Effect of Initial Water Content of Grout on Permeability of Grouted Sandy Soils

For the design of check dams in sandy soils, permeability is an important geotechnical property to be considered as well as the strength of the sand bed. The restriction of flow of water through the sand bed is the main aim in such cases. For checking the flow in medium sand bed, particulate grouting with cement is the apt method. But by grouting with cement alone, in addition to the enormous cost, one may not get the required reduction in permeability. Even though, bentonite is a suitable grout material to reduce the permeability, its strength at higher head is questionable. Hence, an economically feasible, technically viable and environmentally matching material or a combination is to be used for this purpose. While using a cement-bentonite combination, water content will play an important role. This paper aims to explore the possibility of adopting the combination of minimum quantities of cement for strength and bentonite for permeability and to optimise the combination of cement–bentonite grout at different initial water contents, to arrest/minimise the flow through the sand beds.