GEOTECHNICAL ASPECTS OF

INDUSTRIAL FLOORINGS
PROF. D. M. DEWAIKAR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
IIT BOMBAY
 Roadmap of the Presentation
Introduction

Subgrade

Subgrade properties

Site preparation

Case study
2
 Introduction
Industrial floors must be designed and constructed with greatest possible economy

Factors that influence performance

Subgrade - structural integrity is of vital importance to the long-term bearing capacity

and serviceability of the floor
Quality of the concrete
Adequacy of structural capacity
Type and spacing of joints
Workmanship
Special surface finishes
Future maintenance and repair 3
 Subgrade
Natural ground, graded and compacted, on which the floor is built

Reasonably uniform without abrupt changes from hard to soft

Upper portion of subgrade must be of uniform material and density

Careful design and construction of the subgrade ensure that the floor will
continue to carry its design load successfully
4
 Subgrade Properties
Soil Classification
Different soil classification systems Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), Indian
Standard Soil Classification System (ISCS), American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Classification System etc.

Proper classification must be made to identify potential problem soils

General rating of subgrade

Excellent to good well graded gravel (GW,) well graded sand (SW), sandy loam
(SM) and sandy clay (SC)

Fair to poor Soils sufficiently expansive to cause floor distortion clays of high
plasticity (CH), silts of high plasticity (MH) and organic clays (OH)
5
 Subgrade Properties
Plasticity Index
Organic soils such as peat, muck and organic silts or clays - Weak,
compressible, hard to drain and cant be adequately compacted

Plasticity Index (PI) = (Liquid limit Plastic limit) Indicator of swelling

potential As the PI increases above 10, swelling potential also increases

Degree of expansion Percentage of swell Approximate PI

Non-expansive 2 or less 0 to 10
Moderately expansive 2 to 4 10 to 20
Highly expansive more than 4 more than 20
6
 Subgrade Properties
Density Laboratory tests to find the

optimum moisture content that yields

maximum density

Compaction increases soil strength and

reduces the chances of rutting during
construction or settlement later
Source - Boyd C. Ringo, (1988)

Contd. 7
Contd. Standard Proctor Test - Optimum Moisture Content and Maximum Dry Density
MDD
Figure 2.
Typical
Standard
Proctor Test
OMC
data

Mould Standard volume (944 cc) Filled up in three layers

of soil
Compaction 25 blows for each layer
Weight of rammer 2.495 kg
Height of fall 304.8 mm
Dry density = [(Weight of the compacted soil) / (Volume of
Figure 1. Compaction mould and rammer the mould)] / (1 + water content) 8
 Subgrade Properties
Modulus of Subgrade Reaction, K Table 1. Rating of subgrade based on the
modulus of subgrade reaction [Garber, 2006]
(Resilience Modulus)
K value
Subgrade Description of soil
Load per unit area causing unit deflection (N/mm3)
Excellent Gravels and sandy gravels 0.082
Measure of the stiffness of the subgrade Sands, gravelly sands, silty
Good 0.054
sands and clayey sands
Low K values are indicative of plastic Very fine sands, silts and
Poor 0.027
clays with PI < 50
behaviour of the near-to-surface soils
V. Poor Silts and clays with PI > 50 0.014

Checks should be made on the likely

deformation of the subgrade, particularly
for soils with low K values Contd. 9
Contd.
Subgrade Properties
Modulus of Subgrade Reaction, K (Resilience Modulus)

Computation of K

Plate bearing test a compressive load is applied to the soil layer through rigid plates
and the corresponding deflections are measured.

Bearing plate mild steel 75 cm in diameter and 0.5 to 2.5 cm thickness and few other
plates of smaller diameters (usually 60, 45, 30 and 22.5 cm) used as stiffeners

Loading equipment a reaction frame and a hydraulic jack

Settlement measurement three or four dial gauges fixed on the periphery of the
bearing plate
Contd. 10
Contd.

