 m ranged from 300 to 320 kPa, which agreed with the calculated ultimate bearing capacity in the case of soil failure. For the SDCM piles with concrete core lengths less than 6 m, the failure could be considered as pile failure. From the observations after tests, no damage took place in any of the concrete core piles inserted in the DCM piles, implying that pile failure could occur in the DCM material below the concrete core pile tip. 8.2 Lateral load tests Two lateral load tests on DCM piles (DCM-L1 and DCM-L2) and eight lateral load tests on SDCM piles (SDCM-L1 to DCML8) were performed by varying the lengths and cross-sectional areas of the concrete core piles as tabulated in Table 2. The lateral load tests were performed to measure the ultimate lateral

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 Unconfined compressive strength, qu: kPa

Figure 13. Relationship between ultimate bearing capacity of DCM pile and unconned compressive strength

bearing capacity and to obtain the relationship between lateral load and displacement of the test piles. Moreover, the relationship between the lateral displacement and the depth was obtained from inclinometer readings. Figure 14 shows the lateral loads plotted against displacements for all ten test piles including DCM and SDCM piles. The ultimate bearing capacities of all test piles are tabulated in Table 2. 8.2.1 Lateral pile load test on DCM piles The ultimate lateral loads of the DCM piles with 4 m long concrete core (DCM-L1 and DCM-L2) were 3.5 and 2.5 kN, respectively, with an average ultimate lateral load of 3.0 kN, which was very low due to low exural strength (Petchgate et al., 2004; Terashi and Tanaka, 1981). Excavation after the test

Number DCM-L1 DCM-L2 SDCM-L1 SDCM-L2 SDCM-L3 SDCM-L4 SDCM-L5 SDCM-L6 SDCM-L7 SDCM-L8

LDCM : m 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0

DDCM : m 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60

Lcore : m 6.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 6.0 4.0 4.0

Core size: (m 3 m) 0.22 3 0.22 0.22 3 0.22 0.18 3 0.18 0.18 3 0.18 0.22 3 0.22 0.22 3 0.22 0.18 3 0.18 0.18 3 0.18

Lcore /LDCM 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.57

Acore /ADCM 0.17 0.17 0.11 0.11 0.17 0.17 0.11 0.11

Qult in case of pile failure

unconned compression strength of the deep cement mixing pile; and h,crit is the total lateral pressure acting on the pile at the critical section. Based on the eld tests, the failure took place in the weathered crust layer at the shallow depth neglecting the effect of overburden pressure so that Equation 3 can be written as

400 350 Qult in case of soil failure 320 kN

Pult : kN 3.5 2.5 46 45 44 43 35 34 33 33

Table 2. Comparison of ultimate bearing capacities (Pult ) in lateral load tests

11

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

50 45 40 35

000 P 150 200 120 Weathered crust 022 022 m core pile Soft clay 800

Lateral load: kN

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0

Medium stiff clay 1000 Stiff clay

018 018 m core pile

SDCM-L1 (022 6) SDCM-L2 (022 6) SDCM-L3 (022 4) SDCM-L4 (022 4) SDCM-L5 (018 6) SDCM-L6 (018 6) SDCM-L7 (018 4) SDCM-L8 (018 4) DCM-L1 DCM-L2

15 10 Lateral displacement: mm

20

25

Figure 14. Curves of lateral load plotted against lateral displacement from eld tests

revealed cracks at 0.10 m below the excavated base in DCM-L1, whereas DCM-L2 cracked at the level of the excavated base (see Figure 17 later). This means that the failure mode of the two DCM piles was pile failure due to bending moment induced by lateral load.

displacement of the SDCM pile (Figure 15) much in contrast to the SDCM pile under compression load. The ultimate lateral loads for the SDCM piles with 0.22 m 3 0.22 m section and 4 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-L3 and SDCM-L4) were 44 and 43 kN, respectively, and the average ultimate lateral load was 43.5 kN, which was 14.5 times higher than that for the DCM pile and also 1.3 times higher that that for

