Grouting
Blanket Grouting
Contaminants found in soils around landfills, wastes sites require below grade containment
of the known migration of the contaminants. Rigid or flexible grouts can be injected into
the soil mass to form a cap, floor or vertical walls. Chemical and cement grouts can offer
adhesion or cohesion capabilities to the strata where future migration will occur, locking
up the growing plum.
Horizontal sheets of grout can be injected at a pressure exceeding bearing load, to blanket
under or over a target zone. This can isolate the target from vertical groundwater flow through
the zone.
Blanket grouting, coupled with permeation grouted walls, can completely encapsulate a target
zone at depth.
Chemical Grouts
Chemical grouts can be used for a variety of structures such as dams, tunnels, wastewater,
cooling plants and soil formations. Chemical grouts are used to cut off fluids and increase
shear, tensile or compressive strengths of structures and soils. Another common use of chemical
grouts is for water proofing structures or containing airborn contaminants. Chemical grouts,
whether rigid or flexible, can be injected either by drilling, driving down hole pipe or jetting.
Our focus is remedial projects involving ... restoration. We perform emergency response
actions across the United States
Chemical grouts have a range of properties that are useful in a wide variety of structural
and sealing repairs. Viscosity, setting time and expansiveness can be customized to optimize
permeation, strength, or plugging of fluid passages.
Some acrylic grouts with a viscosity less than 2 cP (twice that of water) can be used to
build cutoff walls in even fine sands, or find and seal joints in clay and cracks in concrete.
These are finding application in groundwater containment, as an alternative to fully penetrating
sheet pile, slurry walls or soil crete columns, because the grout curtain can be placed at
specific intervals at depth. They can also be used with compact, unobtrusive drilling equipment
for secondary containment around leaky sumps, without taking them out of service.
A fast setting, expansive urethane grout can seal off high pressure or high velocity fluid
flows, and be followed by slower setting grout that penetrates smaller fissures. Such sequenced
applications have been used in earthen dam repair (where there is piping and settling) and
limestone bedrock (with karst solution channeling, and weathering joints).
Chemical Water Stops
Hydrophilic, hydrophobic polyurethane's, Acrylate and epoxy grouts can be used to fill water
entry paths, encapsulate reinforcement steel in concrete fractures, lift lines in Dams and failed
construction and expansion joints.
Polyurethanes and epoxies with a variety of hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties and
setting times can be injected to fill water entry paths, encapsulate reinforcing steel in
fractures, and seal parted construction and expansion joints.
Compaction Grouting
Compaction grouting is commonly used to tighten soil formations or to lift structures, vessels,
footers, piers, railroads tracks and roadways where settlement has occurred, Down hole ground up
compaction grouting is a very effective way of cutting off flowing waters in soil formations such
as earthen Dams or soil or along waterways. Injection of close cell expansive rigid chemical foams
to low slump cementitious grouts from ground up or ground down for densification or to create heave.
Compaction grouting is commonly used to tighten a soil formation, or to raise structures
that have settled. Injection of closed cell, expansive, rigid chemical grout, or of low-slump
ementitious grouts, from ground up or ground down, can increase density and load bearing strength,
or create heave.
Cementitious Grouting
Grouting with particulate, suspension or chemical grouts can be preformed in soils or around
structures. Injection of micro fine cements to mixing or Portland, soil, fly ash with chemical
grouts for injection to cut off high volume/ high pressure piping water.
Concrete Restoration
Architectural and structural restoration or coating of concrete for chemical attack.
Cementitious, chemical or mixed grouts can repair concrete by sealing cracks and protecting
reinforcing steel for architectural and structural restoration, or prevent chemical attack
by surface coatings.
Permeation Grouting
Permeation grouting is used in any formation that will allow fluid or gas migration. Injection
of low viscosity chemical (solution) or particulate (suspension) grouts into in¬situ soils will
lock up granular sand/silts in a formation or stop channeling. Injection can be performed with
either electrometric or rigid grouts. In rock formations grouts can be used for water cut off
for nfining or slope failure.
Permeation grouting is performed at less than lithostatic pressure, with low viscosity grout,
which then penetrates granular soil or fractured bedrock porosity. Some chemical grouts can be,
injected with viscosity less than 2 cP, with setting times adjustable up to 30 hours; when set,
they are elastic and resistant to most chemicals.
Permeation grouting is typically used to place groundwater cutoff walls through rows of driven
pipe. The cutoff is placed in the target zone, and does not have to penetrate all the way from
surface like a sheet pile, slurry wall or line of mixed sod crete columns. Permeation grouts can
also be used to stabilize ground against slope failure, and add compressive strength under foundations.
Subsurface Grouting
Grouting soil and rock masses extends the technology from construction to environmental
rehabilitation. Subsurface grouting is done for stability or hydraulic control, Geotechnical
applications have long been common in foundation work. Environmental uses have come into their
own in the last decade, as RBCA laws have allowed risk based corrective actions for subsurface
problems, and legitimized containment in place.
The principal advantage that grout curtains have over slurry wall and sheet pile barriers is
that grout can target just the zone of interest, rather than having to be set all the way to surface.
Further, grout can be injected by borings angled under structures, using compact equipment, allowing
installations around active plant.
Techniques in subsurface grouting include:
- Permeation grouting of natural granular or fracture porosity
- Creating grout lenses in hydraulic fractures
Low viscosity grout can be injected at low pressure to permeate granular material and
give cohesion to loose sand under a structure, or create a groundwater barrier. Grouts varying
from expansive, quick setting urethanes to fly ash can be used to plug natural joints. Multi stage
grouting can be used to plug joints and then matrix porosity in a fractured sandstone.
Pier setting in contaminated ground can be facilitated by pre grouting drilling locations to
gel groundwater, to prevent flow into the borehole without casing.
Grout lenses can be injected at pressure higher than the overburden load, to create a subsurface
cap to a contaminated zone and inhibit vertical migration of groundwater.
Jet Grouting
Jet Grouting injects grout at high pressure and velocity, destroying the soil structure and
mixing grout and soil to form a homogeneous mass.