Date of Publication :8th May 2024

Abstract:Stabilizing the soft soil by stone column reinforcement is one of the most accepted methods of ground improvement techniques. The characteristics of soft soil, such as low shear strength and permeability with high water content and compressibility, pose a significant challenge for constructing structures and embankments. Structures built over the soft soil experience a huge settlement, which may become the main cause of failure. Thus, for any construction, improvement of the soft soil properties is necessary. Stone columns are frequently used to improve the soft soil nowadays. Stone columns speed up the rate of consolidation of the soft soil and thereby increase the load-carrying capacity and lower the settlement value. Stone column is one of the soil stabilizing methods that is used to increase bearing capacity and decrease the settlement of soft soils. Also unreinforced granular blankets are now being utilized to overcome the problems of soft soils. In this research, the bearing capacity of stone columns, granular blanket, and a combination of both methods in unreinforced modes were studied using scaled physical models with l/d ratio 6. Results show that using granular blanket, stone column, and combination of both improves bearing capacity of soft soil.

Reference :