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Dharm Singh *
Ajit Singh **
Synopsis : The RUB/Salimgarh, Delhi was the prestigious job of box pushing
for Common Wealth Games 2010. It was constructed by using Soil Nailing
Technique FIRST TIME IN INDIAN RAILWAYS. The RUB was pushed under
the extremely busy double line railway track of Delhi-Shahdara section of
Northern Railway, connecting Northern India to Eastern region.Three precast
boxes of 22m length each (Total 3x22m) were required to be pushed in
highly unstable sandy soil strata in a very short span of time. In addition to
the above the retaining walls of random rubble stone masonry of about
2.0m thickness had to be dismantled on both entry and exit ends during the
Box pushing. The dismantling of these retaining walls would have exposed
unsupported vertical earth face of more than 8.0m height, making it prone
to collapse. Since 200 to 250 trains pass through this section daily, so it
was a zero mistake tolerance site and any disruption to rail traffic would
have caused severe operational repercussions and resultant financial losses.
As per the Subsoil investigation report the embankment mainly consisted
of silty fine sand (C=0, -290). Since this was highly unstable, cohesionless
sandy soil strata, conventional method of box pushing was not feasible
without stabilizing the sandy strata. Therefore, box pushing using innovative
soil nailing technique was adopted in consultation with CRRI.
1.0 Introduction
A Road Under Bridge (RUB) was to be constructed by Northern
Railway Construction Organization as a part of a ring road bypass
from Salimgarh Fort to Velodrome road in connection with
COMMONWEALTH GAMES-2010. This road was proposed to move
along old Bela road and pass under west end approach of old Rail
cum Road Bridge over river Yamuna to Salimgarh Fort (Fig.1).
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Fig.1 : Key Plan
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subsoil investigation was also carried out and it was found that
embankment mainly consisted of silty fine sand (c=0, =290) up to
NGL. As per the Subsoil report, below NGL, there was conglomerated
soil up to 2m depth and thereafter the strata consisted of fine sand
up to 6m depth.
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wall of one side having battered inside face was required to be
dismantled to begin the box pushing. This would have resulted in
exposure of unsupported vertical earth face of more than 8m height,
having cohesionless soil strata with high possibility of imminent
collapse on exposure. Moreover, due to site constraints earth cushion
over the top of the box could be kept 1 m only, making it more
vulnerable during pushing operation. Thus, a need was felt to stabilize
the cohesionless soil strata by adopting suitable technique before
taking up box pushing operation.
The various anticipated problems that could be countered are
summarised below :
Exposure of unsupported vertical earth face of more than 8 m
height after dismantling of the random rubble stone masonry
wall.
The silty sand strata were prone to collapse inside the box, when
cut with steep slope during box pushing.
Retaining wall on exit end was likely to bulge in face of
approaching box during pushing due to jacking force.
Severe disruption of traffic in case of any failure
Water supply pipe line of 1 feet dia feeding the Delhi Jn. and
railway colony could be damaged.
Hundreds of S&T cables could be damaged.
OHE masts had to be shifted.
Work was to be done in very congested (heavy traffic rail and
road) area.
It was considered to be a Zero Mistake Tolerance Zone besides
having highly unfavorable Soil strata.
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embankment. However, as the earth cushion available over the box
was only 1 m, hence formation of arch with span more than 12 m
was not found feasible.
4.2 The stabilization of soil by cement/ bentonite grouting
Many firms dealing with soil stabilization were consulted for
suggesting some scheme for soil stabilization. The possibility of
cement/ bentonite grouting from top of embankment was also
explored. However, it was not found feasible because of anticipated
difficulties in grouting from top due to inadequate working space
around the tracks and heavy rail traffic.
4.3 Supporting of track by providing relieving girders
The possibility was also explored for supporting of track by providing
relieving girders. However, due to less vertical clearance over the
box this alternative was also not found feasible.
4.4 The Soil Nailing Technique
Thereafter CRRI was consulted for suggesting a scheme for
stabilization of cohesionless soil strata so that it remains stable when
cut to almost vertical profile (even reverse due to inside batter of
retaining wall) for a height of about 8.45 m during box pushing
operation. The Soil Nailing Technique" was found most suitable
for stabilization of slope having cohesionless soil strata after several
round of discussion followed by site visits, exploratory boring,
laboratory tests etc. The details of designing of soil nailing and
construction methodology were finalized in consultation with CRRI.
However, keeping in view the anticipated problems during
construction, several modifications were incorporated in the
methodology suiting the site requirements.
4.4.1 The basic fundamental of soil nailing: In Soil Nailing
Technique the soil slopes, cuttings and retaining walls are passively
reinforced by the insertion of steel bars. A typical polygonal slip
surface is shown in Fig. 3.
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Active Forces :
1) Gravity Force
2) Active earth pressure
Resisting Forces :
1) Friction & cohesion of soil
on slip surface
2) Frictional resistance
transmitted by the nails
Fig. 4(a) : Holes are being drilled Fig. 4(b) : Reinforcing steel
into the excavated face is applied and the face is
measuring 6 to 8 inches in shotcreted.
diameter
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5.0 Field Investigation :
5.1 The GPR (Ground Penetration Radar) survey :
The GPR study was carried out to determine the dimensions of the
retaining walls. The interpretations of GPR study are:
a) Width of wall was found to be about 1.5 m thick at ground level
and about 2.0 m thick at bottom level of proposed box of main
carriageway. The photographs are shown in Fig.5.
b) The soil was amalgamated with boulder/ballast and no clean
interface was observed.
c) The wall thickness varied uniformly along the height with some
variation due to weathering which had taken place over the
years.
