Donor: French Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (CFMS)
The French National Projects are research and development projects conducted at a national scale with the goal of developing emerging techniques in civil engineering for the benefice of the whole profession. They involve construction companies, design offices, public agencies and researchers. « Recommandations pour la conception, le calcul, l’exécution et le contrôle des ouvrages sur sols améliorés par inclusions rigides verticales », is the recommendation manual, published in 2012, at the end of the National Project ASIRI. This document describes design rules, construction techniques and control processes for the realisation of Rigid Inclusions system. Rigid Inclusions methods, or Piled Embankment methods, are soil reinforcement methods aiming to allow the construction on soft soil while reducing soil settlement. Rigid Inclusions, usually concrete vertical elements, are placed regularly on the soft soil. The soil-inclusion complex is covered by a granular Load Transfer Platform. Granular material behaviour and differential settlement between soil and inclusions result in force concentration in the inclusions, resulting in soil load reductions, and settlement limitation. Rigid inclusion methods are still an active development field, while a second ASIRI+ National Project will publish an updated version of the Rigid Inclusions recommendations in 2026.