STRENGTH & STIFFNESS PARAMETERS OF JET GROUTING

COLUMNS : FULL SCALE TEST AMSTERDAM

Almer E.C. van der Stoel1, Harro J. van Ree2

ABSTRACT: Using different jet grouting methods and variable diameters, a series of samples have been
taken by means of core drilling of jet grouting columns made in soft stratified soil. Average values of the
compressive strength, tensile strength and secant modulus are presented as are the jet grouting process parameters and soil conditions. The influence of the water-cement ratio and the column diameter is discussed.
Finally, four (exponential) expressions are presented interrelating the compressive strength and the tensile
strength and the compressive strength and the secant modulus for jet grouted sand and jet grouted clay.
INTRODUCTION
General Information
The North/South metroline Amsterdam will use the shield tunnelling method for construction of two
6,5 m metro tunnels. Therefore, due to settlements, complications with some historical buildings founded on
pile foundations may occur. To prevent these complications, mitigating measures by means of stabilising the
soil using injection-techniques, are planned at these locations. The lack of experience with injection in the
vicinity of pile foundations, in combination with the fact that the non homogeneous, soft, stratified soil in
Amsterdam has been injected to a limited degree, has led to the development of a Full Scale Injection Test.
Because of national interest, the Full Scale Injection Test is a co-operation of North/South Metroline Consulting engineers (75%), Centre for Underground Construction Studies (20%) and Delft University of Technology (5%). More information concerning the project can be found in other North/South metroline papers
in ITA congress proceedings 1997, 1998 and 1999 (Van der Stoel, 1998 & 1999).
Scope of the Paper
The test program is divided into three stages:
stage 1: the testing of several different geophysical surveys.
stage 2: injection of different Amsterdam soil types by means of permeation grouting;
stage 3: injection near pile foundations using (a) permeation-, (b) jet- and (c) compensation grouting.
Stage 1 was completed in February 1998 and stage 2 was completed in February 1999. Execution of Stage 3
has finished in December 1999, and the complete first order evaluation results will probably be available in
April 2000. This paper outlines the results from laboratory test which were part of the jet grouting (stage 3b).
Aim of Stage 3b
The aim of stage 3b is to gain (additional) knowledge concerning jet grouting, with regards to:
- strength and stiffness parameters,
- influence on surroundings, both soil as well as pile foundations (movement and stress) and
- the possible verification methods for determining the column diameter (V.d.Stoel & V.d.Bliek,2000).
This paper focuses on the first aspect.
TEST SET-UP
General Set-Up

Almer E.C. van der Stoel, Delft University of Technology Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences and Faculty of Architecture & North/South Metroline, Entrada 231, 1096 EG, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2
Harro J. van Ree, North/South Metroline, Entrada 231, 1096 EG, Amsterdam, Netherlands

A.E.C. van der Stoel

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The main principle of the test is to load a series of wooden and concrete piles using jacks, and measuring
the loads, movements, water-pressures and stresses during grouting. For the loading 8750 kN of ballast,
consisting of a steel frame and concrete & sand dead weight was used (Van der Stoel, 2000).
Soil Conditions
A detailed description of the soil conditions is given in Van der Stoel (1998). A brief summary is presented here (with NAP = Amsterdam Ordnance Datum, the Dutch reference level for vertical measurements):
street level at NAP + 0,5 m; groundwater level at NAP 0,8 m;
NAP + 0,5 m to NAP 13 m: Holocene sequence consisting respectively of
Sand and rubble (made ground): NAP +0,5m to NAP 0,5m;
Layer 1: Clay/Peat NAP 0,5m to NAP-5,5m;
Layer 2: Upper clay layer NAP 5,5 m to NAP 8,0 m;
Layer 3: Lower clay layer (silty/sandy claylayer) NAP 8,0m to NAP 12,5m;
Layer 4: NAP 12,5 m to NAP 15 m; 1st sand layer; cone resistance (CPT) 6 - 30 MN/m;
Layer 5:NAP 15 m to NAP 18 m; Intermediate layer; cone resistance 2 -12 MN/m;
Layer 6 NAP 18 m to NAP 30 m; 2nd sand layer; dense to very dense; cone resistance 15 - 45 MN/m;
Layer 8 NAP 30 m to NAP 45 m; Eem clay layer; cone resistance 2 - 3 MN/m.
The piezometric surface of the 1st and 2nd sand layer is NAP 1,4 m.
Process Parameters Jet Grouting
Jet grouting is an eroding process, and therefore both displacement as well as relaxation of the soil can
occur during grouting. For the creation of the jet grouting columns, a one-and two phase jet grouting system
(single and double jet) combined with pre-cutting has been used.
A single jet system consists of jetting/eroding a water-cement mixture with the soil. In a double jet system the water cement mixture is surrounded by an air jet, making the jetting more powerful and creating a
larger diameter column. Six different grout columns have been made, as shown in Figure 1 and Table 1.
For all jet grouting columns, precutting by means of water-jetting was used for the cohesive soil-layers
(layer # 2, 3 and 8). The aim of the precutting is to realise a column with sufficient diameter and to increase
the strength and stiffness of the grout. Process parameters of the jet grouting are displayed in Table 1. The
rotation speed of the nozzles is the same for all columns: 6-8 r/min.
Table 1 : Process parameters used for the jetting of the columns.
Column

