Sprctesss Pag For Which Soil Conditions Are Under-reamed Pile Foundations Superior to Other Foundation Systems ? Sanjay Gupta, Foundengers Private Limited, New Delhi. SYNOPSIS A general consensus’ was arrives at the IGC-1986 that under-reaned piles are superior to other foundation systems for the following soil” and loaaing conditions : (1) Black cotton sotis; (2) surficial weak soils underlain by soils with adoquite bearing capicitys (2) where advantage can be talon of an intormdiate stratum with grod end bearing characteristics (4) for Tight to moderately loaded structures (5) for structures subjected to uplift forces (6) for avoiding deep excavations and dewatering, erd/or (J) where manual construction methods are advantageous. Soree compaction Under-reamod piles aro superior to conventional urder-reamad piles with regard to load carrying capacities ané foundation performance and should be usec wherever possible. Under-reamed piles are not suitable if a consolidating clay layer Gecurs below the pile tip, in rocky strate and strata containing boulders. in sotls wnere the Dorenole of the under- fear, portion could cellapee, under-reaned pilet should te used with ciution and 2 carefully prepared drilling fluid should be used INTRODUCTION The superiority of any foundation syston over othars { mainly depencs en its performance under structural Toads, {a" ease or “construction and economic factors. thus the ‘superiority, of uneorsrosnad, pilot is. consfsored rot only fra a technical viewpoint bit 2150. where they (provide an ergiveering selution to problems. ettner tie’ to canstructien difficulties, or eumaratively Righ cout of other types of Foundation syst Under-roamod piles have boon used in India since 1985, These piles ‘were developed by CERI in. the fifties prinartly for use in black cotton sotis but nave since fourd. wido application in various soil conditions for a variety of structures. The use of these giles increased rapidly In India since the seventies Currently, guidelines for, design and construction of undersreahed plies are available in a randooos by sharma seat (1978) a well agin. 8 2911 Pare 11. 198 1 Ghar (1986)" and Sharma "(1986) discuss the ‘use of snger=reated piles in. india, construction "practices and situations where they are superior. This paper attempts to. synthesize the various practices and Ytt appiteabiiity of these piles and mightights areas “of (0) (b) future research on under-reaned piles BEHAVIOUR OF UNDER-REANED PILES. ‘an under-reanes pile is a stort tored pite with one Fig. 1, Load transfer mechanism for urder-reamed piles. or more bulbs formed by under-reaning. Usually, the a) = Compression load bulb diameter is 2 to 2.5 tims the sten diameter. In b) = Tension loat. India, manual methods are usually used for construction. SITUATIONS UWOER HICH UNDER-REAFED PILES ARE SUPERIOR Under” compression icads, the pile loaé transfer i achieved by the end bearing of the pile stem tip, the A general consensus has been achieved on the soil bearing offered by the bulb and the skin friction of conditions and loading conditions were. under-reaned the stem. Under tensile loads, uplift resistance is pile is considered a ‘superior’ foundation systen. These generated. by passive resistance generated by the bulb. are discussed below:- Fig.t schenatically depicts the Toad transfer nechanisn. 1. Under-reared piles are an effective solution ro the problems "of swelling/shrinkage it expansive Soils, ang black ‘cotton Solis. In. these sav conditions, the bulb acts as an anchor an¢ resists 97the heave and settlement ie co swelling ard shrinkege of the expansive soils linder-roaned piles are often a more eccnonical ‘and hence a Superior foundation ‘systen. in soil conettions were surficis! louse soils one poorly compacted fills are underlain by soils with adequate bearing capacity. in this situation, the “Use of Under-reame piles elluinates Ue Settionont of the surficial loose soils by transferring the loads toa deeper ord more competent. stratum, In situations where aovantage can be taken of an Intementate suretun with gooc eno beortng Characteristics, under-reamed piles mas sonetines prove co be superior foundation systen. Examples tre a loose sand or soft clay stratum sendii chee hetween i surficial cence sand stratun and an underlying hard clay or cense sane stratur For certsin. loacing situations, an ordinary bored pile may Rave to be caken sufficiently. deep below the underlying soft cley or loose Sand. Ust of under-reased pile in inis situation ay shorten the lenght of the pile significantly becouse cf the end bearing resistance oft Bulb in che” eense sard. this. soit cong‘tien $= schematically shown tn Fig.?, Howver care shovle be taken to ensure that the pile tis 4g sufficiently aoove the underiying week set's £0 that the loading of the pile does not induce Significant settlenent of the uncerlying siretun, For light to moderately loaded structures bearing fon. soils which have low. bearing capacity. in the Upper 1 