The Sinking of Well Foundations in Difficult Situations

By

Dr. Gouranga Prasad Saha*

B.E.(Civil), D.C.T.(Leeds, UK), MSc. (Struct Eng. Leeds U.K.),
Ph.D (Leeds U.K.), M.I.C.E. (U.K.), M.A.S.C.E. (U.S.A.),
M.A.C.I. (U.S.A. by Invitation), C.Eng.(U.K.)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CONSTRUMA CONSULTANCY PVT. LTD., Mumbai

1. Introduction

In the Indian subcontinent there are many rivers where the depth of alluvial
deposits is very high and the scour around the pier foundations can be very deep if
the piers are located within the active channel of river. For such condition well
foundation is a very appropriate type of foundation.

To the authors knowledge one 3 km long Railway bridge crossing a creek was
supported on pile foundations. After some years, the sway of the pile foundations
was so large when the mail trains crossed the creek, the Railways not only
reduced the speed of the trains substantially but constructed another bridge
adjacent to this bridge on well foundations. Thus under certain situation, well
foundation is a highly desirable type of foundation.

In India the technology for the design and construction of well foundation is quite
advanced. In all rivers, including large rivers with torrential flow of water
currents, well foundations were provided. In the foundations of Howrah Bridge in
Kolkata giant monoliths were provided. In Second Hoogly Bridge also in Kolkata
with one of the longest span cable stayed bridges in the world having the central
span of 457m being same as that of Howrah Bridge, an ingenius solution was
adopted. Instead of a monolith for the foundation of each tower of the cable stay
bridge, 2 well foundations up to 23 m dia were placed side by side at 30 m center
and interconnected by a 14 m deep beam. This solution was construction-wise
easier and more controllable and quantity of material used much less. These wells
were constructed purely by gravity sinking method.

These well foundations under main towers were kept totally empty for the service
condition. The entire well was designed as a water tight structure. At the junction
of any two lifts of concreting of well steining, water stops were provided to
prevent leakage of water through construction joints of well steining.

The wells were constructed using gravity sinking method of construction. As

stated earlier the wells were kept totally empty and no water is inside the well
during the service condition primarily to reduce the load of water on the
foundations, since vertical loads were very large for the central spans of 457 m.

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 and side spans of 183m. At the base of wells RCC slabs were constructed which
were designed for the upward force from the base of the well. For support of the
slab and continuity of reinforcement recesses were kept in the steining above the
well curb where bond bar reinforcements were kept bent. A cover was provided
with a steel plate which, were kept in position by bolts, to keep the bond
reinforcement recesses free from blocking with muds. After the wells were sunk
up to the designed level, the bottom plug was laid with colcrete. The wells were
dewatered. It was noted that the colcrete bottom plug not only withstood the
upward pressure but also was reasonably leakproof. Thereafter, those steel plate
covers were removed and reinforcements were bent back to the designed
positions. Reinforcements were laid and concreting was done. In this way a fully
water tight design was done for these wells.

Deep well foundation up to 67 m deep across the river Ganga in Varanasi and upto
68 m deep across the river Brahmaputra at Jogighopa were used. In Varanasi
Bridge wells, no sand filling was done. These wells were filled with water only to
reduce the weight at the founding level. In long span bridges or in bridges where
the horizontal force is large, heavy foundation mass is desirable for stability and
serviceability requirements point of view and hence well foundation is a highly
appropriate solution.

In spite of the excellent development of technology on well foundations there are

still some areas where engineers face difficulty while sinking of wells, some of
which are stated in this paper from the direct experience of this author. The
author had the opportunity of having associated with construction of well
foundations of many large and outstanding bridges including Second Hoogly
Bridge, Varanasi Bridge, etc., while working with Gammon India Ltd., and
Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd.

2. Sinking Well through Stiff Clay Strata

If a very stiff clay layer is encountered during the sinking of a well, the engineer
has to face a very tough and challenging situation if the well becomes stationery
and does not move at all.

