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By Gordon King

The site of the First Quality Tissue plant is located on a previous paper production facility in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. The new development, which included the construction of a tissue machine building, baled building, converting building, various storage buildings and an electrical switchgear building, required the use of deep foundation systems to transfer loads below compressible fill and alluvial soils. Loading details provided by Jacobs Engineering, the project structural engineer, detailed braced steel frame buildings with typical column loads ranging from 75 to 150 kips and slab live loads of 250 to 300 psf. As an exception to this, however, the tissue machine and stock preparation building, which had a roof height ranging up to 85 feet, had column loads ranging up to 800 kips in addition to high dynamic loads. The First Tissue plant is located in a river valley in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. To evaluate the proposed site conditions and to formulate recommendations for the structure foundations, a geotechnical study was performed by the owner. Approximately 30 borings were advanced to bedrock, with wire-line coring performed in the tissue machine building. The borings disclosed a soil profile comprising of the following:

Jan 1, 2004

By Leonello Sciacca

Deepening of harbours has become a priority, necessary to the ongoing operation of the wharves in the face of deeper draft merchant vessels and cruise ships. It is now standard practice in many areas to provide for harbours to be dredged to significant depths below mean sea level, in the order of 12.00 m (39 ft) for existing berths and 15.00 m (49 ft) for new wharf construction. The Ravenna Port Authority initiated a project to deepen the harbour bottom at selected wharves to a depth of 12.00 m (39 ft). In preference to reconstruction of the wharves with longer and heavier sheet piling or other equally disruptive reconstruction, they identified the structural reinforcement of the existing wharves by means of deep underwater tie rods as a possible alternative cost-effective solution. Having defined the design concept, effort was concentrated on developing the required technology. A technique, already in use for the installation of tie rods by means of robotics, was identified as potentially suitable for underwater use. It was decided to carry out the fine tuning and the evolution of the technology for a marine environment of the robot unit and of the related remote control software that controls the installation of the tie rods. An experimental test site was set up to refine the drilling, installation, grouting, monitoring and testing of underwater tie rods. The purpose was to confirm the feasibility of the proposed solution and the reliability of these tie rods for use in the reinforcement and construction of wharves. The paper also discusses the theoretical and experimental study of underwater tie rods dealing with the theoretical analysis of the interaction between tie rod and soil, aimed at identifying the correlation between the forces of applied traction and the corresponding measured elongations. A series of tests were carried out with positive results, both at the operating load of 300 kN (67 kips) and at the nominal maximum load of 630 kN (142 kips). The tests were carried out on seven tie rods, of which three were installed at a depth of 5.00 m (16 ft), principally to test the reliability of the operating and remote control systems in the presence of a significant hydrostatic pressure, and four were placed at a depth of 8.00 m (26 ft) to check the load bearing capability of the tie rods positioned at the depth called for by the current project.

Jan 1, 2011

By A. R. Dover

The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is a 6.92 kilometer (4.3 mile) long major toll bridge span that crosses the northern San Francisco Bay in a highly seismically active region. Tutor-Saliba / Koch / Tidewater JV was contracted by Caltrans to conduct a comprehensive seismic retrofit. The JV provided geotechnical planning and quality control services as described herein, under normal oversight by Caltrans. Part of the robust foundation retrofit design included the installation of 26 new, large diameter piles, including eleven 3.81 m (12.5 ft) diameter, cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) marine piles that were drilled 9.15 m (30 ft) into the bedrock beneath the Bay, where the water depth ranged up to about 21.3 m (70 ft). These reinforced concrete-filled composite piles have a steel shell permanent casing from the bridge substructure pile cap through the water column and 30.5 to 39.6 meters (100 ft to 130 ft) of marine sediments to the top of rock. This paper discusses construction, inspection (ranging from the QA employed in the planning of the CIDH pile installation methods and equipment to the actual construction inspection required for the routine installation of the shafts), problems that were encountered during construction, and the solutions that were developed and implemented. Inspection, particularly with the usual difficulties in the marine environment, coupled with the difficult and complex bedrock conditions was particularly challenging, and ranged from non-destructive testing to "in-water, inshell" diver inspection. Similarly, the complexities of dealing with both the steel casing "riser" and the associated drilled shaft (rock socket) portion of these composite foundation elements created some unusual issues. The paper also presents important lessons learned from the project.