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degrees. The top layer of about 1 m thickness was filled up soil,
mainly due to penetration of ballast into the bank. The water table
was not encountered up to 6.5 m depth below formation level.
5.3 Carrying out pull out test on driven and grouted nails
In order to determine the apparent coefficient of friction between in-
situ soil and nail, necessary for design, in-situ pull-out tests were
conducted (Fig. 6). These test were conducted at different levels
of retaining wall in order to have an idea of the effect of over burden
on bonding strength of nails The pull-out tests were also conducted
under live load and without live load conditions so as to have an
idea of its effect on bonding strength of nails in both the conditions.
Three types of nails were used, which are given as under :
(i) Driven nails of 32 mm diameter: For driven nails 32 mm Fe415
TOR steel was used.
(ii) Driven nails of 28 mm diameter : For driven nails 28 mm Fe415
TOR steel was used.
(iii) Perforated pipe nails 89 mm dia with perforations of 12 mm @
50mm c/c in staggered manner on the periphery of the pipe.
After driving of these nails grouting was done with 1:1 cement-
sand mortar.
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6.0 Soil Nailing Design
The design of soil nailing system was carried out by CRRI using
GEO 4 software. The input parameters considered for designing the
soil nailing system are given as under:
a) Live load: 110 kN/m on each track.
b) Geometry of the cut slope :
i) The batter of the soil slope () 83.16 degree (inward slope)
ii) The depth of over burden above the box was taken as 1.0m.
iii) The parapet wall height was taken as 0.7 m.
c) The soil properties : Based on the soil investigations carried
out the following soil parameters were taken in the design :
Cohesion (c) 0
Angle of internal friction () 29 degree
Bulk density of soil () 17 kN/m3
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Fig. 7 Soil nailing by rotary drilling m/c
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Fig. 9 Soil nailing by hydraulic rammer
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Fig. 10(a) X-Section showing arrangement of nailing in Box No.3
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Table 1 : Details of nailing for Box No.3
Layer Type Dia Nos Spacing Length Total Length
No (In meters) (In meters) (in meters)
Vertical Horizontal (approx.)
1 Grouted 89 23 - 0.5 15 345
2 Driven 32 27 0.25 0.4 15 405
3 to 5 -do- 32 36 0.3 0.3 15 1620
6 to 8 -do- 32 36 0.3 0.3 8.30 900
9 to 18 -do- 28 36 0.4 0.3 6.30 2270
Side Grouted 89 14 0.5 - 15 210
Box No.3
Total Nails: 640 Nos. (37 Nos. Grouted + 603 Nos. Driven)
Total Length of Nails: 5750 m (555 m Grouted+5195 m Driven)
Box No. 1 and 2
Total Nails : 893 Nos. (42 Nos. Grouted +851 Nos. Driven)
Total Length of Nails: 7575 m (630 m Grouted+6945 m Driven)
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plates were modified for single/double nails instead of group of nails
as envisaged earlier. Some sand bags were also inserted in between
the anchoring plates to fill up the gaps.
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Fig. 12 (b) Box pushing work in progress by using 'soil nailing'
technique
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Fig. 13 (a) & (b) Drag sheet arrangement
10.2 Additional supporting arrangement was provided by steel
channels (ISMB 200) of 12 m length below the track at spacing of
about 1.2 m i.e. between alternate sleepers (Fig. 14). These
channels rested on cribs on one side and the retaining wall on the
other side to support the track temporarily in case of collapse of
bank. These cribs were required to be shifted at regular interval
during box pushing.
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Fig. 15 Rear end protection arrangement by sheet piling
10.4 Extension of cutting edge: Conventional design was modified
to have longer cantilevered front portion to facilitate flatter slope of
cut during pushing.
10.5 Round the clock observation of track parameters and track
maintenance.
10.6 The moisture in the soil was maintained by feeding water through
vertically driven perforated pipes, so as to maintain apparent
cohesion in the soil.
10.7 Shifting of S&T cables and water supply pipe line of one feet
diameter in advance.
10.8 Additional safety precautions were taken when the balance
pushing length became less than the anchoring length of the soil
nail i.e. less than 6m.
10.9 The thrust bed was constructed parallel to track due to
constraints of space in road alignment.
11.0 Conclusion
Thus, by adopting innovative technique as explained above, project
was completed in time. Moreover, this technique ensures much better
standard of safety and minimum traffic disruptions in comparison to
the conventional method of Box pushing.
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As per the direction of Member Engineering, many senior officers
from RDSO and from other Zonal Railways visited the site during
the progress of work to have a first hand experience. As such, the
experience gained is being effectively utilized in other projects having
similar type of conditions.
To encourage the innovation in public service, Ministry of Railways
has awarded this work the 2nd Best Innovation for the year 2010-11
with award of Rs.2 lacs to the team of Northern Railway Construction
Organization.
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