technic al

bulletin No. 8
SUPPORT OF STORAGE TANKS USING RAMMED AGGREGATE PIERS®

This Technical Bulletin discuss the design of Rammed Aggregate Piers for supporting large-diameter
above-ground storage tanks. Aboveground storage tanks apply high bearing pressures on foundation
soils. This may result in excessive total and differential settlement and edge stability performance issues,
impacting the serviceability of the tank and result in the need for costly repairs, releveling, or tank closure
or replacement. The installation of Rammed Aggregate Piers increases the composite strength and
stiffness of compressible foundation soils. The piers exhibit a high angle of internal friction that increases
the shearing resistance to control edge stability around the perimeter of the tank.

1. background: design issues for tanks

The construction of large diameter above ground Solutions to prevent excessive settlement and
storage tanks (ASTs) results in applied bearing edge instability problems beneath large flexible-
pressures that typically range from 2,000 psf to bottom tanks include the use of deep foundations
6,000 psf depending on the tank height and specific with structural mat foundations, overexcavation
gravity of the contained product. In weak soils or and replacement of compressible soils, staged
poor quality fill, the high bearing pressures may tank loading with provisions for releveling,
exceed the bearing capacity shear strength of the and Rammed Aggregate Piers. Factors such as
soil around the perimeter of the tank resulting in schedule, performance, and cost play large roles in
edge instability. Edge instability leads to excessive the determination of the most effective solution
settlement at the tank perimeter, “mushrooming” for support of the tanks. The costs associated with
of the foundation soils and tank distortion. deep foundations and structural mat foundations
are often prohibitive for large diameter tanks.
The tank bearing pressures also may result in Overexcavation and recompaction is usually avoided
sizeable total and differential settlements, because of difficulties with groundwater and the
depending on soil compressibility. Large total potential for shoring. The length of time typically
settlements often may be tolerated provided required for staged loading may not be available
that accommodations are made for flexible piping and brings risks associated with tank releveling.
connections and joints. Differential settlements The superior stiffness coupled with support
remain a concern, however, because they may capacity to provide reliable, settlement control
lead to tank distortion. The combination of often makes the Rammed Aggregate Pier solution
edge instability and excessive settlement may a cost-effective solution that delivers superior
significantly impact the performance of storage performance compared with other solutions.
tanks.
2. rammed aggregate pier construction

Geopier Rammed Aggregate Piers (RAPs) are the matrix soil, thereby increasing the horizontal
constructed by drilling out a volume of compressible stress in the matrix soil. Rammed Aggregate Pier
soil to create a cavity and then ramming select construction results in a very dense aggregate pier
aggregate indo the cavity in thin lifts using a with superior strength and stiffness, exhibiting
patented beveled tamper. Impact® Rammed high angles of internal friction on the order of
Aggregate Piers are installed in soils subject to 48 to 52 degrees (White 2004). The high friction
caving in an alternative fashion using a hollow angle is attributed to dilation of the aggregate
mandrel to drive to the design depth. Aggregate when subject to shearing stresses. The construction
placed down the center of the hollow mandrel fills processes allows for a high level of confidence
the cavity and is compacted in thin lifts as the in the superior stiffness and significant shearing
mandrel is raised and lowered to achieve compaction. resistance afforded by the Rammed Aggregate
The ramming action during construction of the Piers.
Rammed Aggregate Piers causes the aggregate
to compact vertically and to push laterally against

3. tank performance improvements using rammed

3. aggregate piers

As show in figures 1 and 2, Rammed Aggregate beneath the footprint of the tank to control both
Piers are used to: total and differential settlement.
1. 
Increase the shear resistance beneath the
perimeter of the tank to improve the edge The selected reinforcement approach depends
stability factor of safety. on the foundation soil conditions, applied tank
2. Reinforce and stiffen the compressible soils pressures, design criteria, and project budget.

Figure 1.
Rammed Aggregate Pier
Reinforcement For Edge Stabilization

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 Figure 2.
Rammed Aggregate Pier
Reinforcement For Settlement Control

3.1 shear reinforcement design for edge stabilization

The design of shear reinforcement to improve the strength components of the Rammed Aggregate
edge stability factors of safety is determined from Piers and matrix soil materials (FHWA 1999). The
the results of two-dimensional limit equilibrium composite shear strength (tcomp) is expressed in the
analyses performed to evaluate the factor of safety following equation:
against instability. The factor of safety against
instability is the ratio of the resisting moment to tcomp = σ'vtan φ'comp + c'comp , Eq.1.
the destabilizing moment (Duncan 1987). Many
computer programs, such as PCSTABL, UTEXAS,
SLOPE/W, SLIDE, and GLSOPE, are currently where σ'v is the effective vertical stress for the
available for performing these conventional layer, φ'comp is the composite angle of internal
analyses. The input parameters required to perform friction, and c'comp is the composite cohesion
the analysis include tank height and pressure, soil intercept.
stratigraphy, soil unit weight, soil shear strength
The composite cohesion intercept (c'comp) is
(cohesion and friction angle), and the phreatic
computed with the expression:
surface elevation.

