Soil Improvement Company in UAE

A special built vibrating probe penetrates the loose ground using self-weight of vibrator and extension tubes and water and/or air flush to the required depth. The vibrator is then lifted in predefined steps (normally 0.5 to 1 m) with certain time per step. During this process the vibrator will be generating lateral vibratory forces rearranging the sand particles in a denser state. In saturated cohesionless sands, vibration can generate excess pore water pressure which reduces temporarily effective stresses and shear strength allowing particle rearrangement in a denser state by gravity action. After treatment the soils will show lower void ratio and compressibility and higher angle of shear resistance. The achievable improvement depends on grain shape, soil composition and vibration intensity.

In dry cohesionless sands water is injected to provide the same effect (facilitate soil particles densification). When necessary good quality backfill can also be used to improve densification degree.

This technique has been developed in Germany in 1930s and used successfully worldwide to densify loose sands and hydraulic fill deposits or other man-made fill deposits with controlled materials, increasing bearing capacity and contributing to liquefaction mitigation.

Vibro Compaction is suitable for densifying deep deposits of cohesionless geomaterials with up to 15% fines including clay content less than 2%. For higher fines/clay content other techniques including soil reinforcement need to be considered (Stone columns, Grouting,…).

When possible to apply this is a very cost/effective method.

This ground improvement method has been developed in the 1950s as method that allows to improve cohesive and high silt content soils that could not be treated only by dynamic methods, now using soil reinforcement with aggregates.

A special built vibrating probe penetrates the loose ground using self-weight of vibrator and extension tubes and water and flush to the required depth. The water stabilizes the hole and flushes out the fines and loose soil. After the hole is flushed, coarse fill material (normally gravel with grain diameter of 30 to 80 mm) is introduced through the annular space surrounding the vibrator. The material drops down to the vibrator tip and is compacted to form the stone column by lifting the vibrator in stages. The gravel quantity is controlled as well as the depth of execution and energy consumption allowing a continuous control and record of the execution parameters.

This method allows the execution of stone columns to depths of 26 m. The soil improvement with stone columns will allow an increase in the soil stiffness increasing soil bearing capacity and reducing settlements, and reducing consolidation time (when applicable). Due to the reinforcement and drainage effect combined it has also been used as a liquefaction mitigation technique. This method can be designed considering regular grids of stone columns to improve large areas with distributed loads under rafts, pavements, embankments, or can also be designed to improve soils localized under the footings only. For the right loading and geology conditions can be a very cost/effective method when compared with indirect foundations.

This compaction method is positioned between the conventional shallow compaction and the deep dynamic compaction. Densifies geomaterials by repeatedly dropping a hydraulic hammer mounted on a specially adapted excavator at a fast rate. The weight of the hammer is typically between 5 and 12 tons, which is dropped freely from a height of approximately 1 m on a circular steel footing with 1 to 1.5 m diameter. The equipment can generate up to 60 blows per minute.

This technique has been developed in the UK, and is now in use worldwide. This method is in general effective for granular geomaterials (gravel, sand, silts, and uncontrolled fills) to a depth of 3 to 4 m.

This compaction method is generally very fast and controlled as it induces less vibrations than other methods due to low impact energy, making it a suitable method to operate closer to existing structures. It can detect weak areas during execution, allowing the increase in compaction energy on those areas.

Rapid Impact Compaction (R.I.C.) is used to increase bearing capacity and stiffness of soils/fills to support building foundations, floor slabs, tanks, highways, railways, parking areas, airport runways. Mitigation liquefaction, reducing collapsible potential, compact granular fills in large lifts (up to 2 to 3 m) are other common applications.

In R.I.C. the soil right underneath the steel plate is compacted by the first blows, further blows push the dense material deeper to densify the underlying soils until no or little further penetration can be done.