58
Geotechnical News March 2011
Grout Line
Paolo Gazzarrini
Overture
Twenty-third appointment with the
Grout Line and, despite the busy time
for the grouting industry (preparation
of the papers for the 2012 Grouting
and Deep Soil Mixing International
Conference), my good friend Sam
Bandimere was able to prepare an
article related to some consideration
about the grouting industry “today”.
Before I present his article, I would
like to remind you that June 13-17,
2011 the 32
nd
annual Short Course
about the Grouting Fundamentals and
Current Practice will be held at the
Colorado School of Mines – Golden
(CO).
Here’s the link to the agenda,
-
ing/agenda.html
and here’s the link to the instructors
-
ing/instructors.html
.
Some topics of the course: Grouting
(soil and rock), grout mixes and addi-
tives, Anchor grouting, Jet-grouting,
Composite cut-off for dams (Soil mix-
ing, Diaphragm Walls/Slurry Walls),
and Grouting for Tunneling. So as you
can see, this event is not only about
grouting. There are also interesting
topics related to dam cutoffs and tun-
neling.
I have already written a fair bit,
in previous issues of the Grout Line,
about the course and so, if any of you
are interested in participating please
visit our webpage
Here is Sam Bandimere’s article.
Sam, owner of Bandimere Grout-
ing Consulting Services, Denver, C0
) is an undis-
puted grouting expert with more than
30 years experience in the Grouting In-
dustry. An active member of the Geo-
Institute’s Gouting Committee, Sam is
also one of the organizers/instructors
for the Grouting Course previously
mentioned.
30 Years of Grouting
Sam Bandimere
Having been involved in the grouting
industry for over two decades as a
contractor and now as a grouting
consultant for over a decade, it has
been my pleasure and privilege to
observe the grouting industry from
this unusual perspective. I would like
to take this opportunity to share some
observations.
First, I would like to point out that
few industries have made as many ad-
vances in technology and operation as
the grouting (and overall, ground im-
provement) industry. I’m sure there are
many of you who can recall with me
days of old when contractors protected
their marketing program with secret
mix designs, self fabricated and manu-
factured equipment, and their market
area was regional at best. With few
exceptions, this not only made them
unique but led them to see the indus-
try from a hammer-and-nail scenario
which explains why the industry had
a reputation of “Black Magic”. Under
those conditions, they tended to have
either huge project successes or hor-
rible failures depending on whether the
contractors’ limited application capa-
bilities happened to fit a project’s tech-
nical needs.
Prior to our current information age
and globalized markets, contractors
and engineers tended to see their mar-
kets from very local perspectives and
they strove to meet clients’ needs with
what could be done and produced lo-
cally. This led to some unique innova-
tions we still use today. I can think of