Figure 3. Schematic diagram for plate bearing test [IS : 9214 - 1979 (Reaffirmed 2002 )] Contd. 11
Contd.
Procedure to compute the K value - 1) Prepare the test site and remove the loose material

2) Place the plate accurately and then apply a seating load equivalent to a pressure of 0.07 kg/cm2

3) Release the seating load after few seconds and adjust the settlement dial readings to zero for zero load

4) Apply the load by means of the jack to cause an average settlement of about 0.25 mm

5) Note the load and settlement dial readings when the rate of settlement < 0.025 mm/minute

6) Increase the load till the average settlement increases to a further amount of about 0.25 mm

7) Repeat the procedure until the settlement is about 1.75 mm

8) Plot a graph with the mean settlement (mm) on x axis and load (kN/m2) on y-axis

9) Obtain the pressure, p corresponding to a settlement of 1.25 mm

10) The modulus of subgrade reaction, K is calculated as K = p/0.00125 kN/m2/m or kN/m3

12
Contd.

Subgrade Properties
Modulus of Subgrade Reaction, K
(Resilience Modulus)
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test
to assess soil performance
although the results are less
representative of long-term
potential soil performance
Figure 4. Approximate relationship between CBR and
K values [Concrete industrial ground floors: A guide to
design and construction (2003)] 13
Contd.
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Method
Penetration test

Laboratory CBR mould 150 mm dia. with a base plate and a collar, a loading frame and dial gauges

Soil specimen moulding dry density and water content same as that of field condition and then
soaked in water for four days

Apply the load by a standard plunger with dia. of 50 mm at the rate of 1.25 mm/min

Draw the load penetration curve

CBR value is expressed as

CBR = (Test load / Standard load) X 100

Obtain the ratio for 2.5 mm and 5 mm penetration values (corresponding standard load values are
1370 kg and 2055 kg)

Report the CBR value corresponding to the penetration value that yields the higher ratio 14
Contd.
Subgrade Properties
Table 2. Typical values of modulus of subgrade reaction, K related to soil type
[Concrete industrial ground floors: A guide to design and construction (2003)]

K value (N/mm3)
Soil Type
Lower value Upper value
Fine or slightly compacted sand 0.015 0.03
Well compacted sand 0.05 0.10
Very well compacted sand 0.10 0.15
Loam or clay (moist) 0.03 0.06
Loam or clay (dry) 0.08 0.10
Clay with sand 0.08 0.10
Crushed stone with sand 0.10 0.15
Coarse crushed stone 0.20 0.25
Well compacted crushed stone 0.20 0.30 15
 Site Preparation
No variations of support within the floor area

Major causes of non-uniform support

Expansive soils

Hard spots and soft spots

Backfilling
Contd. 16
Contd.
Site Preparation
Expansive soils

Abnormal shrinkage and swelling create non-uniform support

Remedy - selective grading, cross-hauling and blending of subgrade

- compaction of expansive soils to 95% optimum density at 1%

to 3% above standard optimum moisture content

Contd. 17
Contd.
Site Preparation
Hard Spots and Soft Spots
Slab tends to bridge over soft spots and ride on hard spots
(Fig. 5)

Remedy Fill the spots with granular material

(replacement soil) to create the uniform support

Moisture and density conditions of the replacement soil

should be as similar as possible to the adjacent soil.

At transition areas where soil types or conditions change

abruptly, mix the replacement soil with the surrounding soil
by crosshauling and blending to form a transition zone with Figure 5. Hard spots and soft spots
uniform support conditions. Contd. 18
Contd.
Site Preparation
Backfilling
Poorly compacted subgrade fill settlement problems and premature
failure of the slab

Remedy - Backfilling with the material that improves the subgrade or raise
the existing grade and can be thoroughly compacted

- Rubble (fill material) from building or pavement demolitions must

first be passed through a crusher to facilitate ease of compaction

- Restore as much as possible the original uniformity of the subgrade

19
 Case Study
Improvement of Collapsible Soil Conditions for Industrial Floors
[Fonte Jr. et al., 2017 - Soil Testing, Soil Stability and Ground Improvement: Proceedings of the 1st
GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition, Egypt 2017 on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures]

