GROUND IMPROVEMENT BY JET GROUTING TECHNIQUE FOR FOUNDATIONS OF A NATURAL GAS

COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT IN TURKEY

Alp Gokalp, MSc. C.E., Project Manager, Kasktas A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Rasin Duzceer, MSc. C.E., Technical Manager, Kasktas A.S., Istanbul, Turkey

The aim of this article is to present an application of jet grouting technique in stiff clays for
foundations of the natural gas combined cycle power plant, under construction in Aliaga,
Turkey. The plant site is in the Aegean coastal region and 60 km north of Izmir. The
foundation soil is composed of quaternary alluviums on top and tuff base rock. The thickness
of the alluvium varies between 16 m to 30 m. Groundwater was observed 2.5 m below the
ground level. At the design stage, settlement analyses were carried out for the various
buildings and facilities in the power plant. Based on the analyses, it was predicted that total
and differential settlements are not tolerable, thus jet grouting is implemented as a ground
improvement under the majority of the foundations of the power plant. This paper also
describes the selection of jet grouting technique, application type and details of the process
parameters such as injection pressure, number and size of nozzles, lifting and rotation speeds.
Prior to the commencement of the jet grouting works, a number of preliminary parameter tests
and preliminary pull-out tests were carried out throughout the site in order to define and verify
the jet grouting process parameters to achieve the required diameter of 600 mm and minimum
jet grout strength of 3.2 MPa. Moreover as part of the comprehensive quality control and
quality assurance program pursued in the project, a number of tests; such as continuous
coring, integrity testing, installation of confirmatory jet grout columns, were carried out during
the production of jet grout columns.

INTRODUCTION
This paper presents one of the largest Jet grouting
application for the foundations of the natural gas
combined cycle power plant, under construction in
Aliaga, Turkey.
The power plant site is located near the town of Aliaga,
in the Aegean coastal region and 60 km north of Izmir.
The site is on a small plain surrounded by low hills. Jet
grout columns were used as a ground improvement
under the majority of the foundations. These include the
power block structures, switchyard and transformers,
demineralized water tanks, and selected footings in the
water treatment area, cooling towers, plus several
associated offices and services. Each power block
consists of stacks, combustion turbines, steam turbines,
transformers, an electric building and a water tank.
Power plant lay out plan is presented in Figure 1.
Construction and operation of the 1523 MW natural gas
combined cycle power plant is one of the most important
build and operate type project in Turkey. The owner is
InterGen-Enka and the main contractor of the project is
Bechtel-Enka Joint Venture. The geotechnical
subcontractor for site investigations and jet grouting is
Kasktas A.S, The geotechnical designer was Enar
Muhendislik Mimarlik Danismanlik Ltd. (Sa8lamer et. al.
2001).
At the design stage, settlement analyses were carried
out for the various buildings and facilities in the power
plant. Based on the analyses, it was predicted that total
and differential settlements are not tolerable, thus jet
grouting is implemented as a ground improvement under
the majority of the foundations of the power plant in
order to limit settlement and increase the bearing
capacity of the soils.
The details of the operational parameters of the jet
grouting technique such as injection pressure, number
and size of nozzles, lifting and rotation speeds and the
pursued quality control program during the installations
are also described.
SUBSOIL CONDITIONS AND GEOLOGY
Aliaga region is situated at the coastal part of Bak:rcay
and Gediz grabens at the western Aegean. Aegean
region of Anatolia consists of a rise of metamorphic
complex surrounded mostly Mesozoic aged marine
foundations and Tertiary volcano sedimentary rock units.
The plant site is situated at mid of Foca Depression and
is considered as a former lagoon, filled by fine grained
lacustrine, alluvial and colluvial sediments, connected to
Nemrut Bay (Sa8lamer 2000).
During the design phase, a total of thirty-four boreholes,
with regular SPTs, and twenty-seven CPTs were
carried out .
There are mainly two layers in the soil profile, quaternary
alluviums on top and tuff base rock. The thickness of the
alluvium varies between 16 m to 30 m. Groundwater was
observed 2.5 m below the ground level. Soil layers
encountered at the site are given below.
Figure 1 Site Plan
- Top Soil (Made Ground)
- Layer 1 : Alluvium: Dark gray, light brown-brown
in color, contains gravels of limestone or tuff in
the clay matrix. Upper layers of clay attain very
stiff consistency with SPT blow counts in the
range N=13-16.
- Layer 2 : Tuff Formation: It is green or grayish
black colored. Upper layers are weathered and
exhibit over-consolidated clay properties. Based
on the RQD values it may be classified as very
poor rock.
Generalized soil profile and geotechnical properties of
clay and sand layers for East Cooling lower, Heat
Recycle Steam Generators (HRSG) 1, HRSG 2,
HRSG 4, Demineralized Water Storage Tank,
Fire/Filtered Storage Tank and Ware House Building
are given in Figure 2.
FOUNDATION DESIGN
The facilities to be placed in the Gzmir Alia8a Power Plant
are shown in Figure 1. Dimensions and foundation
depths of some of these facilities are given in Table 1.