Jan 1, 2008

By Deepak B. Deshpande

This paper enumerates various difficulties encountered in the design and construction of deep caisson foundations for the Second Bassein Creek Bridge constructed over a creek with very difficult site conditions. The designer of the bridge had anticipated the problems associated with the construction of large diameter floating caissons and limited the maximum size of caisson to 12.5m O.D. facilitated by the means of Shock Transmission Units (STUs). This is the first road bridge in India where STUs are installed to distribute seismic horizontal loads among piers installed with fixed and unidirectional bearings. Besides the usual difficulties of tilts, shifts, and sinking in the construction of floating caissons, the paper also describes a novel methodology used to retrieve a circular 12.5m O.D. caisson which had been swept away during a storm and stuck into the creek bed.

Jan 1, 2002

By S. Hardy

The paper describes state of the art non-linear analyses of the pile groups that were employed during the raising of the 133m high triumphal arch which forms the centre piece of the new Wembley stadium in North London. The deformation behaviour of these piles groups was critical during the lifting process, due to the slendemess of the arch structure. The issue was made more critical by the high profile nature of the project. The results of Class A (Lambe (1973)) predictions of the pile group movements are compared with observed displacements and rotations which were accurately measured on site. To illustrate the importance of soil non-linearity on pile group behaviour, comparison is also made with pile group analyses which assume a linear soil stiffness.

Jan 1, 2006

By Lawrence P. Goldfarb

The City of Alexandria, Virginia, Public Safety Center (PSC) is a 64,000 square foot facility that houses the Police Department, Office of Sheriff and the Office of Magistrate. In addition, the center includes a detention facility for local and federal inmates, operated by the Sheriff. The PSC is composed of a 3-story building to the west and a 6-story building to the east constructed on a landfill in a wetland area in the flood plains of hunting Creek. The existing ground floor of the 3-story building is a floating slab-on-grade, with the interior and exterior columns, exterior walls and upper floors all supported on belled, drilled shafts. Portions of the floating first floor slab have undergone excessive settlement due to the apparent consolidation of the underlying organic soils. The magnitude of the settlements of the floating first floor slab is sufficient to require replacement of the slab and relocation of a portion of the facility. The rehabilitation was complex and required staged construction, consisting of constructing Auger Pressure Grouted (APG) Piles in low overhead conditions. This paper summarizes the geotechnical conditions that lead to the excessive settlement of the floor slab, the construction of the (APG) Pile foundations in low overhead conditions and the evaluation of potential future settlements.

Jan 1, 2009

By Bjöm Böhle

Top-down construction (or cut and cover construction) is providing important advantages when comparing with conventional construction techniques for commercial developments with deep basements, underground car parks or near surface infrastructure and traffic tunnels. Main features are substantially reduced restrictions to surface usage, avoidance of intervention with adjacent property, provision of rigid substructures resulting in minimal deforma­tions and settlements and, last but not least, accelerated construction pro­gramme. The present contribution illustrates the construction method in general and elaborates in detail on the special foundation works for a major urban commercial high rise development requiring a six level basement structure.

Jan 1, 2006

By Robert B. Bittner

The Sutong Bridge across the lower Yangtze River in China will have, when completed, the longest span (1,088 m) and the highest towers (306 m) of any cable stayed span in the world. The foundations for this record setting span will also be record setting. They are located in water depths exceeding 30 m with maximum flows exceeding 3 m/sec. The soil at the site of the main pylons consists of layers of silty sands and silty clays extending to bed rock at 270 m below river elevation. This paper describes the innovative methods used by the team of foundation designers and constructors to support this record setting bridge at this very challenging site. This paper covers three specific topics related to the foundations of the Sutong Bridge: ? Design and construction of the 131 drilled shaft (2.8/2.5 m diameter and 114/117 m long) under each of the two main pylons, ? Design and construction of the scour protection for the two main pylons, ? Construction methods used to construct the waterline pile caps (113.8 m by 48.1 m by 13.3 m deep) under each pylon.