(l/min)

Grouting
pressure
(bar)

A
B
C

1
1
2

-35
-35
-35

-2
-2
-2

1.0
1.0
1.0

single
single
double

4 / 6
4 / 6
8 / 12

4.0
4.0
5.0

200
200
400

156
156
244

400
400
400

D
X1

2
1

-35
-22

-2
-2

1.0
0.8

single
single

8 / 12
4 / 6

5.0
4.0

400
200

257
152

450
400

X2

-22

-2

1.2

single

4 / 6

4.0

200

158

400

(m)

Grouting
From
To
NAP (m)

wcr

Jet
system

Lift speed
precutting / grouting
(sec/2cm)

Nozzle
diameter
(mm)

Precutting
pressure
(bar)

Flow Rate

TEST RESULTS
Excavation
Figure 1 shows the excavation of the jet grouting site (left, X1 not shown) and the designed columns
(right, X1 and X2 not shown). In between columns B and C some soil is still visible. All the columns have
been inspected and the average diameter has been measured. It could be immediately recognised that:
the columns roughly all have a constant diameter;
column C has a somewhat square shape (which could not be explained yet);
the average diameter of columns A ( 1.45 m), B ( 1.40 m), C ( 2.60 m) and X2 (1.40m) exceed the
intended diameter, the diameter of column D ( 1.55 m) is smaller then the intended diameter.
Design Considerations

When determining the strength and stiffness of the grout, some design considerations (influences on
strength and stiffness of the grout) have to be taken into account, like the air used with column C and the water cement ratio (wcr) of columns X1 and X2 which is respectively 0.8 and 1.2.

Figure 1 : excavated site (left) column design (right)

For interpretation purposes the laboratory tests have been divided in five categories, as shown in Table 2.
Core Drilling and Sampling Program
To test the quality of the grout, core drilling of column A, B, C, D, X1 and X2 has been executed over the
full length of the columns. The core drilling has been executed for the designed 1m and 2m columns at
respectively 0,20m and 0,40m distance from the centre of the jet grout column, considering that centric drilling of the jet grouting columns gives no representative samples. Both the verticality of the jet grouting column as well as of the core drilling were checked using inclinometer measurements (maximum deviation of
0,35 m 1 %). A total of 255 samples has been taken from drilled cores (Table 2).
Compressive Strength and Stiffness of the Grout
The stiffness (Ecm) and compressive strength (fc) were determined using Unconfined Compressive
Strength (UCS) tests, in accordance with the DIN 18136. The secant modulus of the stiffness is determined
by registering the strain and the force at 30%-70% of the failure force on the sample. The tensile strength
(fct,sp) was determined using Brazilian Spilt (BS) tests. The results of the tests are presented in Table 2.
When studying the table some conclusions can be drawn:
a) there is a wide scatter in the data / large standard deviations;
b) the use of the double jet system (category 4) has a positive influence on the diameter of the column, the
strength parameters are however significantly lowered;
c) the strengths for category 2 (wcr=1) are not intermediate between category 1 and 3 (wcr =0.8 and 1.2).
The reason for a) and c) can probably be found in the fact that the number of samples that were taken for
categories 1, 3 and 4 are significantly lower then the number of samples taken for category 2. The excellent
results for layer 6 in category 3 for instance, are based upon only two samples taken form one core.
The reason for b) is rather obvious and has to do with air being enclosed in the jet grouting column during
the jetting.
Correlation
To be able to use strength and stiffness parameters of jet grouted material in the design process, it is extremely useful to derive formulas that interrelate these parameters. Using the test results two typical relations are presented here. A distinction has been made between the clay (#2, 3 & 8) and the sand (#4, 5 & 6)
layers. The relations for a water-cement ratio of 1,0 (wcr=1.0).
Compressive Strength fc- Tensile Strength fct,sp

