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Use of the explosive method in the soil improvement work of

a highway project
S. W. Yan and J. Chu
A highway was constructed in Jiangxi Province, China,
through a mountainous area. Some sections of the
highway went through valleys where a soft clay layer
68.5 m deep was encountered. A new explosive method
was developed and adopted for this project. The method
uses the energy of the explosion to remove the soft clay
and replace it with crushed stones. Explosive charges are
placed in the soil to be improved according to a specific
pattern. Crushed stones are piled up next to the area
where the charges are installed. The explosion creates
cavities in the soil and causes the pile of crushed stones
to slide into the exploded area. The detail of the method
and its application to the highway project are described.
The effectiveness of the method is evaluated using
borehole exploration, plate load tests and groundprobing radar tests.
1. INTRODUCTION
Explosive compaction has been a method used in past decades
for the compaction of loose granular soil. The method uses
energy from confined detonations of explosive charges placed
within the soil mass to densify loose, saturated sand or gravel.
Various theoretical and case studies have been published in the
18
past.
However, most of the studies are limited to
applications in granular soils. The use of explosive compaction
or similar methods in other types of soil, such as soft clay, is
rare. Recently a new explosive method has been developed in
China for removing and replacing seabed mud with rocks for
9
offshore dike construction. Encouraged by this development, a
new method to replace soft clay with crushed stones by
blasting has been tested in conjunction with a highway
construction in Jiangxi Province, China. After some
experiments, a workable method has been established and
adopted in the soil improvement work for this highway project.
This new method is called the explosive replacement method.
The detail of the method and its application in this highway
project are presented in this paper.
2. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT
To cater for the rapid economic development, a highway
connecting Ganzhou and Dingnan in Jiangxi Province (see Fig.
1) was constructed from January 2002 to January 2004. The
highway is 127 km long and 26.5 m wide. A few sections of
highway run through valley zones. The valleys were 2050 m

wide, with the water table typically at the ground surface. A

typical soil profile is shown in Fig. 2. The soils were alluvial in
nature. The first layer was silty clay 68.5 m thick with a
vegetation layer 0.50.6 m thick on top. The second layer was
silty gravel 1.32 m thick overlying weathered sandstone. The
top 12 m of the sandstone was highly decomposed. Typical
soil properties of the soft clay are shown in Fig. 3. The water
content of the soil was generally higher than the liquid limit
(Fig. 3(b)). The undrained shear strength of the silty clay was
only about 20 kPa (Fig. 3(c)). How to improve the soft clay
layer rapidly for highway construction became one of the
challenges to this project. Some of the commonly adopted soil
improvement methods could not be applied, as these methods
could not offer an expedient solution to meet the project
schedule. For example, surcharge or vacuum preloading
10
together with vertical drains are normally used for similar
projects. However, the time required for consolidation was too
long for this project. Deep cement mixing is also used
11
sometimes for highway construction in China. However, this
method was considered too expensive to be used over a long
section. Furthermore, the use of this method might not meet
the construction schedule either. The explosive replacement

Fig. 1. Location map

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1 Use of explosive method in soil improvement
Article number = 13713

Yan Chu

05

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1

8m

Vegetation

Normalised weight:

18

Soft clay

Gravel

HN

W 1=3
R

NW

W =Lc 1=2
R

Weathered sandstone bedrock

Energy input attenuation:

Fig. 2. Typical soil profile in the valley

method was considered feasible for this project for the

following three reasons:

thick.
After some experiments, a workable method was established
and adopted for this highway project.
3. ANALYSIS
The use of the explosive replacement method depends on the
selection of design parameters such as the positioning of the
charges, the charge messes, and the detonation sequence. Some
relationships between these parameters have been used for
explosive compaction:
Hopkinsons number:

12

R2vi

where W is the charge weight (kg), R is the effective radius in

plan (m), Lc is the charge length (m), Wi is the weight of
individual charges around a point in the soil mass (g), and R v i
is the minimum vector distance from a charge to a point in the
soil mass (m). HN, NW and E1 are constants. Unfortunately, for
a given value of HN, NW or E1 , the above relationships may
provide infinite combinations of charge weight with radius.
Furthermore, it is difficult to select suitable values of HN, NW
13
or E1 in practice. Based on blasting mechanics, a new set of
equations is derived as follows.
As the explosion takes place very rapidly, it can be assumed to
be an insulated process. Based on the LondauStanyukowich
13
theory, we have

WC, LL and PL: %

25
50
75

cu: kPa

100

0
0

Depth: m

Depth: m

Depth: m

X
W i 

For Pvp > P k :

Void ratio

E1

(a) The construction was in a remote mountainous area, so

blasting was permitted.
(b) Plenty of rocks were generated from the tunnelling work
for the same project.
(c) The soft clay layer to be replaced was only about 68.5 m

10

10

20

40

60

8
WC
LL

10

PL
12

(a)

12

12
(b)

(c)

Fig. 3. Typical soil properties: (a) void ratio; (b) water content (WC), liquid limit (LL) and plastic limit (PL); (c) undrained shear
strength, cu

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1

Use of explosive method in soil improvement

Yan Chu

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http://www.paper.edu.cn

Pvp

Pe

Ve
V vp

k

R vd

Pk
P0

1=4

re D 2
8P k

1=9
r0
"

11

For Pvp , P k :

Vk
V vp

Pe

i (hc ) i

r0

As the mass of the explosive, Q, can be calculated as

Q 3re
r 30 =4Q 3re
r0 3 =4, equation (11) can also be written
as

re D 2

2 k 1

where re is the density of the explosive (kg/m3 ), and D is the

velocity of the explosive (m/s).
For a spherical explosive, V e 4
r 30 =3 and V vp 4
R3v p =3,
where r0 is the radius of the explosive and R vp is the radius of
the cavity. Therefore:
For Pvp > P k :

Pvp

Pe

Ve
V vp

k

r0
R vp

9

Thus, for Pvp > P k :

Pvp




re D 2
r0 9
8
R vp

At the conjugate point Pvp P k and R vp Rk . Then, from

equation (8), we have:

Rk

1=9
re D 2
r0
8P k

When the cavity expands furtherthat is, when Pvp , P k we

have

10

#
1=4

r

where P k and Vk are the pressure and volume at the conjugate

point, which is specified as the point where k 3 and r 4/3;
Pvp is the pressure in the cavity (Pa); Vvp is the volume of the
cavity (m3 ); Ve is the volume of explosive; and Pe is the
13
explosive pressure (Pa), which can be calculated from:

Pa

n
X
i1

Pvp

Pk

5=36
0:794P k re1=9 D2=9

Pvp P k

Vk
V vp

4=3

Pk

Rk
R vp

4

12

R vd

5=36
0:4926P k

4. OUTLINE OF THE METHOD

The explosive replacement method is illustrated in Fig. 4. As
shown in Fig. 4(a), explosive charges are first installed in the
soil layer, and then crushed stones are piled up next to it on
the side of the road that has been improved. When the charges
are detonated, the soft soil is blown out and cavities are
formed. At the same time, the crushed stones collapse into the
cavities. In this way, the soft soil is replaced with crushed
stones in a rapid manner. The soil that is blown into the air
will form a liquid and flow away after it falls to the surface.
The crushed stones after collapsing form a slope of 1V : 3H or
1V : 5H, as shown in Fig. 4(b). The impact of the explosion also
causes an instantaneous reduction in the shear strength of the
14
soil below the level of explosion so that the crushed stones
can sink into the soft clay layer. The stones help the soil at the
bottom to consolidate, and the clay itself will also regain part
14
of its original strength after explosion. The explosion also
has a densification effect on the gravel layer below the clay
layer. More crushed stones are backfilled to form a levelled
ground and a steeper slope, as shown in Fig. 4(c). The above
process is then repeated to remove and to replace the soil in
another section.
5. APPLICATION
A typical cross-section of the highway is shown in Fig. 5. The
road surface is elevated to up to 6 m above the ground to
counter flooding. The width of the soft soil layer to be
improved is required to be 5 m wider than the toe of the
embankment on each side, as shown in Fig. 5.
5.1. Placement of charges
A TNT type of explosive was used for the project. The design
parameters for the explosive were: density, re 1100 kg/m3 ;
velocity, D 6200 m/s; P k 3.0 3 108 Pa. The unit weight of
the soil was 18 000 N/m3 . Substituting all the parameters into
equation (12), we have:

13
When the cavity due to explosion ceases expansion, Pvp P0 ,
where P0 is the atmospheric pressure, Pa , plus the vertical
Pn
overburden pressure, i1
i hc i , where hc is the thickness of
the soft clay above a cavity. Therefore the final radius of cavity
due to explosion can be calculated as

#
1=4

2=9 "
n
X
D
Pa
i hc i
Q1=3
re
i1

R vd

10:4Q1=3
98000 18000hc 1=4

As the purpose of blasting is to remove the soft clay, the

thickness of the soft clay above a cavity should be controlled
to be small. Using hc 0 in equation (13), we have:

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1 Use of explosive method in soil improvement

Yan Chu

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14

R vd 0:59Q1=3

Pile of crushed stones

1V
08H

685 m

Section that has been

replaced by crushed
stones

46

56

equation (13) is equivalent to equation (1) when NH 0.59.

For Q 1020 kg, we get R vd 1.271.6 m from equation
(14). The distance between charges, L, can be estimated as
Soft clay

Charge

15

L R vd

where 1.52.0. When 2, L the diameter of the

cavity. To allow some overlapping, , 2 should be used.
Based on the above analysis, a constant value of L 2 m was
used for this project. The weight of each charge can then be
calculated using equation (13), and the values are tabulated in
Table 1 for different depths of soft clay. As the charges used
were cylindrical rather than spherical, the cavity would be a
teardrop shape, with its vertical dimension much larger than
13
the calculated R vd . For this reason, the actual depth of the
clay above the cavity was small. A factor of 1.31.5 was also
applied to the weight of charge to ensure a complete collapse
of the cavities formed. The real weight of each charge with
respect to different depths of soft clay is given in Table 1.

(a)

Profile before explosion

Profile after explosion

1V
(35)H
Soft clay

(b)

The charges were installed at a horizontal spacing of 2 m in

one row. The embedded depth of the charge was determined
based on the depth of the clay layer as calculated in Table 1.
The charges were installed using a 16 t excavator, as shown in
Fig. 6. A pipe 21.3 cm in diameter and 12 m long was driven
into the soft clay using a 11 kW vibrator. Once the pipe
reached the required depth, a cylindrical charge 19 cm in
diameter was placed. For a charge weight of 1624 kg, the
length of the charge would be 5080 cm. Water was filled into
the pipe as an overburden pressure to the charge before the
pipe was pulled out. Sequential detonation was used to reduce
the impact of the explosion. A picture taken at the moment of
explosion is shown in Fig. 7.

Backfill

Soft clay

(c)

Fig. 4. Explosive displacement procedure: (a) before explosion;

(b) after explosion; (c) after backfill

5.2. Placement of crushed stones

The source of the crushed stones was the sandstone rock
excavated from tunnelling construction for the same highway

6m

265 m

Embankment

85 m

15

Replaced crushed stones

5m

445 m

5m

18 m

Gravel

Fig. 5. Typical cross-section of the road

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1

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5

Distance between charges, L: m

in equation (15)
Radius of cavity, R vd : m
Thickness of soft clay above cavity, hc : m
Embedded depth for charges, hc + R vd : m)
Weight of each charge, Q: kg
Weight of each charge used, Qu : kg