Jan 1, 2005

By Sikko Doornbos

For the extension of the Paper Mill of Parenco in Renkum, the Netherlands, the application of a pile foundation was required. The demands for this pile foundation were very explicit a vibration free and soil displacing pile systems with low allowable settlement. Another important aspect was the total amount of piles (originally over 1600 auger piles) which had to be executed within 3 months, in very difficult and unhomogeneous soil. Based upon these conditions the Tubex Grout Injection Pile was chosen to be used for this project. This system involves the drilling of a steel tube with a conical pile shoe while grout is injected at the point simultaneously, creating a mixed-in-place layer around the tube. INTRODUCTION After extensive marketing, the board of directors of Parenco, decided to a large extension of the production capacity of its paper mill by building a new production building called Paper Mill 1 or PM-1. The new PM-1 extension had to be constructed beside the existing PM-2 because of limited terrain. The site is located right between the Rhine river and Renkum, approximately 15 kilometers (10 miles) west from Arnhem (see figure 1). The construction involved the building of the PM-1 extension of approximately 250 meters (820 ft.) long by 40-60 metres wide (130-200 ft.). The main structure was to be constructed of precast concrete beams and columns.

Jan 1, 1987

By Harald Ludwig

In 2002, excavation support work commenced on the Capitol Visitor Center project located adjacent to the nation?s Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The outlying work (Slurry Wall Work at Main Site is not discussed) consisted of providing excavation support for a new truck tunnel approximately 1900 feet long up to 50 feet deep as well as support for the new underground auditorium and Library of Congress tunnel. The excavation support consisted of a combination of conventional drilled in soldier beams, lagging, tiebacks and braces; intricate underpinning inside the existing Capitol building; support of an existing Russell Tunnel; soil nailing and tiebacks underneath the existing Russell Tunnel; two temporary bridges; and a deep soil mixed wall with lateral support provided by braces. As part of an on-going research program, some of these braces were instrumented with strain gauges. The deep soil mixed wall was approximately 300 feet long and 65 feet deep on either side of the truck tunnel. Approximately 34,000 sf of deep soil mixed wall, 90,000 sf of conventional excavation support, 200 braces, and 320 tiebacks were installed. This paper describes the large scope and breadth of the project that required a variety of excavation support techniques. A few of the challenges in designing and installing the support of excavation are discussed. This paper also presents the results of the instrumentation program conducted on the deep soil mixed wall, which stood open for more than a year.

Jan 1, 2006

By Colin Curtis

In recent years, Manchester Airport has undergone expansion including the construction of a second runway, a new terminal building (Terminal 3) and extensions to the existing Terminal 1. Manchester is Britains third largest airport and ranked 20th in the world for international traffic. Arup (Manchester) was engaged as consulting engineer in a multi-disciplinary role for the terminal works. Part of this was a geotechnical commission including site investigation and pile design followed by supervision. This paper reviews the piling for the old, new and terminal extensions. In total, five pile types have been utilised over the years. The original 1950's Terminal 1 was founded on driven cast in situ piles, with a later 1970's extension utilising rotary augured piles. The recent piling comprised continuous flight auger piles (CFA), driven steel tube and tripod bored; the latter in areas of restricted access or low headroom. The ground conditions are Made Ground over thin Alluvial and Glacial drift, in turn, over a generally weak to moderately weak gypsiferous mudstone. All the piles were socketed into the mudstone. In terms of the new CFA piles, quality control using the instrumentation monitoring was problematical, but a substantial static load and integrity test programme resolved pile performance. Part of the work is matching new pile performance with previously installed piles and the continued use of older piles with new loads. Research provided some data on the older piles, including some static load test data, which enabled back analyses of their design and likely behaviour. Differences in design methods, installation techniques and pile behaviour based on load tests will be discussed.

Jan 1, 2001

By Kazimierz Gwizdala

In the paper the method for estimation of settlement of vertically loaded piles in a group is presented. The method is generally based on the hybrid procedure with non-linear solution for single piles and with interaction between them for the low-strain shear modulus. Some attention is paid to the influence of deformation and strength parameters used in calculations. The applied model is verified in the framework of the research programme carried out recently in the Geotechnical Department of Gdansk Technical University. It concerns monitoring and analysing the settlements of the existing structures on piles. A comparison of calculation and measurements results for two tested buildings is presented as an example.

Jan 1, 2002

By W. Tom Witherspoon

Many Engineers are skeptical and cautious about skin friction factors for the portion of drilled piers where temporary casing is used. This has led Texas engineers in many cases to eliminate skin friction values for the cased section, which necessitates deepening the drilled shaft to compensate for the loss in the cased section. This paper has provided field test data that supports inclusion of skin friction in the temporarily cased hole section as a contributing factor in total axial capacity as comparable to open hole shafts of the same diameter. Reasons for the resultant friction values are provided including; remolding of the cased clay section and the increased pier circumference necessitated by the oversized casing required for adherence to the engineers shaft diameter specification.