8.2.2 Lateral pile load test on SDCM piles The ultimate lateral loads for the SDCM piles with 0.18 m 3 0.18 m section, 4 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-L7 and SDCM-L8) were the same at 33 kN which was 11 times greater than that of the DCM pile due to much higher exural strength of the concrete core pile. After the test, the clay surrounding SDCM piles was excavated to observe the failure mode of the SDCM piles. The crack locations were found at 0.46 and 0.50 m below the excavated base for SDCM-L7 and SDCM-L8, respectively, as shown later in Figure 17. The ultimate lateral loads for the SDCM piles with 0.18 m 3 0.18 m section, 6 m long concrete core piles (SDCM-L5 and SDCM-L6) were 35 and 34 kN, respectively, having an average ultimate lateral load of 34.5 kN, which was close to the average ultimate lateral load for SDCM piles with 4 m long concrete core piles. The lateral loadlateral displacement curves and the locations of crack for the SDCM piles, 4 and 6 m long were similar. Consequently, increasing the length of the core did not affect the ultimate lateral load and 12

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 00

Lateral bearing capacity: kN

022 022 m (Acore /ADCM 017) 018 018 m (Acore /ADCM 011) 02 04 06 Lcore /LDCM 08 10

Figure 15. Lateral bearing capacities of SDCM piles with varying area (Acore /ADCM ) and length (Lcore /LDCM ) ratios compared to DCM pile

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

SDCM piles with 0.18 m 3 0.18 m cross-sectional area at the same length due to its larger cross-sectional area and greater moment resistance. As shown in Figure 15, the lateral bearing capacities of SDCM piles were inuenced more by the area ratio (Acore /ADCM ) in comparison with the length (Lcore /LDCM ) ratio. Figure 14 conrms this behaviour of SDCM piles 8.2.3 Curves of lateral displacement plotted against depth Figures 16(a), (b) and (c) show the curves of lateral displacements plotted against depth (below the excavated base) for DCML2, SDCM-L6 and SDCM-L2, respectively, which were obtained from the inclinometer data. These plots are typical of the freehead pile where the moment at the loading point is zero (Broms, 1964). According to the measured data for DCM-L2 as shown in Figure 16(a), the lateral movement was measured at a load interval of 0.5 kN until failure took place. The lateral displacement approached zero at a depth of 0.5 m (1 3 DCM pile diameter) below the excavated base. Thus, the lateral movement was developed only within the shallow depth of 1 3 DCM pile diameter. According to the curves of lateral displacement plotted against depth for SDCM-L6 as shown in Figure 16(b), the lateral movement was measured at load intervals of 5 kN until failure. The lateral displacement approached zero at a depth of 2.0 m (3 3 SDCM pile diameters) below the excavated base. Thus, the lateral movement developed at depths of 3 3 SDCM pile diameters and the maximum lateral movement occurred in the excavated base. Similarly, in the curves of lateral displacement
Lateral displacement: mm 0 02 04 06 1 2 3

plotted against depth for SDCM-L2 as shown in Figure 16(c), the lateral movement was measured at load intervals of 5 kN until failure. The lateral displacement occurred at 2.0 m (3 3 SDCM pile diameter) below the excavated base. Thus, the inuence zone of the surrounding clay on the DCM pile was only about 1 3 DCM pile diameter whereas that on the SDCM pile was up to 3 3 SDCM pile diameters, demonstrating the inuence of pile stiffness on the depth of lateral displacements. 8.2.4 Damage characteristics of DCM and SDCM piles The locations of the plastic hinge, indicating the maximum bending moment in the DCM and SDCM piles, were at or below the excavated level as inferred from the crack locations. All failures in the DCM piles occurred at 0.10 m below the excavated base and at the excavated base for DCM-L1 and DCM-L2, respectively. The ultimate bending moments in the DCM piles can be calculated from Figure 17. The modulus of rupture can also be calculated from the following relationship 5:

M ult Pult ( e ycrack )

6:

MR

M ult ( DDCM =2) I DCM

where Mult is ultimate bending moment; Pult is ultimate lateral load; e is the eccentric distance from the load application level to the excavated base; ycrack is the depth of the crack location from
Lateral displacement: mm 5 10 15

1 120 Excavated base Weathered crust 2 3

Lateral displacement: mm 5 10 15

20 1 2 3

20

Depth: m

Depth: m

Depth: m

4 5 6 7 8

Soft clay

Lateral load, P 05 kN 10 kN 15 kN 20 kN 25 kN (Failure)

