Cambodia | Sihanoukville International Airport

Sihanoukville airport is located 20 kilometres east of Sihanoukville City in Sihanoukville Province, and is the third largest international airport in Cambodia. It is named, like the province itself, after King Norodom Sihanouk.

Project Overview

The Sihanouk International Airport terminal redevelopment project involved the renovation of the existing passenger terminal building and extension of the terminal from 2,700 m² to 4,800 m².

Sihanoukville International Airport has already extended twice in recent years (by 900 m and 300 m), and the runway will be 3.36 km long as a result of this new 860 m extension. It will then be capable of handling larger aircraft and further increases daily passenger traffic.

Ground Condition

The technical solution adopted to improve ground made up of soft, water-saturated clays between 5 and 15 metres depth, requires the installation of 200,000 linear metres of Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) and 850,000 linear metres of vertical drains.

This solution and the sequence of works allowed a residual settlement after 15 years of less than 10 cm.

Menard Solution

Menard Asia was responsible for ground improvement by using the Controlled Modulus Column (CMC). This technique was made to reinforce the ground for the construction of the runway and taxiways.

The Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) are used to improve characteristics of the compressible soil layer on a global scale and reduce its compressibility by the use of semi-rigid soil reinforcement columns. Unlike a piling solution which is designed to support the entire load of the structures on the piles anchored deep into a competent soil layer bypassing the compressible soil layer, the objective of a CMC solution is to increase the stiffness of the compressible soil to globally reduce both total and differential settlements by sharing the load of the structure between the soil and the CMCs