Jan 1, 2009

By José Carlos do Amaral, Marcelo Groszownik, Jorge Beim

"Initiated in 2008, the project of this 1800 km long Electrical Transmission Line is a job of extreme technical complexity, crossing regions of major forests and rivers. When ready, it will allow the large Brazilian states of Amazonas, Amapá and Pará to use the energy from hydroelectric plants, thus eliminating the need for the use of diesel fuel thermal plants, with their much larger environmental footprint. Due to its extraordinary characteristics, the Green Peace and the Discovery Channel constantly visited the job. The part between the Amazon and the Xingu rivers started in 2012, and encompassed about 100 transmission towers with up to 150 m height, through a region known as “Alagados”. This region exhibits a 1.5 m water level during the rainy season, and soaked ground the rest of the year. Navigation of regular vessels is impossible during the flood season, when a dense vegetation called “bulhado” fills the riverbed, and vehicle traffic is impossible during the dry season, due to the extremely low surface soil resistance. Great logistical and technical difficulties were encountered for driving and determining the capacity of the piles. New systems had to be developed for driving the piles, with the simultaneous use of 15 small piling rigs. The final penetration, total number of hammer blows during driving, plus Dynamic and Static Load Tests were used for determining the driving and acceptance criteria.The geographical challenge and initial conditionsThis paper describes the execution of foundations for a 500 kV Electrical Transmission Line in a region that becomes flooded during the rainy season and heavily muddy during the dry season. This is the monsoon climate, typical of the equatorial region of Brazil, where there is a rainy season lasting for about half the year, followed by a very dry season. The temperature varies very little throughout the year, due to the proximity to the equator. The locals call the rainy season “winter” and the dry season “summer”.The most important part of the so-called “Alagados” region is situated inside an Environmental Extractive Reserve (RESEX) called “Verde para Sempre” (Forever Green), created in 2003. This is one of the largest environmental reserves in Brazil. It is an area controlled by the Brazilian Environmental Control Department, the Chico Mendes Institute (ICMBio). The environment control parameters are very strict.No deep foundation had ever been executed before along the “Alagados” region. The main challenge faced on this job, however, was working in a place where self-propelling vessels or land vehicles and equipment cannot be used. During the rainy season there is a dense and intricate vegetation called “bulhado”, which prevents the movement of outboard motor boats with propellers going deeper than 50 cm. In the dry season, the heavy mud prevents the movement of foundation equipment, excavators, trucks and other machinery."

Jan 1, 2015

By Ketan H. Trivedi

This paper describes the method of analyses used for the design of temporary and permanent Secant Pile Walls, describes various aspects of construction including, guide walls, sequence of pile installation, plan alignment and verticality tolerance, methods of drilling (auger, wash boring, cased and open holes), lateral bracing for secant piles, cutting of keys in secant pile walls for the connection of permanent floor slabs, sealing of water leaks and waterproofing. The paper concludes with a brief case history of a secant pile wall project recently constructed in New York City.

Jan 1, 2006

By Frederick W. Slack

This paper will discuss the inherent value engineering associated with the design and construction of approximately 184,000 SF of anchored tieback wall, installed as part of the widening and drainage improvements for KY9 in Campbell County, Kentucky. The total project is 2.2 miles in length. The anchored walls, excavation grading and drainage total to a complete project cost of $28.4 million. This is one of the largest design-build projects undertaken by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It also features another first for the Transportation Cabinet - the general contractor is responsible for quality control/quality assurance. The project is located just south of Cincinnati, OH and is situated along the east bank of the Licking River. The slopes along this stretch of the river have had a long history of movement and instability. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet advertised the anchored wall portion of this project to be designed and constructed by pre-approved specialty contractors. The Transportation Cabinet provided the basic design parameters to each specialty contractor. Aspects to be discussed include the site and project history, previous attempts at slope stabilization along existing KY9, the technical proposal and bidding process, and the actual design and construction.