-12.00
Light Brown Gravelly CLAY
+7.50~+8.00
-3.00
+9.50
+8.50
TOP SOIL
Clayey Gravelly SAND Medium Dense
= 10.0 MPa ,
Brown Gravelly Sandy CLAY Very Stiff
Es
Brown Slightly Gravelly Sandy CLAY
= 13-16
= 1.20-1.40 MPa
N
qc
GWL
-0.50
-9.00
Stiff
Mc
Cu
= 5.0 MPa
= 50 kPa
n = 18 kN/m
3
= 25 , N = 6.0 MPa , qc = 34
= 18 kN/m n
3
= 2.90 MPa
= 26
qc
N = 110 kPa
= 12.0 MPa
= 19 kN/m n
Cu
Mc
3
Clayey SAND and GRAVEL Dense-Very Dense
= 15.0 - 20.0 MPa Es
= 30 - 45 N
= 20 kN/m n

3
= 40
Hard, Weathered TUFF
> 40 N
= 20.0 MPa Mc
= 200 kPa Cu
= 20 kN/m n
3
Figure 2. Generalized Soil Profile and Geotechnical
Properties of soil layers for East Cooling Tower,
HRSG 1, HRSG 2 and HRSG 4
Table 1 Dimensions and depth of foundations of Power
Plant Facilities

Structure Length
(m)
Width
(m)
Df (m)
Cooling Towers 113.4 30.60 0.45
Heat Recycle Steam Generator 39.50 17.00 2.10
Combustion Turbines 35.00 17.00 1.35
Steam Turbines 40.00 20.00 2.85
Main Set-up Transformer 13.00 10.00 2.35
Auxiliary Transformer 13.10
8.70
10.00
8.00
2.35
1.05
Waste Neut. Tank D= 8.00 D= 8.00 1.00
Fire Water Storage Tank D=12.20 D=12.20 1.00
Demin. Water Storage Tank D= 9.15 D= 9.15 1.00
All of the facilities to be built within the Alia8a Power
Plant will have foundations resting on stiff gravelly clay
layers. The average allowable bearing capacity for the
shallow foundations of the facilities was calculated as
qall = 100 kPa.
Foundations of the facilities to be constructed will exert
soil pressures between 50 kPa and 127,5 kPa. The base
pressure transferred from the Fire/Filtered Water
Storage Tank to the soil is determined as 180 kPa.
In the facilities other than the Steam Turbine Generator
(STG) and Fire/Filtered Water Storage Tank, bearing
capacity problems are not expected.
Settlement analyses were carried out for the various
buildings and facilities in the Power Plant. Base
pressures, predicted total and differential settlements for
the facilities are summarized in Table 2.
Since the predicted total and differential settlements are
not tolerable, foundation of the structures were proposed
to rest on shallow foundations after the soil
improvement. Jet grout columns were selected mainly
for supporting the raft foundations and single footings of
the structures to transfer the base loads of 50 to 180 kPa
to denser strata, thus controlling settlements and
improving the compressibility characteristics of the soil.
Table 2 Predicted Settlements of Facilities Resting on
Shallow Foundations

