A Case History of Ground Treatment with Jet Grouting against Liquefaction, for a Cigarette Factory in Turkey

This case study reports the application of jet grouting as the ground treatment method for the construction of a cigarette factory in Tire Organized Industrial Zone located at the west of Turkey. Total treatment area covers approximately 20000 m² and designed to house a factory building, a two-storey administration building and a utilities building. The project is carried out according to international standards (mainly British) following quality control and quality assurance schemes. The site situated within the Kucuk Menderes alluvial plain, 70 km south-east of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir and classified as being within the 1^st Degree Earthquake Zone (greatest risk category). Stratigraphy of the site was shown to comprise uncontrolled fill overlying alluvial deposits, predominantly micaceous silt with interbedded sandy gravels and clays, overlying colluvial deposits, comprising stiff sandy clays, draped over the steeply dipping bedrock. Alluvial deposit thickness reaches a maximum of 12 m and the groundwater lies at a depth of 4.7 m, below the base of the fill. The maximum design loading for individual factory columns was too large for shallow foundations and hence deep bored pile foundations are implemented for the factory building. However, the slab-on-grades of the factory building and some auxiliary buildings are supported only on jet grout columns. The liquefaction risk beneath all buildings is eliminated by systematic jet grouting design based on specific area ratio reaching down to colluvium layer.