Stability analyses are performed by incorporating c'comp = c’gRa + c’m (1-Ra), Eq. 2.
a Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone within
the model where the parameter values within Where c'g is the cohesion intercept of the Rammed
the zone represent the composite RAP/matrix Aggregate Pier aggregate, c'm is the cohesion
soil shear strength. The composite shearing intercept of the matrix soils, and Ra is the ratio
strength of Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced of the Rammed Aggregate Pier area to the gross
soils is computed using the conventional method footprint area of the reinforced soil zone.
of calculating the weighted average of the shear

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Because the cohesion intercept of the Rammed weak soil beneath a new tank or adjacent to
Aggregate Pier aggregate is taken to be zero, an existing tank where potential shear surfaces
Equation 2 reduces to: may develop. Within the reinforced zone, the
composite cohesion and friction angle values
c'comp = c'm (1-Ra) . Eq. 3. (Equations 2 through 4) represent the composite
shear strength of the soil zones reinforced by the
The composite friction angle (φ'comp) is computed aggregate elements. A sample output of an edge
with the expression: stability analysis is shown in Figure 3. Analyses are
performed on a trial and error basis by varying the
φ'comp = arc tan [Ratan φ'g + (1-Ra) tan φ'm], Eq. 4. area coverage (Ra) within the Rammed Aggregate
Pier zone until the design factor of safety is
Where φ'g is the friction angle of the Rammed obtained. More detailed information on modeling
Aggregate Pier aggregate and φ'm is the friction the Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone can be
angle of the matrix soils. found in Geopier Foundation Company’s Technical
Bulletin No. 5 (FitzPatrick and Wissmann 2002).
The Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone is
designed to increase the shear resistance of the

Figure 3.
Sample Edge Stability
Computer Output

PAGE 4
3.1 settlement control of tanks foundations, full values of Eg may be used because
the stress concentration ratio is equivalent to
The Rammed Aggregate Pier settlement control the pier/soil stiffness ratio. Smaller values of Eg
design methodology is based on a two-layer are selected for soil embankments and flexible
settlement approach as described by Lawton et walls that cannot apply concentrated stresses as
al. (1994), Lawton and Fox (1994), Fox and Cowell efficiently and thus cannot make full use of the pier
(1998), and Wissmann et al. (2002). The installation stiffness values.
of Rammed Aggregate Piers within the Rammed
Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone, referred to as The upper zone settlement methodology provides
the upper zone, creates a stiffened, engineered for a determination of the deflection of the rammed
zone with reduced compressibility that reduces aggregate pier, but not of the matrix soil between
the settlement of tanks. The settlement below the piers. Because of the sizeable stiffness contrast
the Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone, and the use of a granular pad overlying the piers,
referred to as the lower-zone, is evaluated using the majority of the applied stresses are attracted to
conventional geotechnical analysis approaches. The the engineered material. This stress concentration
total settlement (stot) is evaluated as the sum of provides the benefit of having uniform settlement
the upper zone settlement (suz) and the lower zone within the RAP-reinforced zone.
settlement (slz):
3.1.2 settlement below the rammed
stot= suz + slz . Eq. 5. aggregate pier-reinforced zone

3.1.1 settlement in the rammed aggregate The settlement below the Rammed Aggregate Pier-
reinforced zone (slz) is evaluated using conventional
pier - reinforced zone
geotechnical approaches, consisting of either elastic
The settlement of the Rammed Aggregate Pier- settlement analyses or consolidation analyses using
reinforced zone (upper zone) is estimated with the familiar expressions:
Hooke's law: qIσH
qI H slz = , Eq. 8.
suz = σ uz . Eq. 6. Em
Ecomp
and
Where q is the tank bearing pressure, Iσ is the
1 P0 +qIσ
average stress influence factor in the upper zone slz = cc H log Eq. 9.
(typically assumbed to be 1.0), Huz is the thickness 1 + eo P0
of the reinforced upper zone layer, and Ecomp is where q is the average bearing pressure applied
the composite elastic modulus of the reinforced by the tank, H is the thickness of the lower zone,
upper zone layer. Values for Ecomp are computed Em is the matrix soil elastic modulus within the
as the weighted average of the elastic modulus of lower zone, and cc is the matrix soil coefficient of
the Geopier RAP elements (Eg) and the upper zone compressibility, eo is the initial matrix soil void ratio,
matrix soil elastic modulus (Em): and P0 is the initial vertical effective stress at the
Ecomp= Eg Ra + Em (1-Ra) , Eq. 7. mid-point of the compressible layer. The average
change in pressure with depth is the product of the
applied pressure (q) and the stress influence factor,
where Ra is the area replacement ratio.
lσ. The stress influence factor within the lower zone
Selected values for Eg depend on both the intrinsic is estimated using elastic stress distributions that
elastic modulus of the constructed pier and on the depend on the depth to the middle of the layer and
ability of the foundation to apply concentrated on the tank diameter. For large diameter tanks, the
stress to the tops of the piers. For rigid concrete influence factor may be considerably larger than