4 5 6 7 8

Lateral load, P 10 kN 20 kN 30 kN 35 kN (Failure)

4 5 6 7 8

Lateral load, P 10 kN 20 kN 30 kN 40 kN 45 kN (Failure)

Medium stiff clay

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 16. Curves of lateral displacement plotted against depth from eld tests: (a) DCM pile (DCM-L2); (b) SDCM pile with concrete core pile 0.18 m 3 0.18 m 3 6 m (SDCM-L6); (c) SDCM pile with concrete core pile 0.22 m 3 0.22 m 3 6m (SDCM-L2)

13

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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

GL. 000

Pult 35 kN

Pile top 100

Pult 25 kN

Pult 335 kN

Pult 4346 kN

e 030 150 Excavated base ycrack 00 ycrack 010 ycrack 040050 ycrack 045060

DCM-L1

DCM-L2

SDCM pile with 018 018 section and 48 m long

SDCM pile with 022 022 section and 48 m long

Figure 17. Mode of failure of DCM and SDCM piles under lateral loading tests

the excavated base; MR is the modulus of rupture; DDCM is the diameter of the DCM pile; and IDCM is the moment of inertia of the DCM pile. The moduli of rupture from back-analysis were found to be 60 and 30 kPa for DCM-C1 and DCM-C2, respectively, corresponding to 7 and 4% of the average unconned compressive strength of 900 kPa, which was lower than the test results from the exural test in the laboratory. The locations of the maximum bending moment and crack location in the SDCM were deeper than those for the DCM piles. After the test, inspection of SDCM-L1 to SDCM-L8 piles revealed no damage above the excavated base and the failure resulted from the breaking of the DCM and cracking of the prestressed concrete core pile. The locations of these cracks were found at deeper depths varying from 0.40 to 0.60 m below the excavated base as shown in Figure 17. In summary, the failure behaviour of all DCM piles in the lateral load tests had the same characteristics. The DCM piles cracked near the excavated base arising from the bending moment. In the SDCM piles, the cracks were located further and deeper down its length. This difference in the location of the cracks could result from low stiffness and a poor-quality jet-grouting process in the DCM piles that was a result of non-homogeneous soilcement material. Consequently, the DCM pile could not transfer the moment to deeper depths. In contrast, the SDCM piles had higher stiffness resulting from the reinforcement by the concrete core pile. 14

8.3 Pullout interface test Four pullout interface tests were performed between the concrete core piles and the surrounding DCM materials. Two pullout interface tests were conducted on 0.22 m 3 0.22 m square section, concrete core piles (SDCM-P1 and SDCM -P2) and another two on 0.18 m 3 0.18 m square section, prestressed concrete core piles (SDCM-P3 and SDCM-P4). The length of the cores embedded in the SDCM was 1 m for all tests. Figure 18 shows graphs of tension load plotted against vertical displacement. The maximum tensile load-bearing capacities in the pullout interface tests are tabulated in Table 3. The interface shear stress was calculated by dividing the pullout resistance by the surface area of the concrete core pile embedded in the DCM pile. The ultimate tensile loads (Pult ) were 165, 155, 135 and 120 kN for the test piles SDCM-P1, SDCM-P2, SDCM-P3 and SDCM-P4, respectively. The interface shear strengths of the pile were 188, 176, 188 and 167 kPa for, SDCM-P1, SDCM-P2, SDCM-P3 and SDCM-P4, respectively, with an average value of 179 kPa. Consequently, the strength reduction factor for interfaces (Rinter ) dened by Brinkgreve and Broere (2006) in Equation 1 was calculated as 179/450 0.40. This value is within the range of pullout interface test results on concrete core and cementadmixed clay performed in the laboratory, namely 0.38 to 0.46. The interface shear strengths between concrete core pile and surrounding DCM for axial compression tests can be calculated as 518, 778, 634 and 950 kN for 0.18 m 3 0.18 m square section, 4 and 6 m long as well as 0.22 m 3 0.22 m square section, 4 and 6 m long concrete core piles, respectively, which were much