Structure
Base
Pressure
(kPa)
Total
Settl.
(cm)
Diff.
Settl.
(cm)
Heat Recycle Steam Generator 1 100 22.4 11.5
Heat Recycle Steam Generator 2 100 26.2 13.6
Heat Recycle Steam Generator 3 100 21.4 11.2
Heat Recycle Steam Generator 4 100 19.9 10.4
Combustion Turbine 1 52.1 13.4 7.0
Combustion Turbine 2 52.1 15.9 8.6
Combustion Turbine 3 52.1 14.9 9.2
Combustion Turbine 4 52.1 10.8 5.7
Steam Turbine 1 127.5 28.2 14.4
Steam Turbine 2 127.5 28.9 14.6
Transformer 1 100 18.9 8.7
Transformer 2 100 19.9 8.9
Transformer 3 100 17.3 8.3
Transformer 4 100 18.3 8.2
Transformer 5 100 16.9 6.5
Transformer 6 100 16.8 6.6
Waste Neut. Tank 80 11.6 4.1
Fire/Filtered Water Storage Tank 180 20,6 7,9
Demin. Water Storage Tank (1) 110 16,2 6,7
Demin. Water Storage Tank (2) 110 16,1 6,7
West Cooling Tower 50 11,5 7,7
East Cooling Tower 50 12,8 8,5
Miscellaneous Footings
(2.5 m x 2.5 m)
100 8.5 3.5
As per the design, jet grout columns of 600 mm
diameter, 12 m effective length, with a service load of
450 kN, were selected. Distribution and spacing of jet
grout columns at the plant site are summarized in
Table 3.
Based on the design the total soil improvement work
consists of 78.000 m of jet grout columns of 600 mm
diameter.
TEST JET GROUT COLUMNS AND PROCESS
PARAMETERS
Thirteen 6 m long trial jet grout columns were installed
without pre-jetting in May 2000, using a water cement
ratio of 1:1. The top 2 to 3 m of each of the trial columns
were excavated and exposed so that the variation in
shape and diameter could be measured. Twelve 12 m
long test jet grout columns were than installed using the
optimum parameters derived from those trial columns.
All of these trial and test columns used a water cement
ratio of 1:1. Six of the test columns were cored to
measure their continuity and strength, while reinforcing
bars were installed in the other six and pullout tests were
performed to twice the design load (900 kN) in
accordance with ASTM D 3689.
Table 3. Jet Grout Column Distribution for Power Plant
Facilities

Jet Grout Columns
Structure
Foundation
Dimensions
(mxm)
Spacing
(mxm)
Number
Cooling Towers 113.4x30.60 2.5 x 2.5 996
Heat Rycyle Steam
Generator
39.50x17.0 2.0x2.0 1364
Combustion Turbines 3.50x17.0 2.5x2.5 996
Steam Turbines 40.0x20.0 1.8x1.8 1269
Main-Auxiliary
Transformers
13.00x10.00 2.0x2.0 414
Demin. Water Storage
Tank
D= 9.15 2.0x2.0 90
Electric Buildings 11.2x20.40 2.0x2.0 119
Switchyard -- 2.0x2.0 809
Water Treatment Plant 53x24 2.5x2.5 396
RMS Facility -- 2.0x2.0 45
Steel bars of 32 mm diameter were grouted into the
center core hole of the column for the column length.
Maximum and residual displacements of trial jet grout
columns are presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Results of Pull-out Tests Performed on Trial Jet
Grout Columns
Displacement
Jet Grout
No.
Test Load
(kN)
Max.
(mm)
Res.
(mm)
Trial 1 900 1.82 0.70
Trial 2 900 2.86 0.60
Trial 3 900 3.29 0.53
Trial 4 900 3.23 0.77
Trial 5 900 2.66 0.36
Trial 6 900 3.97 0.36
The majority of the test columns were excavated and
exposed to 3 to 4 m depth, while two were excavated to
around 7 m depth. The conclusions reached from the
test columns were that the pullout and strength capacity
were more than adequate while the diameter did not
generally reach the required 60 cm or minimum of
55 cm.
A further seventeen 12 m long trial jet grout columns
were installed with pre-jetting in July 2000, six using a
water cement ratio of 1:1, while the remaining 11 used a
water cement ratio of 1.25:1. Again, the diameters of the
excavated and exposed columns did not generally reach
the required average of 60 cm nor minimum of 55 cm.
An additional ten 6 m long trial jet grout columns were
then installed in pairs at 5 locations throughout the site in
late July 2000, using higher water and grout pressures.
All of these columns satisfied the diameter requirements.
The parameters listed in Table 5 were selected based
on the results of these trial jet grout columns for the
production jet grout columns.
All of the trial jet grout columns used SoilMec mixing and
pumping equipment and Casagrande drilling equipment
with 90 mm diameter rods and monitor with 2 nozzles
each 1.8 mm diameter and a drill bit diameter of about
120 mm.
Table 5. Process parameters
Jet Grout Column Diameter mm 600
Injection Pressure MPa 55
Number of Nozzles no 2
Nozzle Diameter mm 1.8
Rotation Speed of Rods rpm 20
Lifting Speed of Rods mm/min 350
Cement Consumption kg/m
3
630 710
Water / Cement Ratio w / c 1 : 1
Cement Type - OPC 42.5
Jet grouting is an eroding process, and therefore both
displacement as well as relaxation of the soil may occur
during grouting. Single fluid system combined with pre-
cutting has been used for the stiff cohesive soil layers to
ensure that a jet grout column of 600 mm or larger
average diameter is achieved.
QUALITY CONTROL TEST ON PRODUCTION JET
GROUT COLUMNS
As part of a comprehensive quality control program
pursued in the project, a number of quality control tests
were carried out during the production of jet grout
columns.
Coring and Strength Testing
Coring was performed one in every 50 production jet
grout columns, three samples from each cored column
were selected for strength tests 21 days after
installation. Each core was drilled about 10 cm off
center. Core drilling was performed using double-tube,
ball bearing swivel type core barrels. Each core run was
3 m in length. Unconfined compression tests were
performed on the core samples taken from the jet grout
columns, in accordance wirh ASTM C42. Unconfined
compressive strength values of qu= 3.6 MPa to 20.4
MPa were observed, with an average of 6.8 MPa
(Table 6).
Table 6. The results of uniaxial compression tests
carried out on samples taken from jet grout columns.
Area
Coring
(no)
Uniaxial
Test
(no)
Mean
qu
(MPa)
Power Block 1 38 114 6.7
Power Block 2 25 75 6.8
Cooling Tower 1 3 9 7.3
Cooling Tower 2 3 9 6.2
Switchyard 7 21 6.4
Water Treatment
Plant
3 9 8.5
Total : 79 237 6.8
Visual Inspection
A series of confirmatory jet grout columns were installed
close to production column area. During the execution of
works a total twenty nine 600 mm diameter, 7 m long
confirmatory jet grout columns were installed in each of
the 5 areas of the plant. Figure 3 shows the exhumation
of the jet grouting column for visual inspection.
All the test columns were excavated down to 3.5 m from
the working platform level. The columns were inspected
and the diameters of the column were measured at
every 500 mm. The followings are encountered :
The diameter of column varies between 600mm to
850 mm.
The average diameter at the top 3.5 m of the
column is greater than 650 mm diameter.
A slight reduction in the diameter at around ground
water level was observed.

Figure 3 Visual Inspection of Confirmatory Jet Grout
Columns

Integrity Testing
Integrity tests were performed in every 20 production jet
grout columns to assess the length and the integrity of
the columns. PDI pile integrity tester was used for this
purpose (Figure 4).
However, in the interpretation of the integrity test results,
it was observed that there is a difficulty in receiving clear
toe reflections since the modulus of elasticity of a jet
grout columns is very close to that of the soil layers
(Figure 5).

Figure 4. Execution of integrity test on a jet grout column
Figure 5. PIT Velocity Signal and Shaft Impedance
Profile for the tested Jet Grout Column
CONCLUSIONS
One of the largest jet grouting applications in Turkey is
described and discussed in this paper. The following
conclusions can be drawn from the results if this case
study:
1. 78.000 m jet grouting installation was completed
within a period of six months with close cooperation
among the general contractor, designer and jet
grouting contractor.
2. Pre-production test grout column installation assisst
in evaluating the effectiveness of the equipment to be
used and selection of the appropriate and optimum
injection parameters.
3. A comprehensive quality control and verification
testing program were incorporated in the project. The
properly planned and executed quality control
program resulted in early identification of potential
problems and allowed the contractor to make
necessary adjustment and/or modifications to solve
these problems.
4. The unconfined compressive strength of the jet
grouted soil ranged from 3.6 to 20.4 Mpa. The test
results exceeded the minimum specified strength of
3.2 Mpa. The results of strength tests reveal that the
measured unconfined compressive strength of jet
grouted soils are in conformity with the values
obtained in similar soil conditions.
5. Based on the trial test results performed at site, an
additional step was added to the basic procedure to
ensure that jet grout column of 600 mm or greater
diameter is achieved. Prior to jet grouting sequence,
a pre-jetting sequence was incorporated where high
pressure water is jetted through the nozzles, with
rotation and lifting in a similar manner to that used
during jet grouting.
6. The quantity of cement per cubic meter of treated
ground in stiff clay varies between 630-710 kg/m
3
.
REFERENCES
Saglamer, A., (2000). Geotechnical Report on Izmir
Alia8a Combined Cycle Power Plant. Faculty of Civ.
Eng., Geotechnical Engineering Department, Istanbul
Technical University.
Saglamer, A., Duzceer, R., Gokalp, A., Yilmaz, E.
(2001). Recent Applications of Jet Grouting for Soil
Improvement in Turkey Proc. 15
th
International
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering, ISSMGE Istanbul, vol. 3, 1839-1842.