At that time due to the action of horizontal water current force, the well may start
tilting. The well becomes more vulnerable due to tilt if a step is provided on the
outside face of the well steining to reduce the thickness of the steining. At the
initial stage if the tilt is not brought under control, the tilt goes on increasing
making the situation very difficult to control. This leads to a very expensive and
time-consuming affair for attempting to make the well straight and vertical within
practical limits.

This is a very serious situation and one should examine how this resistance is
developed. A solution should be devised on the basis of insight into the causes for
the resistance to sink.

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 Referring to Fig. 1 it may be seen that the primary resistance comes on the sides
and also by bearing at the base over the area of the well steining. The projection
on the outside surface over the height of the kerb by 50 mm to 75 mm as
recommended in IRC 78-2000 is very helpful to reduce the resistance due to stiff
clay on the outside surface of the well.

(a) To overcome this resistance to the authors knowledge, the following measures
have been tried by various engineers.

(i) Continue grabbing much below the cutting edge level of the well.

(ii) Dewater well up to certain depth to reduce the buoyancy and thereby
increase the weight of the well.

(iii) Remove soil in contact with the outside surface of the well by grabbing to
a certain depth.

(iv) Flushing with a jet of water on the outside soil through holes, which are
kept in the steining at certain intervals during the construction of the
steining of the well.

(v) By thumping on the water inside the dredge hole.

(vi) By Kentledge loading on the well.

The merits and demerits of each of the above measures are discussed below.

(i) Some engineers continue grabbing much below the cutting edge level of
the well.

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 One site engineer with vast experience in construction of well foundations
and claimed in achieving success by adapting this method, continued
grabbing to a depth of about 10 m below the cutting edge of the well
situated in the river Ganga in a major project when the well became
stationary in a very stiff clay layer. This particular well was partly in the
water and partly in the bank. One day the well suddenly sank to a depth of
nearly 10 m leading to a major catastrophe. This was a very unwise
decision, which should never have been taken.

IRC 78 : 2000 specifies that sumps made by dredging below cutting edge
shall preferably not be more then half the internal diameter.

(ii) Dewatering well as a device to sink a well

The purpose of dewatering is to reduce the buoyancy. Thus the buoyant

weight of the well is increased which increases the sinking effort of the
well. But the major problem is the chance of occurring sand blow.

If the sand blow occurs and if the sand blow is eccentric and the lateral
force exerted on the well is high, the well may break into 4 segments
along its height, which was noticed in many projects in this country. The
author has developed a method for the design of a well foundation for
resisting excessive sand blow forces, which was published in IRC journal
in 1993. This method was used in a major bridge across river Ganga
where the well foundations of 13 m diameter up to 67 m depth, which was
the deepest well for a road bridge in India at that time was used. There is
no literature available which specifies the evaluation of horizontal force
for the design of a well foundation for the condition during construction
when the well is like a hollow pipe and is in a most vulnerable condition.
For such a large and deep well, IRC method of design was not used.
Instead a rational and conceptual method developed by the author was
used. The quantities of the well were nearly half even for such a deep
well. It may be noted that all the wells were sunk to the designed
founding level without any appreciable difficulty.

According to the author for a major bridge with large and deep well
foundations, the wells must be designed three dimensionally with a
realistic lateral load during construction condition to avoid disastrous
situation due to which the well steining may crack transversely. The cost
of such an analysis and design is negligible compared with the unpleasant
situation, which may become very expensive and delay the project badly.

(iii) Remove soil in contact with the outside surface of the well.

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 If the top soil layers are soft, this does not help much. If the stiff clay
layer exists at a shallow depth then it may help to some extent.

(iv) Flushing with jet of water on the outside face of well

In this process holes are kept in the well steining with outlets on the
outside surface of the well. Two types of orientation of the outlets are
shown in Fig. 1 (a) & (b). In Fig. 1 (a) the outlets are perpendicular to the
vertical whereas in Fig. 1 (b), the outlets are inclined with the tip upwards.
Experience shows that the outlet hole of the pipe gets blocked with the
entry of the clay more easily than the inclined one. A plug was provided
to prevent entry of sand or other softer material. This plug moves out with
the force of water jet.