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Figure 2 and Figure 3 display the test results for the clay and sand layers respectively. It should be noted
that more UCS-tests then BS-tests were taken, so sometimes multiple fc are compared with a single fct. For
concrete, a number of empirical formulae connecting fc and fct,sp have been suggested, many of them of the
type: fct,sp = k (fc)n (Neville, 1997).

Layer

column(s)
diameter (m)
system
wcr

Number of samples

Table 2 : Average ( x ) and standard deviation () of strength and stiffness parameters of the samples
Category 1

24

5.4

1.0

Parameter

Category 2

Category 3

Category 4

Category 5

X1

A, B

X2

A, B & D

1.5

1.5

1.5

2.5

1.5

Single

Single

Single

Double

Single

0.8

1.0

1.2

3,4

1,0

1.0

3.0

0.7

1.0

3.3

1.0

fc (MPa)
2

Upper clay layer

Lower clay layer

26

13.9

10.2

11,8

8,9

3.4

2.5

3.3

0.4

9.9

8.8

1st sand layer

27

7.9

3.6

19,6

12,6

4.4

3.0

2.9

0.9

17.1

12.4

In-between layer

21

11.1

1.9

12,9

8,3

8.6

1.7

7.3

1.0

15.4

9.0

2nd sand layer

43

23.0

16.4

20,3

11,6

33.1

13.2

8.5

2.2

18.7

11.2

Eemclay layer

21

14,7

7,4

5.6

1.1

12.6

6.7

Upper clay layer

24

2,050

702

1197

914

982

473

1,096

837

Lower clay layer

26

3,391

1,839

2623

1166

1,194

886

933

230

2,335

1,193

1st sand layer

27

2,830

934

3449

1249

1,330

746

924

335

3,427

1,164

In-between layer

21

3,412

971

2551

1007

2,264

399

1,737

399

2,913

991

2nd sand layer

43

3,564

1,622

3337

1215

5,222

1,418

2,334

551

3,268

1,140

Eemclay layer

21

2687

673

1,532

427

2,775

632

Upper clay layer

18

1.0

0.1

0,6

0,7

0.5

0.1

0.6

0.6

Lower clay layer

11

1.8

0.8

0,7

0,4

1.0

0.5

0.6

0.0

0.6

0.4

1st sand layer

22

1.0

0.1

2,0

0,1

0.7

0.3

0.5

2.0

0.2

In-between layer

11

1.5

0.1

1,5

0,8

1.2

0.2

1.1

0.0

1.4

0.8

2nd sand layer

23

2.0

2.0

1,9

1,0

3.2

0.7

1.0

0.3

1.6

0.9

Eemclay layer

0.2

0,7

0.9

0.2

0.8

0.2

Ecm (MPa)

fct,,sp (MPa)

3 ,5
J et grou ted s an d w c r=1 ,0

3 ,0

f c t ,s p = 0 ,3 f c

J et grou ted s an d w c r=1 ,2

0 ,6

J et grou ted s an d w c r=0 ,8

te n s ile s tre n fgct,sp

th (M p a

2 ,5

2 ,0

1 ,5

1 ,0

0 ,5

0 ,0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

c o m p r e s s iv e s tr e n g th f c (M p a )

Figure 2 : tensile strength fct,sp vs. compressive strength fcfor jet grouted sand layers
2 ,0
J e t g r o u t e d c la y w c r = 1 , 0
1 ,8
J e t g r o u t e d c la y w c r = 1 , 2
1 ,6

J e t g r o u t e d c la y w c r = 0 , 8

tensile strength f ct,sp (Mpa)

1 ,4

f c t ,s p = 0 , 4 f c

1 ,2

0 ,3

1 ,0

0 ,8

0 ,6

0 ,4

0 ,2

0 ,0
0

10

15
c o m p r e s s iv e s t r e n g th f

20
c

25

30

(M p a )

Figure 3 : tensile strength fct,sp vs. compressive strength fc for jet grouted clay layers
7 .0 0 0

