Eco Foundations are once again pioneering new ideas in ground improvement. For the first time in the British Isles soil mixed columns of up to 2.00 metres in diameter have been installed up to 20 m deep.
The columns were installed through very soft silts, soft clays and founding on medium dense gravels using our innovative twin paddle soil mixing system attached to a 100 tons RTG RG25S fixed leader rig with double rotary head.
Cement slurry is pumped from a mixing plant through the centre tube of the auger during the downward soil mixing process and again during the extraction soil mixing process. This results in an extremely homogeneous mix of the host soils together with the cement binder. The amount of slurry being pumped into the column is computer controlled by the rig operator and a full print out is supplied to the client as part of the QA process.
There are no pile arisings resulting in cost savings as there is nothing to take off site, and there are fewer lorry movements as the only imported product in the process is cement which is brought in bulk tankers, unlike traditional piling methods which rely on concrete delivered in small quantities via truck mixers.
The columns were installed in a grid pattern and topped with a soil mixed transfer platform which the foundation slab is cast on top of.
This is just one of the innovative soil mixing solutions Eco Foundations provides.
Please download our options for soil mixed foundations brochure and ground improvement by soil mixing brochure to learn more about the wide range of soil mixing systems available for your project.
Click on the link to watch a video of deep soil mixing in action.
Photos of the mixing plant layout and the soil mixing process are shown below:
