A Physical Modelling Study of Cement Slurry Injection in Helical Piles Installed in Cohesive and Granular Soils
A Physical Modelling Study of Cement Slurry Injection in Helical Piles Installed in Cohesive and Granular Soils
Helical piles with cement injection provide an innovative foundation solution, allowing their application in soil conditions traditionally considered unsuitable for conventional helical piles. This technique allows the piles to meet design criteria such as allowable loads and displacements even in low-capacity soils where competent strata are located at considerable depths. Although cement slurry injection enhances the properties of soil disturbed during installation, the slurry flow path and its final spatial distribution within the surrounding soil remain insufficiently understood. This study enables qualitative visualization of the cement slurry flow trajectory above the helical plates through 1g physical modelling. For this investigation, reduced-scale helical pile models were installed in cohesive and cohesionless soils (soft clay and loose sand). Following cement slurry injection, the models were carefully excavated to enable direct observation of the slurry distribution within the soil mass. The qualitative visual observations indicate that, under identical injection procedures and slurry properties, cement slurry dispersion is predominantly governed by soil type. Overall, the results enhance understanding of the reinforced soil zone formed around the helical plates and contribute to the formulation of predictive hypotheses for the load-bearing capacity of cement-injected helical piles.
Thaise Da Silva Oliveira Morais; Cristina De Hollanda Cavalcanti Tsuha; Oskar Leonardo Laurani Lopez
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Special Session 1: Physical modelling – from Practice/Industry to Academia
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-114