When the well gets stuck in a very stiff clay layer, water is pumped from
the top of the steining. Water coming out on the outer surface of the well
is supposed to lubricate the surface and reduce the adherence of the clay
on the surface of the well which consequently reduces the upward
resistance against sinking down of the well.

(v) By thumping on the water inside the dredge hole by dropping grab

This also has been tried to overcome the resistance.

(vi) By Kentledge loading on the well :

The Kentledge loading is placed on the top of well either by sand bags or
by concrete blocks leaving adequate space in the central zone of the
dredge hole for grabbing. This weight helps increase the sinking effort of
the well.

In case of tilt of a well, eccentric Kentledge load is placed for the

correction of tilt.

(b) The method which is different from the methods listed above had been
tried by the author and briefly described below :-

In one project when the well became stationary in a stiff clay layer, this

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 method was used. In those wells the outside projection of the well kerb was
75 mm. In the upper region the strata was of softer variety. Pipes were not kept
in the well steining to inject water on the outside surface of the well.

It has been stated earlier that the resistance to sinking comes from the outside
surface of the well and also from the bearing on the stiff clay below the well kerb.
In a large diameter well, the thickness of the steining is large and hence the
resistance due to bearing on the stiff clay layer is quite substantial. To overcome
this resistance veteran well sinking engineers continued grabbing inside the
dredge hole much below the cutting edge level so that the soil below the well kerb
fell off and this resistance was eliminated. The well of course used to sink down
suddenly. In the design, designers used to design the well considering half the
permissible tensile stress as specified in the IRC 78 to meet these eventualities .
As stated earlier the method specified by the author for the design of a well three
dimensionally can meet such a situation of sudden sinking down of a well.

However, due to sudden sinking down of a well there may be catastrophic

consequences, hence such method of continuous grabbing is not recommended.
Instead the method which will directly break the clay layer and remove the
bearing below the kerb was adopted. This was done directly by cutting the stiff
clay layer by a jet of water through a pipe using a high pressure pump. This pipe
was supported on a circular frame. Actually 4 vertical pipes were fixed at 4
quadrants as shown in Fig. 2. The central area was kept free in order to facilitate
grabbing.

The water was pumped through pipes using one high pressure pump for one pipe.
Two high pressure pumps were used at one time and water was injected at two
diagonally opposite points at a time. After some time, the other two
perpendicularly placed pipes were used for pumping water. After some time the
frame was lowered and water was injected in order to cut the stiff clay over the
entire inside area at the bottom of the well kerb. The well was observed to sink
down when the inside clay soil was cut and removed

After the removal of the bearing still clay strata, the wells started moving down.

Thus this method was found to be quite effective, safe and efficient method.

3. Bouldery strata

The bouldery strata can be dealt with 3 ways.

(i) When the boulders are lying loose, they will come out with normal
grabbing.

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 (ii) When they are cemented but not very firmly then underwater blasting may
be effective

(iii) When the boulders are very firmly cemented and the thickness of the
steining of the well is quite large then pneumatic sinking may have to be
resorted to.

In case of bouldery strata, the proper soil investigation should be done and what
method of sinking is to be adopted must be decided. The design of the well must
be done for such a condition. At least provision for limited blasting must be made
and a three dimensional finite element analysis should be done for eccentric
blasting force. The steining of the well must be designed not only in the vertical
direction but also in the transverse direction providing appropriate design
reinforcement. Steel strakes must be provided in such condition. It should be

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 noted that in the past many well steining cracked due to blasting. The wells of
Varanasi Bridge of 13 m dia, 2.5 m thick steining and up to 67 m deep were
analysed for eccentric sand below condition by using 3-D Finite Element analysis
by the author. This work was published in Reference 1. This became helpful to
take care of adverse situation during sinking of wells.

