Experimental and numerical study of the settlement behavior of soil reinforced by stone columns

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to present an experimental and numerical investigation of the load–settlement behavior of soil reinforced by stone column, as well as to evaluate the plane strain unit cell model for the analysis of stone columns. Design/methodology/approach The numerical analysis was done using both axisymmetric and plane strain models. The elastic perfectly plastic behavior of Mohr–Coulomb was adopted for both soil and column material. The numerical results of this study were validated by the comparison with the in-situ measurements of a full-scale loading test on a stone column. This study also evaluated the effect of different parameters involved in the design of a stone column, including Young’s modulus of the column material, column diameter, spacing between the stone columns and Poisson’s ratio of the column material. Findings After the numerical simulation, the results from both axisymmetric and plane strain models are quite comparable. In addition, the numerical results revealed that the stone column with low spacing, a large diameter and a high Young’s modulus indicated better behavior against the settlement. Originality/value The axisymmetric unit cell model was used in many numerical studies on the behavior of stone columns. In the present work, a field load test on stone column was simulated using a plane strain unit cell model. This research adds that the plane strain unit cell model can be used to predict the settlement of reinforced soil with stone columns.

Numerical Analysis of a 3D Unit Cell Model for Soft Soil Reinforced with Different Granular Columns

“…The use of geotextiles significantly improved the bearing capacity and stiffness (Dilbas, 2021). Several studies have emphasized the widespread use of natural aggregates in strengthening soft soils by granular columns (Hadri et al, 2021;Malarvizhi and Ilamparuthi, 2008), while recycled aggregates have been less studied as this recyclable material is still under study and research (Alabi and Mahachi, 2020;Kim et al, 2012).…”