A Study on the Behaviour of Stone Columns in a Layered Soil System

Abstract

Stone columns are one of the cost-effective and efficient methods for improving the ground which strengthen the soil and reduce the settlements. The study of the behaviour of stone columns in layered soils is of great importance. In this paper, results obtained from the experiments done on the stone columns with varying thickness of clayey silt soil (lithomargic clay) at bottom and the lateritic soil at the top are discussed. The lateritic layers are varied from top for a depth of 1D to 5D where D is the stone column diameter. Experiments were performed on untreated soils alone, soil with the ordinary stone column, geogrid encased stone column with and without additional horizontal reinforcement called basal layer to geogrid encased stone column in lithomargic clay. Similar experiments were conducted using lateritic soil. By considering layered combination of these two soils, experiments were also performed on ordinary stone column, geogrid encased stone column and geogrid encased stone column with basal layer. Laboratory tests were conducted in a unit cell on the floating stone column of diameter 60 mm. The load capacity of the stone column and bulging characteristics are significantly affected with the increase in the layers of lateritic soil. The encasement of stone column enhances the stone column’s capacity and reduces the bulging. The additional horizontal reinforcement layer also showed a significant impact on the load capacity of the stone column. Experiments conducted were modelled and analysed using PLAXIS 2D software package.