Electrokinetic Stabilisation (EKS) Applications in South-East England, UK:Case Study

Fine-grained soils are widely present in the UK and form the foundations of many residential properties. However, this type of soil is highly sensitive to fluctuations in water content and can result in issues such as shrink-swell and potential compressibility, thus causing excessive differential settlements under residential properties. This is a significant problem for property-owners across the UK. With future climate change expected to bring greater weather extremes of wet-dry cycles, the impact of shrink-swell and compressibility on properties and infrastructure will worsen. Beside seasonality and shrink-swell behaviour of clay soils, the presence of trees which demand water for their growth can also impact differential settlement of property foundations. The damage to properties <br/>will be exacerbated adding further to the costs and disruptions to property-owners. Unfortunately, current methods for managing damage to properties are often disruptive and expensive. Therefore, there is a need for methods that can contribute to managing these risks adequately and electrokinetic stabilisation (EKS) is an innovative method that meets these requirements. Despite having been in use in the UK for about two decades, there is a perception that the construction industry continues to have reservations in adopting the EKS method. This paper will use a case study of direct applications in South-West England to give insights about the effectiveness of the EKS method. The case study will focus on the practicability of applying EKS method to existing residential property under subsidence damage and will demonstrate the method’s effectiveness while appraising its minimal disruptive nature.