FOCUS AREAS
Ground improvement involves the modification of soil properties or constructing inclusions within the soil to achieve a required performance. The common uses of ground improvement are increase bearing capacity, reduce settlement and permeability, mitigate liquefaction, increase slope stability, stabilize mines, accelerate settlement, treat expansive soils, stabilize soft ground and etc. The mechanism of achieving ground improvement varies by the end use, technique, soil conditions, location, availability of the improving materials and the related cost. Hence, further research is much needed in this area to investigate the optimum solutions or techniques to improve the ground.
Deferent types of consolidation techniques have been used to improve the engineering characteristics of peaty clays encountered in highway projects in Sri Lanka. The main drawback in these techniques is the long-time duration required in the case of thick deposits. Mixing with cement as an alternate improvement technique for Sri Lankan peaty clays had been studied in the laboratory. Considering the high cost involved in mixing cement, it was necessary to find some alternatives to replace cement.
Our group mainly focuses on the usage of industrial by-products as another pozzolanic material to improve the commonly encountered peaty clays in Sri Lanka with deep mixing method. Apart from the deep mixing method, our group also investigates on the usage of other improvement techniques to improve the problematic soils in Sri Lanka.
PROJECTS/GRANTS
- Development of fast and bouncy cricket pitches using locally available soils, Senate Research Council Short Term Grant, University of Moratuwa, 2015.
PUBLICATIONS
- Ranathunga AS, Jayathilaka LBDL, Vitharana TH, Elpitiya KD, Nanjitha TGT (2019). Applicability of Calcium Carbide Residues for the improvement of Soft Peaty Clay. Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon - 2019), 5th International Multidisciplinary Engineering Research Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 – 5 July 2019; Paper ID - 1570530110. IEEE, doi.org/ 10.1109/MERCon.2019.8818776.
- Sanjeewa KWD, Nawagamuwa UP (2019), Utilization of Building Debris as Aggregates in Stone Columns, Journal of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, Vol. LII, No. 01, pp. 43-56.
- Nawagamuwa UP, Muthukumarana PDA (2018), Service Road Construction Using Cement Stabilized MSW at the Karadiyana Open Dumpsite, Sri Lanka, Engineer, Journal of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, Vol. LI, No. 01, pp. 25-30.
- Nawagamuwa UP, Wijesooriya N (2018), Use of Flyash to Improve Soil Properties of Drinking Water Treatment Sludge, International Journal of Geo-Engineering, 9:3, doi.org/10.1186/s40703-018-0071-5.
- Nawagamuwa UP, Senarathna C (2018), Suitability of silt deposits at irrigation tanks in Angunakolapelessa, Sri Lanka for engineering applications, Engineer, Journal of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, Vol. LI, No. 03, pp. 59-67.
- De Silva LIN, Wijayawardhana HMJT (2017), Strength, deformation and permeability characteristics of soil-cement-bentonite slurry cut off materials, Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Seoul, pp. 341-344.
- Perera WSU, Nawagamuwa, UP (2017), Friction tests on clayey soils for fast and bouncy cricket pitches in Sri Lanka, Proceedings of the 6th International Young Geotechnical Engineers’ Conference (iYGEC6), Seoul, Korea, 16-17 September 2017.
- Perera WSU, Nawagamuwa UP, Thilakarathna GNU (2017), Identification of clayey properties for cricket pitch surfacing and analysing the variation of surface crack densities in different pitches, Transactions 2017, Volume I- Part B, The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, 2017
- Sampath KHSM, De Silva LIN, Perera MSA (2016), Effective usage of poker vibrator for compacting quarry dust: an application to ground improvement in shallow foundation design, Journal of Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources, October 2016, pp. 1-11, DOI 10.1007/s40948-016-0041.
- Sanjei C, De Silva LIN (2016), Numerical modelling of the behaviour of model shallow foundations on geocell reinforced sand, Proceedings of MERCon, pp. 216 - 221. 978-1-5090-0645-8/16/$31.00, 2016 IEEE
- Sanjei C, De Silva LIN (2016), Feasibility Study of Shallow Foundation on Geocell Reinforced Soil in Sri Lanka, Proceedings of Annual Sessions of IESL, pp. 1 - 10.
- Perera WLDHA, Kulathilaka SAS (2016), Comparison of Design of Stone Columns by Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element Methods, Civil Engineering Research Symposium (CERS), University of Moratuwa.
- Nawagamuwa UP, Madushanka HKP (2016), Ground Improvement with waste copper slag, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering Practices for Sustainable Development (ACEPS- 2016), Galle, Sri Lanka, March 2016.
- Perera WSU, Nawagamuwa UP, Wijerathna HWN (2016), Study on properties of locally available clays to be used in fast and bouncy cricket pitches, Transactions 2016, Volume I- Part B, The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, 2016
- Nawarathna THK, De Silva LIN (2015), Applicability of the Field Deformation Measurement Data in Predicting the Stability of Embankment Slopes, In: Proc. of the International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering, Aug. 10-11, Colombo, Sri Lanka, pp.577- 580.
- Kulathilaka SAS (2015), Experiences on Improvement of Soft Peaty Clays in Sri Lanka, Keynote lecture presented at the Research Symposium at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
- Madhusanka KAC, Kulathilaka SAS (2015), Possible use of Paddy Husk Ash in Improvement of Engineering Characteristics of Peaty Clay, International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering (ICGE-Colombo-2015), Sri Lanka.
- Fernando M, Kulathilaka SAS (2015), Effect of Preloading on Secondary Consolidation of Peaty Clay, International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering (ICGE-Colombo-2015), Sri Lanka.
- Madhuransi LWI, Kulathilaka SAS (2015), Use of Paddy Husk as a Binder in Improvement of Soft Peaty Clay, Civil Engineering Research Symposium (CERS) of Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
- Perera WSU, Nawagamuwa UP (2015), Identification of local soils for development of cricket pitches, Proceedings of Civil Engineering Research Symposium (CERS2015), University of Moratuwa, 22nd Oct 2015.