Jan 1, 2003

By Heinrich Majewski, Rob Jameson

"Careful review of site conditions and constraints is essential to select the appropriate shoring system for each project. Key evaluation criteria include the geotechnical profile, groundwater and environmental conditions, adjacent buildings and utilities, schedule and any project specific access or other constraints. Typical earth retention schemes range from rock or soil nail walls, through conventional anchored pile and lagging walls to deep internally braced cut-off systems. The Owner’s design team will often develop the conceptual approach under their design studies, and this is refined with Contractor input through Design-Build or Design-Bid-Build procurement. In downtown San Francisco, underground construction must accommodate a unique combination of variable fill, soil, rock and groundwater conditions, potential for severe seismic loadings, and constrained sites within a dense urban environment. The quarter square mile of San Francisco’s Transbay and Rincon Hill districts has seen repeated cycles of development, destruction and re-building through earthquakes and the economy, and has been intensely redeveloped over the last decade. Over 50 acres of this land has been reclaimed from the Bay since the Gold Rush and within 3 city blocks the bedrock slopes from over 250 FT depth below the fills up to outcrops over 100 FT above sea level. A series of project examples from within this small area illustrate how varied shoring systems have accommodated the highly variable subsurface conditions while offering best value in terms of cost, schedule and appropriate protection of adjacent facilities.INTRODUCTIONA walk of 3 blocks from Rincon Hill on San Francisco’s Harrison Street, north through the Transbay area to Mission Street will traverse an urban zone which has been reinvented twice within its 150 year history in response to major seismic events. This small area highlights the range of subsurface conditions and urban environments which are encountered and accommodated in shoring schemes throughout the city. This route down the north side of Rincon Hill overlies a steep bedrock slope, outcropping over 100 FT above sea level at its south end and dropping to over 250 FT below sea level at Mission Street. A complex overburden soil profile, shaped by seismic activity and changing sea-levels has created layered soils ranging from soft estuary muds, dense sandy strata and deep clay layers, in turn topped with urban fill, frequently contaminated with debris from the Great 1906 earthquake. This route runs parallel to, and 350 yards inland of, the San Francisco shoreline resulting in groundwater elevation close to sea level with almost limitless recharge within granular layers. On the higher slopes of Rincon Hill, groundwater is typically observed flowing on top of and periodically within the fractured bedrock formation. The Transbay and Rincon areas were developed early in the Gold Rush era of San Francisco. After destruction in the 1906 earthquake and fire, they became a transit gateway into the city throughout the 20th Century. Demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway in response to earthquake damage and social pressure has opened this large area to redevelopment within the last 20 years, creating a new commercial and residential hub for the city. In its latest wave of building, planners are developing taller structures with deeper basements, in turn creating new construction challenges. Selection of shoring systems appropriate for these developments requires detailed evaluation. The process must address both the rapid spatial changes in subsurface conditions and the constraints surrounding, and specific to, each site in order to define shoring performance requirements. This paper presents an overview of the subsurface conditions and land use development of the Transbay and Rincon Hill areas, with examples of the shoring systems selected to meet site-specific conditions and requirements. The projects cited range from soil nail wall"

Jan 1, 2017

By Mark DeSalvatore

Currently, at Caltrans, the Office of Structure Design is carrying out an extensive seismic retrofit program involving transportation structures throughout California. The goal of the retrofit program has been to upgrade existing transportation structures to meet the present seismic codes and anticipated loads that are generated during a seismic event Part of the retrofit program involves retrofitting existing structure foundations when required. To determine if the foundations of a specific structure need to be retrofitted, an engineering analysis of the existing foundations has to be done. If the engineering analysis of the structure foundations determines that the foundations will not meet the load carrying demands required by the structural engineer, the existing foundations are then retrofitted. The retrofit projects that require foundation modifications can be separated into two general cases. The first case comprises structures where the original designs will not meet the demands of the present seismic design code. In this case, the existing foundations are not capable of providing the load capacities the current seismic code requires. The second case consists of structures where the retrofitting of the superstructure will increase the required load carrying capacity of the existing foundations during a seismic event In this case, the anticipated load demands on the existing foundations are greater than the foundations are capable of providing. For either of the cases listed above, the present strategy for increasing the capacity of the existing structure foundation consists of installing tiedown anchors or large capacity piles to provide the required resistance to seisraically induced loads.

