Evaluation of soil improvement methods applied for shallow depth in injection and compaction principles

In this study, processes required to improvement or strengthen the soil in an area where the bearing capacity of the soil is weak or insufficient are explained for a designed project. In this scope, in three locations in Batman University West Raman Campus, in five areas for each of the three locations; a) geotechnical properties of the soil before any strengthening process, b) geotechnical properties of soil after the improvement of each of the four soil strengthening processes are investigated. Implemented soil improvement processes are i) Cement grouting, ii) Lime injection, iii) Epoxy injection and iv) Drop weight (dynamic compaction). Before the strengthening processes, natural geotechnical properties of soil are determined by in-situ microtremor measurements and laboratory experiments. These first values obtained are accepted as the original (reference) properties of the soil. Four different soil improvement methods are implemented of which improvements are explained in the literature (studies like reports, articles, etc.). After these improvement processes, the soil specimens have waited for 28 days. In this time interval, it is accepted that the fluid (material) injected in the soil is solidified. Soil specimens are collected to Shelby tubes by employing the core drilling method. To determine the geotechnical properties of the collected soil specimens, laboratory experiments are conducted. The parameters obtained from these experiments are used to calculate the change in the bearing capacity of the soil. Again, microtremor measurements have been made in the areas where soil improvement methods implemented. Depending on the strengthening processes, the changes in the oscillation period of the soil are calculated. After all processes are completed, the bearing capacity and the oscillation period values of the soil that are determined after the implementation of enhancement processes are compared with the bearing capacity and the oscillation period values of the original soil. In this way, whether the enhancement process had any contribution to the soil is investigated. With the help of the obtained information, it is observed that the soil enhancement process has increased the bearing capacity of the soil by around 10-25%. The oscillation period of the soil has been reduced; it is accepted that this reduction is due to the stiffening in the soil and the soil improvement has occurred.