The Soil Cement Pile – an Environment- Friendly Foundation Alternative for Construction Works

The soil cement pile (CSP) has many advantages in soil treatment such as reduction of foundation settlement, improvement of soft soil, increase in load capacity for ground works, use of local soil, etc. For sandy soil areas in Danang city and the neighbouring ones with similar geological conditions, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the soil cement pile is from 10 to 20 times higher than that of clay with the same amount cement added. The load bearing capacity from static compression tests of single piles ranges from 800kN to 1500kN. This type of piles can be used to bear the foundations of construction works as a substitute for the traditional type of piles like concrete piles, pre-stressed pipe piles, bored piles under suitable conditions of geology and workload. The employment of soil cement piles does not entail sand, crushed rock, steel, bentonite, thereby reducing the amount of waste soil and energy used in the manufacture of materials, thus helping to lessen environmental pollution. This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the strength of soil cement pile materials and the efficiency of their application in some practical works in Danang and Quangnam