PAGE 5
customary for conventional foundation settlement correlations from SPT N-values, undrained shear
analyses. strengths, CPT tip resistances, or other insitu tests.
The consolidation settlement approach (Equation
Typically, the elastic modulus settlement approach 9) is often used to evaluate settlement in normally-
(Equation 8) is used to estimate settlement in consolidated or lightly-overconsolidated cohesive
granular soils and heavily over-consolidated soils.
cohesive soils. Matrix soil equivalent elastic modulus
values may be estimated using published empirical

4. design considerations for tanks supported by rammed

4. aggregate pier elements

While the design approach for the support of large While Rammed Aggregate Piers are used to control
diameter storage tanks is similar in concept to total settlement, another major benefit of the
the support of conventional shallow foundations, system is the reduction of differential settlement
there are details of the design and additional between both the center and tank edge as well
considerations that are noteworthy. These details as around the tank perimeter. The differential
include total and differential settlement criteria settlement control results from the creation of the
and granular pad design, foundation support and uniform engineered zone with significantly reduced
tank retrofits as discussed below. compressibility and increased stiffness. Tanks
placed on the Rammed Aggregate Pier-reinforced
4.1 settlement criteria zone settle more uniformly and experience reduced
levels of differential settlement. Because of the
The Rammed Aggregate Pier system makes it superior level of differential settlement control,
possible to tailor the design (pier spacing and it is often feasible to support tanks that undergo
length) to accommodate different levels of large total settlements provided piping fixtures are
settlement control. By defining the settlement attached with flexible connections.
criteria, a design is prepared that is the most
cost-effective solution while meeting settlement 4.3 granular pad design
expectations. For example, for tanks with greater
settlement tolerances, a design consisting of wider For most tank support applications, a granular pad
spacing and fewer reinforcing elements would be is provided over the tops of the Rammed Aggregate
utilized to provide more economical support for the Pier-reinforced zone. The granular pad provides a
structure. mechanism to transfer the applied pressures from
the tank bottom to the stiff reinforcing elements as
4.2 differential versus total settlement a result of arching action that occurs within the pad
as shown in Figure 4.
Many settlement criteria will include limits for both
total and differential settlement. The differential
settlement is often established based on the
differential settlement between the perimeter of
the tank and the center of the tank. Additionally,
some tank owners require a particular differential
settlement criterion around the perimeter of the
tank.

PAGE 6
 Figure 4.
Granular Pad Design
To Develop Arching

A specific granular pad thickness is required to footing and the ringwall foundation to reinforce
transfer the majority of the applied tank stresses the soils and control settlement of these structural
to the piers. The minimum pad thickness (t) is elements. The number of piers required for isolated
estimated by the following equation: column support depends on the roof load, while the
spacing of the piers beneath the ringwall depends
tan ß(s - d)
Eq. 10. on the loads applied to the ringwall as well as the
2 edge stability requirements.
Where s is the RAP center-to-center spacing, d is
the RAP diameter and ß is the angle of arching 4.5 EXISTING TANK RETROFITS
in the granular pad which is approximately 60
degrees. In some cases, the use of structural For existing tanks experiencing edge instability
geogrid layers, such as those offered by Tensar problems that have not yet developed performance
Corporation, may be used to develop more efficient problems requiring tank replacement, Rammed
load transfer to the piers, thereby reducing the Aggregate Piers are installed around the perimeter
thickness of the granular pad and reducing ß from of the tank to reinforce the weak soils and increase
60 degrees to 45 degrees. The gradation of the the shear resistance. While the piers do not provide
granular pad must consist of well-graded structural settlement control benefits in these cases, the
fill material which meets the project geotechnical increased shear resistance provides corresponding
recommendations. Compaction of the granular pad increases in the edge stability factors of safety and
must be performed to levels achieving 95% of the often inhibits continued tank deformation related
maximum dry density according to ASTM D-1557 to edge instability. While the same design approach
unless otherwise specified. is used as described above, higher area ratios are
often required to control edge stability with piers
installed around the perimeter because of the low
4.4 RINGWALL AND ROOF FOUNDATION
normal stress on the reinforced zone compared
SUPPORT
to the high pressures applied to the piers when
When not designed as a floating roof tank, many installed beneath the actual tank pad. Additionally,
tanks transfer roof loads to isolated foundations because of the required larger number of piers
within the tank footprint that bear at the base of and closer pier spacing, it may not be possible to
the tank. In addition, although not always required, increase the factors of safety to levels typically
some tank designs incorporate a ringwall foundation used for design of new tanks. For retrofit designs,
to support the steel tank shell. Rammed Aggregate factors of safety of 1.1 to 1.2 are often used.
Piers are installed beneath both the roof support