to. 31m under-reoney piles mey often be an economical as well 2s superior alternative to raft foundations ‘pleceé cn the strong soils ungerying the weak soils Since the under-ream bulb generates a significant uplift. resistence, on under-reaned pile is, Superior ‘to other ‘piles of the sane length ard dianeter with regard to uplift capacity. These piles can be effectively used to resist hydrostatic uplift. ard moments due to wird and seismic’ forces and. have found wice applicability ia structures vhere uplift. forces ind overturning manents are the governing factor in foundation design. Examples are transmission towers, television towers and anternee, overhead tanks,” tall structures subjected to wind forces, underground tanks placed below groundwater table end nydraulic structures providieg resistance against buoyancy forces. At sites where the groundvater is very shallows it may be required to provide foundations below the water ‘table. If “spread open foundatiors are planned, ths would Involve excovetien below Water tale, devatering, braciags and sintlar Supporting .'systens..Unéer such situations, Uunder-reened piles may prove to be on economics as vel] as a quicker method of construction. Ynder-reaned | piles are normally | constrected in India mornhiy"sing™ ight” we gu, “eauipnt At sttes where the surficial scils are ‘of poor bearing capseity anc cannot tale the lead fren heavy construction equipment, the use of light weight equipment my be advantageous. Also, the construction of the piles does not depend on. power and uses limited quantity of water Which mate It better foundation schene for renote Hees. Discussions on various aspects of design and. construct ion of unver-reamec piles in different soil conditions highlighting. the use of these piles as a ‘superict foundation schene’ are presented below. EXPANSIVE SOILS In _espansive clay and black cotton sofTs, seasonal variations in moisture contest cause heave and shrinkage Of the soils.” These variation in moisture content are ‘Sue to ihe capillary forces. set up Dy evaporation and consequent . suction forces created by thermal gragients (Ranaswany, 1986). The zone of scil where such moisture Variations occur 1s eatlea tre ‘active zone’. Where the ‘groudwter level is shallow. this zone is related to the maxinun and minimum level of groundvater. Where groundwater 1s sufficiently ceep, the active zone extends fo. sone depth below the existing ground surface. Experience by various researches and practicing engineers Sneicates that he extent of this zone mey vary from 1.3 0 5.5m below the ground surface It 1s therefore essentiad chet the depth of the active zone be determined in order tht the design may be nore Fealistic. Ranasvamy (1985) recomends developing suction profiles to determine tis active zone. The total heave OF shrinkage is a function of thedifference betwen the present suction and the expected equilibrium suction pressure ‘under wie structure. The zoe Of varletion Of the suction pressure defines the extent of the active zore. in the aosence of such data, local emperience ay be used and e sultadte depth of tie’ active zore shoula be considered Ravaswony (1980) states tnet pile load tests are unretiable in expansive clays because ‘such tests do not correctly node! the behaviour of the active zone. He provices fe method for computing the pile copocities in the Swelling Clays taking into account’ the influence of the active zore. In this method, the capacity of the soils in the active zone fs neglected. The uplift force en the pile is calculated ang the deoth of pile required below the active zone is calculated to resist the uplift. force. Poulos and Davis (1960), through elastic analysis of uncer-reamed piles in expansive clays, found that pile rmovenents dve to smelling ere controlled, by using under= reaned piles founded just below the base of the active zore or by using uniform diameter piles of length about Uwice ‘the depth of the active zone. Howevery the current consensus of experts in India seems to be that the pile Gesign should ignore the capacity of the active zone. Further research 15 required on the behaviour of under= reaneé piles in expansive clays. WEAK SOILS UNDERLAIN BY STRONG SOILS In orcas vhere the surficial 1 te mm of soils are Joose/soft “in conditions and are inderlain by meatun dense soils with adeqaute bearing capacity, under-reaned Piles may prove to be an effective and supertor. so1Ution- These "piles are usually more econonies] than raft foundetiens or spread footings placed or the strong soils in several cases particularly on large projects. Gupta ang Sundaran (1965) discuss situations sere under-reaned piles have been advantageously used in such soil conditions, in the Delhi area.” Examples are Tight to moderately’ loaded structures such as housing projects, ‘Overhead tarks etc. In such cases, the under-ream bulb should be formd in the under-Iying strong soils so that adequate end bearing capacity can be achfeved. Also, the soil conditions