Report on Proposed Land Reclamation Utilizing Mud and or

Clay (Cohesive) Soils

Preamble
Many methods are currently available when it comes to land reclamation, in recent times though the
focus has shifted more to a sustainable design that would be beneficial on all fronts. The utilization
of mud or clay (cohesive) soils has generally been looked into with many design effort focusing on
the use of dredged in-situ soils from the bed on the water body. This provides dual advantages in
both the soil utilization and the lowering of the water level due to increased depth. On the economic
side, it is found that in most cases where a suitable filling material is readily not available within the
locality, the option of modifying the characteristics of the in-situ soil has been found much cheaper
and sustainable.

Introduction
Land reclamation is the process of claiming back submerged land from water bodies like oceans, sea,
bays and rivers. This activity has played a significant role in the urban development of coastal areas
in many parts of the world, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is noted for reclaiming land from the ocean. It has wrested almost half of its
working and living area from the sea over seven hundred years. In Japan, reclamation of its coastal
regions has been vigorously pursued for hundreds of years. For example, it has used the technique
to create the industrial hub beside Tokyo harbour and Osaka's Kansai Airport. Hong Kong also has a
long history of creating urban land by reclamation. Reclaimed lands account for 5.47% of its total
land area in 1997.


Need for Geotechnical Information
Geotechnical Site Investigations for Reclamation projects typically involve taking of soil borings to
obtain samples for material classification and testing. Classification and testing can be done both in-
situ during the boring process and in the laboratory on samples obtained from the borings. It is
expected that before any bid package is tendered for the construction works it must include logs
from the borings indicating the soil stratigraphy and classification, the results of in-situ testing of the
material and results from subsequent laboratory testing of soil samples from the borings.
Contractors interpret and use this geotechnical information to select equipment and methodologies,
to quantify the location, quantities and physical properties of the soils to be used, to estimate
project costs, to assess risks and to plan the performance of the project. The geotechnical
information is a primary driver of the ultimate project performance.



Reclamation Methods using Soft Soil
1. Band Drain and Surcharge: Typically used in soft ground to accelerate consolidation of the
compressible soils for the drained reclamation. In reclamation areas with thick soft marine
clay/silt, long term consolidation under reclamation loads can continue for many years. With
band drains and surcharge load, the soft compressible soils can be pre-consolidated prior to
development in a matter of weeks or months.
2. Stone Column: Typically used in soft soil applications in order to accelerate consolidation of
the compressible soils for the drained reclamation increase the shear strength of the soil
dealing achieved by the use of vibro-displacement or vibro-replacement method involve the
installation of gravel compacted piles commonly referred to as stone columns.
3. Use of Sand Compaction Pile: In this method large diameter compacted sand piles are
installed in soft clay/ mud. Diameter of sand piles is about 1.2m to 2.0m. Used to improve
bearing capacity, slope stability and consolidation settlement by replacing the soft clay/ mud
by the compacted sand piles. Widely adopted in Japan and Korea.
4. Deep Cement Mixing: In this method the soil soil/Clay is mixed with specially prepared
cement mix using blades driven into the clay/ soft soil stratum. Challenges with the use of
this method include; Heaving, Possible seepage during soft soil and cement slurry, Possible
cement slurry leakage from mixing shaft during extracting the blades from the mud