6 .0 0 0

Secant modulus E cm (MPa)

5 .0 0 0

4 .0 0 0

cm

= 800

fc

3 .0 0 0
je t g ro u te d s a n d w c r= 1 ,0
2 .0 0 0

je t g ro u te d s a n d w c r= 1 ,2
je t g ro u te d s a n d w c r= 0 ,8

1 .0 0 0

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

c o m p re s s iv e s tre n g th f c (M P a )

A.E.C. van der Stoel

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Figure 4 : secant modulus Ecm vs. compressive strength fc for jet grouted sand layers
6 .0 0 0

cm

= 500

fc

Secant modulus E cm (MPa)

5 .0 0 0

4 .0 0 0

3 .0 0 0

2 .0 0 0
je t g ro u t e d c la y w c r= 1 ,0
je t g ro u t e d c la y w c r= 1 ,2

1 .0 0 0

je t g ro u t e d c la y w c r= 0 ,8

0
0

10

15
c o m p r e s s iv e s tr e n g th f

20
c

25

30

35

(M P a )

Figure 5 : secant modulus Ecm vs. compressive strength fc for jet grouted clay layers
Because of the similarities between jet grouted material and concrete this relation was applied to the test
data, resulting in expressions (1) and (2):
jet grouted sand:

fct,sp = 0,3 (fc)3/5

(1)

jet grouted clay:

fct,sp = 0,4 (fc)3/10

(2)

The results for the tests with the higher and lower wcr are also displayed in the figures. Because the number
of tests was much lower, it is only stated here that a higher wcr shows a tendency of shifting the line a little
higher and a lower wcr shows a tendency of shifting the line a little lower.
Compressive Strength fc Secant Modulus Ecm
In Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the test results for the clay and sand layers are shown respectively. Here
also an empirical formula of the type: Ecm = k (fc)n is used, resulting in expressions (3) and (4):
jet grouted sand:

Ecm = 800 (fc)1/2

(3)

jet grouted clay:

Ecm = 500 (fc)2/3

(4)

The results for the tests with the higher and lower wcr are also displayed in the figures. It is remarkable
that a lower wcr doesnt very much influence the relation, a higher wcr however does result in a higher secant modulus using a comparable compressive strength.
Because the number of tests with a high compressive strength is significantly lower then the number of
tests with a high compressive strength, the expressions for Ecm and fct,sp are more sensitive for variation with
higher values of fc.
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
The presented test results show that a higher or lower wcr significantly influences the strength and stiffness of the grouted clay layers. A wide scatter in the strength and stiffness parameters was found for the different layers and rather big standard deviations were found per layer. The use of the double jet system has a
positive influence on the diameter of the column, the strength parameters are however significantly lowered.
The use of precutting in the clay layers resulted in more than satisfactory strength and stiffness parameters.
For both sand as well as clay an exponential relation between the tensile strength and the compressive
strength by the type: fct,sp = k (fc)n could be derived. There is a clear difference between sand and clay. For

the relation between the secant modulus and the compressive strength also an exponential relation was
found: Ecm = k (fc)n. Here the difference between clay and sand was however statistically less significant.
It is emphasised that because of the wide scatter that is (generally) found when analysing jet grouting
data, sufficient risk assessment has to be conducted. Depending on the project and the function of the jet
grouting body this means that safety factors of 2 to 3 are strongly recommended.

REFERENCES
Neville, A.M., 1997, Properties of concrete, p.306, Essex Addison Wesley Longman Ltd.
Stoel, A.E.C. van der, 1998. Soil Grouting: Full Scale Injection test North/South metro line Amsterdam,
Tunnels and Metropolises, Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 1998 on Tunnels and Metropolises
So Paolo Brazil, Rotterdam: Balkema.
Stoel, A.E.C. van der; A.F. van Tol, 1999, Full Scale Injection Amsterdam: Results stage 1 and 2, Proceedings of the ITA World Tunnel Congress 1999 Oslo Norway, Rotterdam: Balkema.
Stoel, A.E.C. van der, 2000,Injection / grouting near pile foundations: Full Scale Test Amsterdam, Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground, IS99, Tokyo, Japan, Rotterdam,
Balkema
Stoel, A.E.C. van der & M.P.A. van den Bliek, 2000, Verifying the diameter of jet grouting columns: Full
Scale Test Amsterdam, 4th GIGS, Helsinki, Finland, Rotterdam, Balkema

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