Performance Assessment of Pile Models Chemically Grouted by Low-Pressure Injection Laboratory Device for Improving Loose Sand

Abstract

The complexity and partially defined nature of jet grouting make it hard to predict the performance of grouted piles. So the trials of cement injection at a location with similar soil properties as the erecting site are necessary to assess the performance of the grouted piles. Nevertheless, instead of executing trial-injected piles at the pilot site, which wastes money, time, and effort, the laboratory cement injection devices are essential alternatives for evaluating soil injection ability. This study assesses the performance of a low-pressure laboratory grouting device by improving loose sandy soil injected using binders formed of Silica Fume (SF) as a chemical admixture (10% of Ordinary Portland Cement OPC mass) to different (W/C) water/cement ratios (by mass materials) mixes. Trial grouting processes were executed to optimize the practical ranges of the operating factors of the laboratory device to obtain consistent grouted model pile samples. The paper examined the relations of the binders' W/C ratios with the densities, elasticity modulus (E), and Uniaxial Compression Stress (UCS) of the grouted piles. The investigation results show that as the binder W/C ratio rises, the grouted pile samples' dry density, E, and UCS values decrease. For the binder injected with a W/C ratio of one and 10% SF additive by weight of cement mass, the highest values of the grouted pile for density, E, and UCS were about 2.32 g/cm³, 23 MPa, and 2000 MPa, respectively. The UCS of the grouted pile proved that the binders' W/C ratios and the SF addition have an evident effect on the investigated factors of the grouted piles.