Processes Involved in the Formation and Performance of Self-Hardening Slurry Walls: Santa Clara-a-Velha Monastery Cutoff Wall
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 7
Abstract
Several different phenomena are involved in the formation and performance of self-hardening slurry walls, including slurry contamination by soil, penetration of slurry into the ground, confining with the trench, filtration, sedimentation, consolidation, and chemical reactions between the slurry constituents. To evaluate the relative influence of these phenomena, a case study is analyzed—the cutoff wall of Santa Clara-a-Velha Monastery, built in 2001–2002. The performance of this wall is related to the in situ phenomena through data obtained during construction and from a site investigation conducted in 2011. An extensive laboratorial program was performed on samples cored from the wall and on laboratory-made samples. It was found that consolidation was the major contributor to the significant settlement of the wall that occurred after trench excavation, whereas filtration and sedimentation made only a secondary contribution. Contamination by sand only interfered with the physical properties and compressibility of the slurry. The unusual hydromechanical behavior of the wall material, when compared with soils, was attributed to the combined effect of consolidation, cement hydration, and pozzolanic reactions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
We express our gratitude to the Regional Directorate of Culture (DRCC), in the person of Dr. Raul Côrte-Real, and to Teixeira Duarte Company, in the person of Eng. Ivo Rosa, who, along with LNEC, signed a tripartite protocol that has made this research feasible.
References
AFNOR (Association Française de Normalization). (2000). “Essai d’eau Lefranc.”, Paris.
Akbulut, S., and Saglamer, A. (2002). “Estimating the groutability of granular soils: A new approach.” Tunnel. Undergroundspace Technol., 17(4), 371–380.
API (American Petroleum Institute). (1985). “Recommended practice: Standard procedure for field testing drilling fluids.”, Dallas.
Axtell, P. J., Stark, T. D., and Dillon, J. C. (2009). “Strength differences between clam-shell and long-reach excavator constructed cement-bentonite self-hardening slurry walls.” Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Been, K. and Sills, G. C. (1981). “Self-weight consolidation of soft soils: An experimental and theoretical study.” Géotechnique, 31(4), 519–535.
Boyes, R. (1975). Structural and cut-off diaphragm walls, Applied Science Publishers, London.
Burnwell, E. B. (1958). “Cement and clay grouting of foundations: Practice of the Corps of Engineers.” Soil Mech. Found. Div., 84(1), 1–22.
Caenn, R., Darley, H. C., and Gray, J. R. (2011). “The filtration properties of drilling fluids.” Composition and properties of drilling and completion fluids, 6th Ed., Gulf Professional, Waltham, MA, 271–306.
Caron, C. (1972). “Pérennité des systèmes argile-ciment ou bentonite-ciment dans leurs divers types d’application.” Construction, 27(10), 291–296.
Caron, C. (1973). “Un nouveau style de perforation: La boue autodurcissable.” Annales de l’Institut Technique des Bâtiments du Bureau des Travaux Publics, 311, 1–39.
Carreto, J. (2014). “Self-hardening slurry walls. A contribution for design, quality control and performance monitoring.” Ph.D. dissertation, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal.
Carreto, J., Caldeira, L., and Maranha das Neves, E. (2015). “Hydromechanical characterization of cement-bentonite slurries in the context of cut-off wall applications.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 04015093.
Clayton, C. R., Matthews, M. C., and Simons, N. E. (1995). “Undisturbed sampling techniques.” Site investigation, 2nd Ed., Blackwell Science, Cambridge, U.K., 1–37.
Draganovic, A. (2009). “Bleeding and filtration of cement-based grout.” Ph.D. dissertation, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Fisher, M., Andromalos, K., and Johnson, D. (2005). “Construction of a self-hardening slurry cutoff wall at Taylorsville dam, Ohio.” Proc., 25th USSD Annual Meeting and Conf., U.S. Society on Dams, Denver, 105–112.
Holdich, R. (2002). “Hindered systems and rheology.” Fundamentals of particle technology, Midland Information Technology and Publishing, Leicestershire, U.K., 55–66.
Hughes, R. (2009). “Practical rheology.” Colloid science: Principle methods and applications, Blackwell, Oxford, U.K., 201–227.
ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers). (1999). Specification for the construction of slurry trench cut-off walls as barriers to pollution migration, Thomas Telford, London.
Jefferis, S. A. (2012). “Cement-bentonite slurry systems.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Grouting and Deep Mixing, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Jefferis, S. A. (1981). “Bentonite-cement slurries for hydraulic cut-offs.” Proc., 10th Int. Conf. of Soil Mechanicsand Foundation Engineering, Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 435–440.
Joshi, K., Kechavarzi, C., Sutherland, K., Ng, M. Y., Soga, K., and Tedd, P. (2010). “Laboratory and in situ tests for long-term hydraulic conductivity of a cement-bentonite cutoff wall.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 562–572.
Macedo, F. P. (1997). “Valor patrimonial do Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha de Coimbra.” Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (IPPAR), Lisboa, Portugal (in Portuguese).
McRoberts, E. C., and Nixon, J. F. (1976). “A theory of soil sedimentation.” Can. Geotech. J., 13(3), 294–310.
Meggyes, T., Holzlohner, U., and August, H. (1998). “A multidisciplinary approach to improving the safety and durability of landfill barriers.” Green 2: Contaminated and derelict land, Thomas Telford, London, 413–420.
Opdyke, S., and Evans, J. (2005). “Slag-cement-bentonite slurry walls.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 673–681.
Ryan, C. R., and Day, S. (1986). “Performance evaluation of cement-bentonite slurry wall mix design.” Proc., National Conf. Hazardous Wastes, Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Materials Control Research Institute, Washington, DC.
Senis, D., Talini, L., and Allain, C. (2001). “Settling in aggregating colloidal suspensions.” Oil Gas Sci. Technol. Rev., 56(2), 153–159.
Swamee, P. K., and Aggarwal, N. (2011). “Explicit equations for laminar flow of Bingham plastic fluids.” J. Pet. Sci. Eng., 76(3–4), 178–184.
Vie, R., Azema, N., Quantin, J. C., Touraud, E., and Fouletier, M. (2007). “Study of suspension settling: An approach to determine suspension classification and particle interactions.” Colloids Surf. A, 298(3), 192–200.
Xanthakos, P., Abramson, L., and Bruce, D. (1994). “Vertical screens.” Ground control and improvement, Wiley, New York, 778–808.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 7 • July 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 15, 2014
Accepted: Dec 7, 2015
Published online: Mar 8, 2016
Published in print: Jul 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 8, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.