Formation of Heaves in the Dredge Hole even after the well reaches the Designed
Founding Level

When a well passes through soft strata over a considerable depth, the upward
resistance acting on the outside surface of the well is less than the weight of the
well. In that situation the well sinks down and quite often a heap is formed inside
the dredge hole Fig 3. When the formation of heaves takes place after the well
reaches the designed foundation level, then the engineers face the problem of
laying the bottom plug. If the bottom plug is laid inside the dredge hole then the
very purpose of laying the bottom plug is defeated, since the load from the well is
transmitted to the foundation through the well steining and the bottom plug which
lies just below the well steining.

The author had developed a method to overcome this problem. In a number of

well foundations where large heaves were formed inside the well, the author used
this method and the formation of heaves was stopped. Thereafter the bottom plug
was laid within the well kerb region. For the benefit of readers this method is
stated briefly here below :-

How to achieve the condition that the weight of the well will be resisted through
outside frictional force only.

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It is reckoned that no further concreting of the well steining should be done and sinking
should be continued. In that case, the weight of the well will remain nearly same and the
frictional force outside the well will increase very fast, the founding strata being in good
soil. It is thought that the equilibrium of the well will reach with shorter depth of sinking
below the designed founding level.

The following method is used to evaluate the approximate depth of further sinking and
also the height of water to be considered for the design of the cofferdam along the outer
perimeter of the well at top.

When the heave develops in the dredge hole, the equilibrium of the well takes
place as per the following equation :

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 W = F+qa (1)

F = frictional force in the vertical direction along the outside surface of the well.

q = bearing pressure of soil.

a = area of the well supported over the heave i.e. over the distance X, Fig. 4.

X = tan A.
h = height of heave.
A = angle at the tip of well curb.

The component qa is required to be balanced by the additional frictional force

over the outside surface of the well, which will develop by sinking the well deeper.

Thus fl al = qa (2)

Where fl = the frictional force acting on the outside surface of the well over depth
of further sinking of the well per unit area which is evaluated below.

al = area of the outside surface of the well over depth of further sinking.

Referring to Fig. 4

fl = p x (coefficient of friction)
p = (pl + p2)/2
pl = active earth pressure at a depth H below the existing water level or ground level
whichever is higher.
p2 = active earth pressure at a depth H + h1
h1 = depth of further sinking.

Substituting p in fl and fl in Eqn. 2 as shown in Fig. 4, hl can be evaluated.

4. Few other measures which can help relatively trouble free sinking of wells.

(i) Appropriate choice of cutting edge and adoption of proper detailing.

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 EXST. WATER LEVEL EXST. WATER LEVEL

h1

H H

ADDITIONAL DEPTH
OF SINKING
h1
(a) POSITION OF WELL AT DESIGNED FOUNDING LEVEL
WITH HEAVES IN DREDGE HOLE
HEAVE FORMATION
HAS STOPPED

(b) POSITION OF WELL AFTER ADDITIONAL F

SINKING WITH NO HEAVE IN DREDGE HO

FIG. 4 : SHOWING ADDITIONAL SINKING WITHOUT ANY FURTHER CONCRETING OF STEINING

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 Two types of cutting edges are of use for well foundations as shown in Fig. 5 (a)
& (b) of IRC 78 : 2000. The angle iron cutting edge works well when the well
passes through alluvial soil strata without any hard obstruction. There are
instances when the cutting edge met some hard obstruction, it became dislodged
and caused obstruction to the well.

Compared with the angle iron cutting edge a V type cutting edge is more
appropriate in meeting various obstructive situation provided correct detailing is
adopted. The inclined plate should be stopped about 25 mm above the bottom
tip of vertical plate and the welding of the joint between the vertical plate and
the inclined plate must be done as shown in Fig. No.5(b). The vertical and the
inclined plates must not meet at the bottom most point and consequently the
welding must not be done at the bottom tip. The author is aware that in many
bridges in the Himalayan region where the strata are full of boulders the
welding at tip came off and the plates were bent out and caused lots of
obstruction to sinking leading to various problems including delay in progress
of construction. Hence it is advised to adopt detailing as shown in Fig. No.5(b).

(ii) Adequate no. of Borelogs must be taken in the location of each well.

