The increasing need to redevelop land in urban areas has led to major development in the field of ground improvement, a process that is continuing and expanding. Vibratory deep compaction and grouting techniques have also been increasingly applied to solving the problems of urban development, whether from tunnelling, excavation, building renovation or bearing capacity improvement and settlement reduction. The second edition of this well established book continues to provide an international overview of the major techniques in use. Comprehensively updated in line with recent developments, each chapter is written by an acknowledged expert in the field. Ground Improvements is written for geotechnical and civil engineers, and for contractors working in grouting, ground improvement, piling and environmental engineering.

The papers presented in this volume describe the latest developments from around the world on ground improvement by densification and reinforcement. They describe new research into improving the understanding of the problems facing geotechnical engineers working in the field of ground improvement and the advances in the techniques available to them. Numerous case studies show how new and improved methods have actually been applied over a wide variety of ground conditions.

This book is the eighth volume of the proceedings of the 4th GeoShanghai International Conference that was held on May 27 - 30, 2018. This book, entitled Ground Improvement and Geosynthetics”, presents the latest information on the new technologies and practical applications in various geotechnical engineering projects and advancements on ground improvement and geosynethetics. This volume presents detailed design procedures and examples to demonstrate the applications of the latest ground improvement technologies and innovative geosynethetics in geotechnical engineering. Topics include pile/column technology as foundations, retaining structures, or embankment supports, physical and chemical technologies for soil stabilization and ground improvement, geosynthetic reinforcement for roads, slopes, retaining walls, and foundations. Each of the papers included in this book received at least two positive peer reviews. The editors would like to express their sincerest appreciation to all of the anonymous reviewers all over the world, for their diligent work.

The geosynthetic encased column (GEC) is a relatively recent method developed for soft soil improvement. The method was firstly introduced as a concept in the 1980s and first practical applications started in the 1990s. GECs have been widely used in some parts of the world for the last three decades. However, there is no book in the literature summarizing the knowledge accumulated during this period in relation to this soft ground improvement technique. The purpose of this book is to provide readers with the GEC fundamentals and practical applications. Chapter 1 presents the general principles of this ground improvement technique including the methods used for GEC installation and how the material properties may be selected. Chapter 2 presents the design methods, thus settlement calculations by means of analytical methods and stability calculations by limit equilibrium methods are explained in detail. Chapter 3 presents calculation examples illustrating the usual steps to be done for both service limit state and ultimate limit state designs. Then field performances exemplifying practical applications of the GEC technique are presented in Chapter 4 for some case histories. Following numerical analyses, often used in design to complement analytical methods, are presented in Chapter 5. Annexes I and II at the end contain the charts developed to perform settlement calculations. The book combines the experiences of four authors with different academic and industry backgrounds to describe GEC design and performance. It is aimed at civil engineers in general, particularly geotechnical engineers, either working in design or in practice, at graduate students, and at senior undergraduate students.