PAGE 7
5. conclusion

Rammed Aggregate Pier reinforcing elements resistance. Rammed Aggregate Piers are used to
effectively increase the factor of safety against edge reinforce and stiffen compressible foundation soils
instability and reduce the potential for differential prior to the placement of new tanks. The Rammed
and total settlements of above ground storage Aggregate Pier-reinforced zone provides significant
tanks. When Rammed Aggregate Piers are installed reduction of both differential and total settlement
within the zone of critical shearing surfaces, the and is designed to meet the project settlement
high angle of internal friction exhibited by the criteria.
piers provides significant increases in the shear

PAGE 8
references

Duncan, M.J., A.L. Buchignani, and M. DeWet. (1987). An Engineering Manual for Slope Stability Studies.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Blacksburg, VA. March.
Federal Highway Administration (1999). Ground Improvement Technical Summaries, Volume II.
Demonstration Project 116. Publication No. FHWA-SA-98-086.
FitzPatrick, B.T. and K.J. Wissmann (2002). “Technical Bulletin No. 5: Geopier Shear Reinforcement for
Global Stability and Slope Stability.” Geopier Foundation Company, Blacksburg, VA.
Lawton, E.C., Fox, N.S. Fox, and Handy, R.L. (1994). “Control of settlement and uplift of structures using
short aggregate piers.” In-Situ Deep Soil Improvement, Proc. ASCE National Convention, Atlanta, CA 121-
132.
Lawton, E.C. and N.S. Fox. (1994). “Settlement of structures supported on marginal or inadequate soils
stiffened with short aggregate piers.” Geotechnical Specialty Publication No. 40: Vertical and Horizontal
Deformations of Foundations and Embankments, ASCE, 2, 962-974.
White, D.J. and M.T. Suleiman. (2004). “Design of Short Aggregate Piers to Support Highway
Embankments.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. No.
1868, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp 103-112.
Wissmann, K.J., FitzPatrick, B.T., White, D.J., and Lien, B.H. (200). “Improving global stability and
controlling settlement with Geopier soil reinforcing elements.” Proceedings, 4th International Conference
on Ground Improvement. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 26-28 March.

acknowledgements

Kord J. Wissmann, Ph.D., P.E.

Brendan T. FitzPatrick, P.E.

PAGE 9
symbols used

ß = Angle of arching within granular pad

cc = Coefficient of compression of matrix soil
c’comp = Composite cohesion intercept of the RAP reinforced zone
c’g = Cohesion intercept of RAP aggregate
c’m = Cohesion intercept of matrix soil
d = RAP diameter
eo = Void ratio of matrix soil
Ecomp = Composite elastic modulus of the RAP-reinforced zone
Eg = Elastic modulus of RAP element
Em = Elastic modulus of matrix soil
ф’comp = Composite angle of internal friction of the RAP-reinforced zone
ф’g = Angle of internal friction of RAP
ф’m = Angle of internal friction of matrix soil
H = Thickness of the compressible layer
HUZ = Thickness of the RAP-reinforced upper zone layer
lσ = Stress influence factor
Po = Initial effective vertical stress
q = Applied bearing pressure
qg = Top-of-RAP stress
Ra = Ratio of sum of the cross-sectional area of RAPs to the gross reinforcement area
Rs = Stress concentration ratio between RAPs and matrix soil
S = RAP spacing
Slz = Settlement below the RAP-reinforced zone
Suz = Settlement within the RAP-reinforced zone
Stot = Total settlement
σ'v = Effective vertical stress
t = Granular pad thickness
tcomp = Composite shear strength

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notes

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