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 As per the present practice only one Borehole is taken at each foundation
location. The soil properties of various strata are available along the depth. To
obtain the complete information of the existence of type of soil/rock or large
boulders if any covering a part of well foundation at least 3 boreholes should be
taken. If the diameter of well is large, then at least 4 bore holes should be taken.
With this knowledge the span arrangements be made so that wells can be sunk
smoothly. Soil properties should be taken of one borehole for the design of
foundations whereas the other boreholes will present information on the type of
strata, locations and their depths. Presence of very large boulder covering a part
of the well at some depth in the bridge over third Brahmaputra at Jogighopa and
similar type of problems including sudden change of bed profile are
encountered in various rivers in India for which a very expensive time
consuming measures were adopted. This can be avoided if enough information
of the soil strata is available at the time of design.

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 (iii) Floating Caisson Sinking

When the depth of water at the location of a well is more than about 5m
then construction of well on temporary sand island is not only difficult but
also uneconomical. In this situation steel caisson is fabricated on the bank
and floated in water either by tilting platform or by a gantry. If the caisson
is very large and very heavy then tilting platform is more convenient. In
other cases normally the caisson is brought to the water using a gantry.
However, the choice of tilting platform or a gantry or by some other
means should be made as per the locally available resources and
convenience.

After the floating caisson is brought to the designed location of the well,
further building up of caisson is done. This work together with concreting
inside the caisson to the designed depth is done till the cutting edge
reaches the bed level of the river. This is a very critical stage. There is
every possibility of tilt and shift occurring, since the caisson is subjected
to unidirectional flow of water. In several projects, large tilt and shift
occurred which subsequently created a lot of problem with that project.
The tilt and shift must be checked very thoroughly before grounding and
suitable corrective measures must be taken if any tilt or shift occurred.
Some measures are suggested here below which if adopted judiciously
should minimize the tilt and shift of the caisson.

(a) For large diameter caissons

After taking the caisson to the designed location the caisson

should be
anchored to the already installed dead anchors at least at 6 locations as
shown in Fig.6 with ropes with adjustable device. Each anchoring should
also be done at 2 locations in elevation. By pulling or releasing the anchor
rope the tilt and shift can be eliminated.

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 Steel piles may be driven inside the dredge hole at 4 corners
after ensuring
the correct position of the well.

(b) For caissons with sinking sets

The barges should be located towards upstream and downstream of the

river and anchored at least at the locations as shown in Fig.7 with the
device for adjustment so that the well can be positioned at the designed
locations. The caisson is placed between the barges with very small
clearance between any two barges and the caisson so that with the water
current force acting on the caisson below the barges, tilting of the caisson
is restrained. However, in case of any tilt or shift occurring the same is
controlled by pulling or releasing the anchor ropes appropriately.

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5. Conclusion

On this paper a list of difficult situations, which bridge engineers normally encounter
during sinking of well foundations, is presented. In some cases the author himself
devised some solutions to some perennial problems, which have been described in this
paper. The problems like the formation of hump inside the dredge hole of a well
foundation or wells cracking due to sand blow, or in a stiff clay layer wells becoming
stationary and not sinking down are quite common situations. In several major projects
where such situations developed the author as the Technical Head of that organization,
developed methods and adopted them to overcome those problems and these methods
are presented in this paper.

Acknowledgement

The author is indebted to Dr. T N Subba Rao for making many valuable suggestions by sparing
his valuable time, to make this paper more complete.

References

1. Saha G.P. Analysis and Design of Varanasi Bridge Well Foundations A Conceptual
Approach Journal of Indian Roads Congress Vol. 54-2. Paper presented in the Annual
Session of IRC in November 1993.

2. Saha G.P. Method of Stopping the Formation of Heaves Inside the Dredge Hole of a
Well Foundation Indian Highways, June 2002.

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 ABSTRACT

Well foundations are quite appropriate foundations for alluvial soils in rivers and

creeks where maximum depth of scour can be quite large. In India technology of

well foundation for design and construction is quite well developed. Still there

are situations where serious problems are encountered at site during construction

of well foundations. Some of the typical problems have been identified and

solutions adopted by the author and also elsewhere in some earlier jobs have been

presented in this paper.

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