Project Description
The most traditional Soil Mixing process, used for almost 40 years
Colmix® technique has been used by Soletanche Bachy since the 1980s. The process has been improved since then and can widely be used, for ground improvement, cut-off walls and structural applications.
What is Colmix® ?
The Colmix® process is one of four solutions that are part of the Deep Soil Mixing family. It involves using a single or multiple tool to build Soil Mixing columns. Use of this tool requires the power of a piling machine.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Colmix® process referred to a method patented by Soletanche Bachy using several synchronised flight augers to build in-situ soil-cement columns. Cement was introduced during drilling and post-compactionof the mixture was done when the auger wasextracted. The process was then almost exclusively used for soil improvement applications.
The process has evolved since then and now involves single or multiple augers to construct columns or groups of columns by mixing a cement grout with the soil in place.
This simplification has significantly expanded the range of soils that can be treated, as well as the potential range of applications.
The process is used for a wide range of applications:
Hydraulic applications
Cut-off walls
Structural applications
Retaining structure, gravity walls and shafts
Soil improvement
Reinforcement of platforms, stabilisation of embankments, reinforcement of diaphragm wall abutments, load-bearing walls, anti-liquefaction treatments, etc.
This solution is only employed as a wet process.
- Single Colmix® tool :Standard diameters: from 0.8m to 2.4m
- Multiple Colmix® tool Standard diameters: from 2 x 0.80m to 2 x 1.5m | Standard diameters: 3 x 0.80m and 3 x 0.90m
The advantages of this technique
The Colmix® process can be used with a very wide range of auger sizes
No uncertainty regarding the diameter of the column produced
The grout is injected at low pressure
No vibration
The power of piling machines is harnessed (high torque and high power)
How to use the Colmix® process ?
The single tool can be used on any pile machine of sufficient power. Multiple tools require machines equipped with a special rotating head.
During the drilling phase, the tool breaks down the structure of the in-situ soil. A cement grout is injected during this phase to facilitate the tool’s penetration and above all to incorporate the required quantity of binder to achieve the end properties of the mixed-soil column.
Most of the mixing of the soil-cement material is therefore carried out during this phase. Mixing of the materials is refined during the auger extraction phase.
Intersecting columns are built according to the same principle, by drilling into pre-constructed columns (either fresh or once they have already started to set).
Soletanche Bachy’s advantages
Execution controls and monitoring
Implementation of the process is accompanied by real-time monitoring from a screen located in the cabin, allowing the operator to comply with the execution instructions and recording the main operating parameters during construction of each column.
Quality control also involves taking samples of the fresh soil-cement mixture, most frequently by deep sampling.
Did you know ?
The Colmix® process was first used on a construction site to stabilise an embankment on the “Les Aubrais – Montauban” railway line in 1986.
Numerous projects have been carried out since then using the Colmix® process:
Norris Cut in Miami, USA
Replacement of a sewage line connecting Miami Beach and Fisher Island to the Virginia Key Central District treatment plant. Construction of the tunnel boring machine exit shaft, including the slab.
Turkmenbashi Seaport, Turkmenistan
Soil improvement works on the Caspian Sea for the Turkmenbashi port complex
Grand Paris Express, France
Pont de Sèvres station for line 15 of the Grand Paris Express (package T3A), France: Construction of 1,000 Soil Mixing columns to improve the soil inside the future station.
Processes other than Colmix® exist in the Deep Soil Mixing family of techniques:
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