Current State of Practice of the Rigid Inclusion Ground Improvement Technique
The Ground Improvement Journal is organising a themed issue on “Current State of Practice of the Rigid Inclusion Ground Improvement Technique”
Ground Improvement using rigid inclusions was originally developed in the 1990’s and has seen increasing application particularly over the last 10-15 years throughout Europe and Internationally, in ground conditions where traditionally deep foundation piles or piled rafts have been used. Enhancement of bearing capacity and settlement reduction are achieved through reinforcement of weak soil layers using rigid inclusions and to overcome problems of lateral confinement.
The rigid inclusion concept generally implies that the inclusions (typically cementitious) are not structurally connected to the supported structure. There is a well-compacted, granular load transfer platform (LTP) between the inclusions and structural foundation, raft or slab, to distribute loads between the columns and in-situ ground. Developments in 3D numerical modelling of the rigid inclusion foundation system has facilitated advancements in the design and analysis, but requires further development of field measured parameters to inform the design process.
The thematic issue will concentrate on current state of practice of rigid inclusions, through field case studies and methods of analysis. We invite contributions covering the following topics:
• Rigid Inclusion design principles (including finite element and finite difference methods)
• Load transfer mechanisms
• Monitoring and installation effects
• Common applications, behaviour and performance (supported by case histories)
• Specifications and testing
• Developments or advances in field measured parameters, such as the pressuremeter limit
pressure and deformation modulus, to inform design parameter input
Submission information
Please submit your abstract to Colin Serridge ([email protected]) by 14th April 2025. Authors will then be invited to submit their full paper by 30 July 2025 at https://ice-review.rivervalley.io/journal/jgrim.