Experimental and numerical investigations on a stone column in sandy ground contains clayey lens

Bazazzadegan, Niyousha; Ganjian, Navid; Nazariafshar, Javad

doi:10.22059/ceij.2024.366034.1968

Experimental and numerical investigations on a stone column in sandy ground contains clayey lens

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Papers

Authors

¹ Ph.D. student, Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Department of Civil Engineering, Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/ceij.2024.366034.1968

Abstract

Utilizing stone columns proves highly effective in altering the behavior of challenging ground conditions. The combined application of stone columns with surrounding reinforcement enhances the method's efficiency for layered ground formations. The current study investigates the behavior of unreinforced and geotextile-reinforced stone columns integrated into sandy ground containing a soft clayey lens. This problem was investigated employing a frustum confined vessel (FCV) in physical models and using Abaqus software in numerical analyses. The results demonstrated that reducing soft lens thickness significantly augmented the bearing capacity of both unreinforced and geotextile-encased stone columns. As soft lens depth increased, stone columns exhibited increases in bearing capacity. the length of stone column has no effect on the occurrence of bulging failure and decreasing level of the soft lens, increases the bulging failure occurrence proportional. On the other hand, increasing the thickness of the soft lens reduces the bearing capacity of the ordinary and reinforced stone column. Bulging can occur at the level of the lens placement up to a depth of about 4 times the diameter of ordinary column because of existence of a soft lens in a relatively loose sandy bed, while mechanism of failure is not bulging anymore if using encasement.

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