Abstract
Stone columns are mostly designed to carry compressive loads. However, in some cases, the movement of soil mass can result in lateral deformations, and consequently shear stresses in soil and stone column. The study presented herein is an experimental program, aimed to investigate the shear strength of soft clay bed reinforced with stone column. Modeling of undrained, short-term behavior of clay bed reinforced with stone column was performed using a large direct shear testing device with in-plane dimensions of 305 × 305 mm. In this study, the effect of key parameters including area replacement ratio, stone column arrangement, normal pressures value, and stone column material was experimentally evaluated. For this purpose, three different replacement ratios, stone column arrangements (single, square and triangular) and normal pressures (35, 55 and 75 kPa) and two different materials including crushed gravel and fine-grained sand were used in experiments. Results showed that in the presence of stone column, the shear strength and the overall stiffness of soft clay bed increased. The stone column arrangement, area replacement ratio and stone column material were also shown to have an impact on improving the shear strength. The most and the least increase in shear strength and stiffness values were related to square arrangement of columns and single column, respectively. In this study, the variation of stress concentration ratio of stone columns under shear loads were measured using suitable instruments. Also, the equivalent shear strength and equivalent shear parameters measured from experiments were compared with those predicted by analytical relationships at stress concentration value of 1 and stress concentration value obtained from experiments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abusharar SW, Han J (2011) Two-dimensional deep-seated slope stability analysis of embankments over stone column-improved soft clay. Eng Geol 120:103–110
Barksdale RD, Bachus RC (1983) Design and construction of stone column, vol 1. FHWA/RD
Chen JF, Li LY, Xue JF, Feng SZ (2015) Failure mechanism of geosynthetic encased stone columns in soft soils under embankment. Geotext Geomembr J 43(5):424–431
Christoulas ST, Giannaros CH, Tsiambaos G (1997) Stabilization of embankment foundations by using stone columns. Geotech Geol Eng J 15:247–258
Cooper MR, Rose AN (1999) Stone column support for an embankment on deep alluvial soils. ICE Proc Geotech Eng 137(1):15–25
Das AK, Deb K (2017) Modeling stone columns-supported embankment under axi-symmetric condition. Geotech Geol Eng 35(2):707–730
Fattah MY, Shlash T, Al-Waily MJK (2010) Stress concentration ratio of model stone columns in soft clays. Geotech Test J 34(1):1–11
Fattah MY, Al-Neami M, Al-Suhaily AS (2017) Estimation of bearing capacity of floating group of stone columns. Eng Sci Technol J 20(3):1166–1172
Fox ZP (2011) Critical state, dilatancy and particle breakage of mine waste rock. Master’s thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA
Ghazavi M, Nazari Afshar J (2013) Bearing capacity of geosynthetic encased stone columns. Geotext Geomembr J 28:26–36
Gniel J, Bouazza A (2008) Improvement of soft soils using geogrid encased stone columns. Geotext Geomembr 27(3):167–175
Greenwood DA (1970) Mechanical improvement of soils below ground surface. In: Proceedings of ground improvement conference. Institute of Civil Engineering, pp 9–29
Hasan M, Samadhiya NK (2016) Experimental and numerical analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced floating granular piles in soft clays. Geosynth Ground Eng J 2(22):1–13
IS: 15284 (Part 1) (2003) Indian standard code of practice for design and construction for ground improvement-guidelines. Indian Standards Institution, New Delhi
McKelvey D, Sivakumar V, Bell A, Graham J (2004) Modelling vibrated stone columns in soft clay. Proc Inst Civ Eng Geotech Eng 157(GE3):137–149
Miranda M, Da Costa A, Castro J, Sagaseta C (2017) Influence of geotextile encasement on the behaviour of stone columns: laboratory study. Geotext Geomembr J 45(1):14–22
Mohapatra SR, Rajagopal K, Sharma J (2016) Direct shear tests on geosynthetic-encased granular columns. Geotext Geomembr J 44(3):396–405
Murugesan S, Rajagopal K (2006) Geosynthetic-encased stone columns: numerical evaluation. Geotext Geomembr J 24(6):349–358
Murugesan S, Rajagopal K (2008) Shear load tests on stone columns with and without geosynthetic encasement. Geotech Test J 32(1):GTJ101219
Murugesan S, Rajagopal K (2010) Studies on the behavior of single and group of geosynthetic encased granular columns. Geotech Geoenviron Eng J 136(1):129–139
Najjar S, Sadek S, Maakaroun T (2010) Effect of sand columns on the undrained load response of soft clay. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng ASCE 136(9):1263–1277
Nayak NV (1983) Recent advances in ground improvements by stone column. In: Proceedings of Indian geotechnical conference, IGC-83, Madras, India, vol 1, pp 5–19
Nazariafshar J, Mehrannia N, Kalantary F, Ganjian N (2017) Bearing capacity of group of stone columns with granular blankets. Int J Civ Eng. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40999-017-0271-y
Ng KS, Tan SA (2015) Simplified homogenization method in stone column designs. Soils Found 55(1):154–165
Priebe HJ (1991) Vibro replacement—design criteria and quality control, ASTM STP 1089—deep foundation improvements-design. construction and testing
Priebe HJ (1995) The design of vibro replacement. Ground Eng J 28(12):31–37
Ranjan G (1989) Ground treated with granular piles and its response under load. Indian Geotech J 19(1):1–86
Sivakumar V, McKelvey D, Graham J, Hughes D (2004) Triaxial test on model sand columns in clay. Can Geotech J 41(2):299–312
Stoeber JN (2012) Effects of maximum particle size and sample scaling on the mechanical behavior of mine waste rock; a critical state approach. Master’s thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA
Vekli M, Aytekin M, Ikizler SB, Calik U (2012) Experimental and numerical investigation of slope stabilization by stone columns. Nat Hazards J 64(1):789–820
Yoo C (2010) Performance of geosynthetic-encased stone columns in embankment construction: numerical investigation. Geotech Geoenviron Eng J 136(8):1148–1160
Yu Y, Bathurst RJ, Damians IP (2016) Modified unit cell approach for modelling geosynthetic-reinforced column-supported embankments. Geotext Geomembr J 44(3):332–343
Zahmatkesh AM, Choobbasti AJ (2010) Investigation of bearing capacity and settlement of strip footing on clay reinforced with stone columns. Aust J Basic Appl Sci 4(8):3658–3668
Zhang Z, Han J, Ye G (2014) Numerical investigation on factors for deep-seated slope stability of stone column-supported embankments over soft clay. Eng Geol J 168:104–113
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aslani, M., Nazariafshar, J. & Ganjian, N. Experimental Study on Shear Strength of Cohesive Soils Reinforced with Stone Columns. Geotech Geol Eng 37, 2165–2188 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0752-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0752-z