SYNOPSIS

A current trend on the European market is the use of ground improvement concepts as alternative or in complement with deep foundations installed by piling methods. One of the ground improvement techniques commonly adopted as direct alternative to pile foundations is the rigid inclusions. Their construction process, sometimes similar to the typical piling techniques, makes it difficult to draw a boundary between deep foundation by piles and ground improvement by rigid inclusions. In practice, this lack of clarity can lead to severe discussions between the stakeholders of the construction project and sometimes results in a feeling of double standard politics on the market of foundation contractors with stringent specifications for piling contractors and nebulous requirements for ground improvement contractors. This wrong debate is generally caused by a misuse of the foundation engineering terminology and by a confusion of the roles and the failure mechanisms related to the different foundation concepts. In this evening talk, the concept of rigid inclusions including theoretical, design and execution aspects, is reviewed and illustrated with several case studies. Design methodologies, in line with the Eurocodes, are discussed and promoted in order to ensure a positive competition or a strong collaboration between both worlds.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Mr. Jerome RACINAIS is a practicing geotechnical engineer, graduating in the multidisciplinary engineering institute ENSTA in Brest, France. He is member of the Technical Committee of the French Society of Soils Mechanics (CFMS) and immediate Past Vice-Chairman of the Technical Committee TC211 (Ground Improvement). Since graduating in 2001, he has worked in the field of geotechnical engineering for the ground improvement specialist company MENARD. As Engineering director and design department manager, he and his team provide technical support to the Menard agencies spread around the world. He is responsible of the development of new design approaches and internal software for ground improvement solutions. He also maintains close partnership with Universities and Software providers companies to be at the head of 2D and 3D Finite Element modelling. He is also visiting professor in French engineering school (CHEC, ESITC Caen). He is currently involved in the French ASIRI+ national program and actively participates to the development of design procedures for ground improvement by rigid inclusions.