Theoretical analyses of laboratory tests of kaolin clay improved with stone columns

摘要

Small scale tests were performed in the laboratory to study the deformation and radial consolidation around end-bearing (fully penetrating) stone columns under distributed loads. For this purpose, the behaviour of a horizontal slice of a unit cell representative of a column and the surrounding soil was analysed. Gravel was used for the central column and kaolin clay for the natural soil. The results of the small scale tests are compared with theoretical analyses to assess their accuracy and to validate their hypotheses. Special emphasis is paid to an analytical solution recently developed by the authors that considers plastic strains in the column and the consolidation process of the surrounding soil. A better prediction of the settlement reduction, stress concentration on the column and settlement rate is found with this solution than with previous solutions.