2
1.7
1.18
2.65
3.83
10.9
16

Table 1 Calculation of the weight of each charge

density and the optimum

water content as obtained
from standard Proctor
2
2
2
compaction tests were
1.6
1.5
1.5
1.25
1.33
1.33
1.8 Mg/m3 and 14.5%
3.50
4.33
5.34
respectively. Roller
4.75
5.66
6.67
compaction with 0.30.5 m
.
.
.
14 0
18 0
19 3
for each lift was used. The
20
24
24
relative compaction values
specified were 95% for the
top 0.8 m, 93% for the fill
between 0.8 and 2.3 m, and
.
90% for the fill below 2 3 m. The pavement cover consisted of
a 600 mm thick concrete layer and a 160 mm thick bitumen
concrete layer on top.
6

FS

Depth of soil, h: m

6. VERIFICATION

PR

Fig. 7. During explosion

OO

Fig. 6. Installation of charges

6.1. Borehole exploration

Boreholes were drilled to examine the depth of the crushed
stones after soil improvement. One of the borehole logs is
shown in Fig. 8. The stones were found to be present up to 9 m,
in which the top 56 m was densely packed whereas the
remaining 45 m was embedded in clay. Below the crushed
stone layer were the silty gravel layer and the weathered
sandstone layer.

project. The particle size of the stones ranged from 10 to

70 cm. The pile of crushed stones was typically 12 m high
and 56 m wide (see Fig. 4(a)). After the explosion, the stones
fell into the cavities and formed a slope of 1V : 3H to 1V : 5H.
More stones were backfilled to form a levelled ground and a
boundary slope of 1V : 0.8H. With every round of explosion,
the improvement section could be advanced for 68 m.
5.3. Construction of
embankment
An embankment typically
6 m high (see Fig. 5) was
constructed after the soil
improvement work. The fill
used for the embankment was
mainly a clayey sand with
basic properties as given in
Table 2. The maximum dry

6.2. Plate load tests

Plate load tests were conducted using a square plate 1.0 m 3
1.0 m. The load was applied via a hydraulic jack reacted
against a steel beam, which was counterbalanced by dead
weight. The plate was placed on the ground surface before the
6 m of embankment was built. The results of a typical plate
load test are shown in Fig. 9. The results indicate that the
improved ground had adequate bearing capacity. Using the
loadsettlement curve shown in Fig. 9, the modulus of
15
subgrade reaction, ks , which is used for pavement design,
can be determined as the secant modulus for a specified point
16
on the curve. The modulus of subgrade reaction determined
from the initial linear portion of the curve was 120 MPa (see
Fig. 9). It should be pointed out that the plate load test results
reflected only the condition of the upper layer of 1.52 m
depth in the compacted stone layer. The critical area for
settlement would be the deeper zone where the stone was
mixed with soft clay, which was not significantly stressed by
the plate load tests. Therefore the plate load test results gave an
optimistic picture of the loadsettlement behaviour. The
settlement of the improved foundation soil measured 3 months
after the opening of the highway was more than the maximum
settlement shown in Fig. 9, but less than 30 mm. The total
settlement of the highway measured at the same time was less
than 100 mm. The total allowable settlement as specified by the

Soil type

Liquid
limit

Plastic
limit

Plasticity
index

Fines content
(less than 75 m)

Organic
content

Clayey sand (SC)*

25.3%

12.3%

13%

18%

2.7%

*According to the Unified Soil Classification System.

Table 2 Basic properties of the fill used for embankment

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1 Use of explosive method in soil improvement

Yan Chu

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receiver, and the elapsed time between wave transmission and
reception is automatically recorded. More explanation of the
method can be found in reference 17.