Ground Improvement

Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

25 000 100 2 200 300

Excavated base

Vertical displacement: mm

15

Soft clay

800 1000

Medium stiff clay Stiff clay SDCM-P1

05

SDCM-P2 SDCM-P3 SDCM-P4

0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Axial tensile load: kN 140 160 180

Figure 18. Curves of tensile load plotted against vertical displacement from eld tests

Number SDCM-P1 SDCM-P2 SDCM-P3 SDCM-P4

DDCM : m 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60

Lcore : m 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Core size: (m 3 m) 0.22 3 0.22 0.22 3 0.22 0.18 3 0.18 0.18 3 0.18

Acore /ADCM 0.17 0.17 0.11 0.11

Interface area: m2 0.88 0.88 0.72 0.72

Tult : kN 165 155 135 120

inter : kPa 188 176 188 167

Table 3. Comparison of maximum tensile load-bearing capacities (Tult ) in pullout interface tests

greater than the axial ultimate bearing capacities. Therefore, no slippage occurred at the interfaces between the concrete core pile and DCM material during the axial compression tests.

DCM piles. The poor quality of the DCM piles is believed to be an important factor responsible for their low strength values. (b) The length of concrete core pile signicantly affected the axial ultimate bearing capacity and axial settlement of the SDCM piles. In contrast, the cross-sectional area of the concrete core pile had only slight inuence. The effective value of the length ratio (Lcore /LDCM ) ranged from 0.57 to 0.85. (c) In order to obtain the ultimate bearing capacity in the case of soil failure, the unconned compressive strength of the DCM pile should be greater than 1100 kPa. The ultimate bearing capacities of SDCM piles with core lengths of 6 m could reach the ultimate bearing capacity considering soil failure whereas the SDCM piles with the core lengths shorter than 6 m failed by pile failure. 15

9.

Conclusions

The observed results of a series of full-scale pile load tests on soft clay foundation improved by deep cement mixing (DCM) and stiffened deep cement mixing (SDCM) piles are presented herein. Based on the results, the following conclusions can be drawn. (a) By comparing the full-scale axial compression load tests on the DCM and SDCM piles, the ultimate bearing capacity of SDCM piles, 6 m long and having 0.18 m 3 0.18 m and 0.22 m 3 0.22 m cross-sectional area concrete core piles as well as those with 4 m long and 0.18 m 3 0.18 m and 0.22 m 3 0.22 m cross-sectional area concrete core pile can be improved by as much as 2.0 times in comparison with

Ground Improvement

Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

(d) The lateral ultimate bearing capacities of SDCM piles increased by 11 to 15 times in comparison with the corresponding values from DCM piles. The low lateral resistance of the DCM piles was due to its low exural strength. (e) The cross-sectional area of the concrete core piles signicantly affected the lateral ultimate bearing capacity and lateral displacement of the SDCM piles. In contrast, the length of the concrete core piles only has slight effects. ( f ) The modulus of rupture of DCM piles in the eld was lower than in the laboratory, amounting to 4 to 7% of the eld unconned compressive strength and up to 16% of the laboratory unconned compressive strength. (g) The DCM piles cracked near the base of the excavated pit arising from bending moment whereas in the SDCM the cracks were located further and deeper down the length. This difference in the location of the cracks resulted from the low stiffness and the poor quality of the DCM piles, which led to a non-homogeneous soilcement material. Consequently, the DCM pile could not transfer the moment to deeper depths. On the other hand, the SDCM pile which had greater stiffness and relatively homogeneous characteristics due to the presence of the concrete core pile could transfer the moment load to deeper depths. The inuence zone of the surrounding clay on the DCM pile was only about 1 3 DCM pile diameter whereas that on SDCM pile was 3 3 SDCM pile diameter. (h) The strength reduction factor for interfaces, Rinter , obtained from the full-scale pullout interface test was 0.40, implying that the shear strength at the interface between the concrete core pile and the surrounding DCM material was strong enough to prevent any slippage.
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Field behaviour of stiffened deep cement mixing piles Jamsawang, Bergado and Voottipruex

Terashi M and Tanaka H (1981) Ground improved by deep

mixing method. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. AA Balkema, the Netherlands, 3, 777780. Wu M, Zhao X and Dou YM (2005) Application of stiffened deep cement mixed column in ground improvement. Proceedings of the International Conference on Deep Mixing Best

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