More than 50% of the southwest region of Brazil Unsaturated surface soils with
porosity > 50%

Collapsible soils These soils, under load and with increase in moisture content,
produce unacceptable displacement values

Remedy - Excavating the soil down to a certain depth and filling the same material back
in a controlled manner
Contd. 20
Contd.
Case Study
Experimental site State University of Campinas, State of So Paulo, Brazil

Field tests and Lab tests on deformed and non-deformed samples down to 9 m
depth

Tests conducted SPT with torque check, electric and mechanical CPT, cross-hole
test, vertical seismic sounding, dilatometric (DMT) tests, Triaxial tests (CU) and
edometric tests

Aim analyse the improvement by the increased rigidity and resistance via
triaxial tests conducted on compacted and undisturbed samples of soil
Contd. 21
Contd.
Results of Triaxial Tests
NATURAL SOIL
Stress (kPa)

E = 3.3 MPa for 100kPa confinement stress

Avg. E = 22 MPa

Strain (%)

Figure 6. Stress-strain behaviour of a non- Figure 7. Stress-strain behaviour of a soil

deformed sample collected at the sample compacted at its OMC of the Normal
depth of 1.0 m Proctor Test 22
Contd.
Contd.
Effect of Compaction on Industrial Floors Design
(a) (b)

Figure 8. Influence of K on floor thickness (a) Concentrated load, 50 kN and

(b) distributed load, 40 kN/m2

Using the E values as computed earlier via triaxial tests and using the method proposed by Janbu et al.
(1956), the values of modulus of subgrade reaction, K are computed.
Contd. 23
Contd.
Effect of Compaction on Industrial Floors Design
Table 3. Effect of loading condition on Table 4. Effect of compaction on the
the thickness of floor thickness of floor
Floor thickness (cm) Floor thickness (cm)
K value (MPa/m) 5 50 6.2 16.6
K value (MPa/m)
Concentrated load (Natural) (Compacted)
13.7 12.5
(50 kN) Concentrated load (50 kN) 14 (aprx.) 14 (aprx.)
Distributed load Distributed load (40 kN/m2) 70 21
70 7
(40 kN/m2)
For distributed loads the value of K has large influence on the industrial floors design
justifying the use of reliable methods to obtain the values of K, such as plate load tests

For concentrated loads the value of K has little influence on the industrial floors design
justifying the use of simpler methods to obtain the values of K, such as CBR tests
Contd. 24
Contd.
Case Study - Conclusions
Compaction improved the performance of the soil with respect to the following
aspects

Increased bearing capacity

Increased rigidity and consequent reduction in strain due to stress

Eliminated the collapsible characteristics of natural soil

Increased modulus of subgrade reaction of the soil

25
 References
1. Boyd C. Ringo (1988), Basics of subgrade preparation for industrial floors, The Aberdeen Group.

2. Concrete industrial ground floors: A guide to design and construction (2003), Report of a Concrete Society Working
Party, Concrete Society Technical Report No. 34, Third Edition, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG45 6YS, UK.

3. George Garber (2006), Design and construction of concrete floors, Second Edition, Elsevier.

4. H.U. Aeberhar, H.R. Ganz, P.Marti and W. Schule (1988), Post- tensioned concrete in building construction: post-
tensioned foundations, VSL International ltd., Berne / Switzerland.

5. Nelson L. Fonte Jr., David de Carvalho and Roberto Kassouf (2017), Improvement of collapsible soil conditions for
industrial floors, International Congress and Exhibition "Sustainable Civil Infrastructures: Innovative Infrastructure
Geotechnology, GeoMEast 2017: Soil Testing, Soil Stability and Ground Improvement, pp: 177-193.

6. Photograph 1 (Title slide) - http://adeptconstruction.solutions/geotechnical-engineering/

7. Photograph 2 (Title slide) - http://legacyengineeringinc.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/12/Industrial.jpg

8. Ralph E. Spears (1983), Concrete floors on ground, Second edition, Portland Cement Association.
26
Thank you !!!