Crushed stones, densely

packed

56 m
Crushed stone embedded in
clay
89 m
Silty gravel
9105 m
Sandstone with top 12 m
heavily weathered

200

0
2

Settlement: mm

4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18

7. SUMMARY
A new explosive replacement method was developed and
adopted for the soil improvement work of a highway project in
Jiangxi, China. The method uses the energy of explosion to
remove and replace soft clay with crushed stones. Explosive
charges were placed in the soil to be improved according to a
specific pattern. Crushed stones were piled up next to the area
where the charges were installed. The explosion created
cavities in the soil and caused the pile of crushed stones to
13
slide into the exploded area. Based on blasting mechanics, a
set of equations regarding the weight of the charge and the
radius of the explosive cavity were derived to calculate the
weight of the charges and the spacing between the charges. The
design of the charges was made using the equations and the
results were found to be satisfactory. A method to install
charges was also developed and used in this project. Borehole
exploration after the soil improvement revealed that the
crushed stones were densely packed in the top 56 m, but were
embedded in clay in the bottom 34 m. The results of plate load
tests indicated that the top layer of the improved ground had
sufficient bearing capacity and a high modulus of subgrade
reaction. The ground-probing radar adopted was effective in
detecting the layer of the densely packed crushed stones.

OO

Fig. 8. Borehole log of the replaced soil layer

The GPR system used in this project adopted a frequency of

100 MHz. This frequency was chosen to suit the depth of the
crushed stone layer. GPR tests were conducted along six lines
of a total length of 417 m. Of these, two lines were along the
longitudinal direction and four were along the transverse
direction of the highway. One scanned profile is shown in Fig.
10. The crushed stones in the top 5 m of the soil profile were
detected. Soft clay pockets within this layer could also be
identified from the image, as indicated by arrows in Fig. 10.
However, the stones in the deeper layer could not be identified
clearly from the image. This could be because the radar wave
became much less effective when it penetrated the layer of
stones embedded in clay.

FS

Load: kPa
400

600

800

ks 120 MPa

PR

Fig. 9. Results of plate load test

Ministry of Transport for the design of expressways in China

was 300 mm.
6.3. Ground-probing radar
(GPR) tests
GPR was used to detect the
distribution of the crushed
stones in the soft clay. The
radar system transmits
repetitive, short-pulse
electromagnetic waves into
the ground from a broadbandwidth antenna. Some of
the waves are reflected when
they hit discontinuities in the
subsurface, and some are
absorbed or refracted by the
materials that they come into
contact with. The reflected
waves are picked up by a

Fig. 10. An image from ground-probing radar

Geotechnical Engineering 152 Issue GE1

Use of explosive method in soil improvement

Yan Chu

________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.paper.edu.cn

FS

9.

Engineering in Environmental Management (CHOWDHURY R.

N. (ed.)). Balkema, Rotterdam, 1992, pp. 599622.
JIN L. and SHI F. Blasting techniques for underwater soft
clay improvement. China Harbour Engineering, 1999, No.
2, 1017; No. 3, 1627.
YAN S. W. and CHU J. Soil improvement for a road using
the vacuum preloading method. Ground Improvement,
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LIN K. Q. and WONG I. H. Use of deep cement mixing to
reduce settlements at bridge approaches. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE,
1999, 125, No. 4, 309320.
IVANOV P. L. Compaction of Noncohesive Soil by Explosions.
US Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA, 1967,
National Technical Information Service Report No.
TT70-57221.
HENRYCH J. The Dynamics of Explosion and Its Use.
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1979.
OSIPOV V. I., NIKOLAEVA S. K. and SOKOLOV V. N.
Microstructural changes associated with thixotropic
phenomena in clay soils. Geotechnique, 1984, 34, No. 2,
293303.
AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials, Washington, DC, 1993.
BOWLES J. E. Foundation Analysis and Design.
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996.
KOERNER R. M. Construction and Geotechnical Methods
in Foundation Engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York,
1984.

10.

11.

12.

13.
14.

OO

REFERENCES
1. HALL C. E. Compacting a dam foundation by blasting.
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Blasting-induced liquefaction of an alluvial sand deposit.
Geotechnical Testing Journal, ASTM, 1992, 15, No. 1,
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4. NARIN VAN COURT W. A. and MITCHELL J. K. New insights
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Geotechnical Special Publication No. 49, 1995, pp. 5165.
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Proceedings of the ASCE Specialty Conference on
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Seattle, WA, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No.
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with blasting method. In Geomechanics and Water

15.

16.

17.

PR

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