Jan 1, 1993

By Anjana C. P, K. Ranga Swamy

The hilly regions of Kerala are severely affected by excess rainfall, causing tremendous damage due to landslides and slope failures. It is necessary to strengthen the existing slope profiles to prevent such disasters and avoid their risk to human lives and civil infrastructures. This paper studies the effect of micro pile to reinforce the slopes in Idukki district of Kerala, where slope failures are frequent. Three-dimensional slope stability analysis is carried out on slopes from the Idukki to obtain safety factor values using the MIDAS GTS NX program. The slope is fully saturated herein by taking the model's piezometric surface at the ground level to simulate high rainfall intensity. The critical slopes are then modelled with micro piles to analyze their effectiveness in improving the stability under static conditions. Different micro pile arrangements are considered, and a series of slope stability analyses have been carried out to obtain the optimum configuration with the required safety factor. The FOS values increased by more than 50% with micro piles for all the slopes. The optimum micro pile arrangement obtained for each slope shows that micro pile distribution between the toe and middle of the slope is an effective location for reinforcing slopes.

Sep 1, 2022

By B. Soundara, A. Suganya, S. Selvakumar

"Expansive soils have a potential for shrinkage or swelling under changing moisture content. Attempts were made to reduce the swelling potential of expansive soils with conventional additives such as lime, cement, etc. and non-conventional additives such as industrial wastes. In this research an attempt is made to study the feasibility of using granulated waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) as an additive to expansive soil to control swelling. To investigate the effect of mixing waste EPS granules with expansive clays, three expansive soils with different plasticity index were manufactured in the laboratory by mixing sand with sodium bentonite of various proportions. A series of standard proctor test, California bearing ratio (CBR) test, one dimensional free swell and swell pressure tests were performed on these soils. Test results show that the inclusion of EPS granules significantly reduces the percent swell and swelling pressure when subjected to one-dimensional free swell conditions. The dry density and CBR values decrease with increase in EPS content and increased plasticity of the soil.INTRODUCTIONExpansive soils cover an area of about 257 Million hectares on the earth’s surface (Dudal et al. 1965). In India, the area covered by expansive soils is nearly 20 percent of the total area (Mohan et al. 1961). Movement is usually in an uneven pattern and of such a magnitude as to cause extensive damage to various structures, especially lightly loaded structures or pavements (Chen 1975). Stabilization is one of the methods of treating the expansive soils to make them fit for civil engineering purposes. The variety of stabilizers may be broadly divided into three groups (Petry et al. 2002): (a) traditional stabilizers (lime, cement etc.), (b) by-product stabilizers (fly ash, quarry dust, phosphor-gypsum, slag etc.) and (c) non-traditional stabilizers (sulfonated oils, potassium compounds, polymer, enzymes, ammonium chlorides etc.). Apart from these, a number of other ground improvement techniques such as sand cushion technique (Satyanarayana 1966); cohesive nonswelling (CNS) layer technique (Katti 1978) were adopted for the stabilization of expansive soils. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a polymeric foam normally available in white colour and is a wellknown packaging material. The geotechnical specialists recognize EPS as the most commonly used geofoam material, a type of cellular geosynthetic which has been in consistent use in geotechnical applications since the early 1960s (Horvath 1995). EPS has very low thermal conductivity and nearly 98% of the volume is air (Lye et al. 2002). EPS has many exceptional properties such as being lightweight, thermal insulating, shock-absorbing and having low-water pick-up, etc. EPS find its applications in geotechnical engineering as light weight fills in the form of blocks (Refsdal 1985, Karpurapu et al. 1992, Zou 2001, Ikizler et al. 2008). EPS can be used as compressible inclusion and as a vibration damper (Horvath, 1994&1995). EPS is also used in lightweight concrete owing to its lightweight, excellent heat preservation and sound insulation properties (Ravindrarajah et al. 1994; Miledet al. 2004 and Babu et al. 2005). Waste EPS granules have been used in with horticultural soils to improve a number of soil characteristics like improving drainage, lightening heavy soils and improving water uptake capacity of soils (Scheirs 1998). Furthermore, it was also used as sub-base materials for pavements and railway track beds (Hanna 1978; Duskov1996), construction materials for floating marine structures and fenders in offshore oil platforms (Bagon et al. 1976), sea beds and sea fences; as an energy absorbing material for buried military structures, (Perry et al. 1991)."

Jan 1, 2017