• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.645-655
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• 2022

Granular columns have recently found widespread use in underground construction. The behaviour of granular columns under vertical loads has been extensively studied, specifically in relation to vertical load capacity obtained by bulging of the column body, including the behaviour after encasement of material. Determining the shear strength of loose soils reinforced with granular columns has received less attention. After the observations of lateral deformation near the toe of the embankment, attempts have been made to strengthen the lateral strength of granular columns. The purpose of this research is to look into the effects of different encasement conditions on the lateral load capacity of granular columns. This was accomplished by three-dimensional finite element analysis with FEM software. Various normal pressures and two different encasement configurations, namely single layer encasement and double layer encasement, with differing tensile strengths, were used in this study to determine their effect on lateral resistance. The failure envelope for a single column planted in loose sand was used to analyse the findings for three different granular column diameters, as well as the impact of different encasement conditions. According to the findings, the inclusion of a Granular Column enhanced the shear strength and overall stiffness of the loose sand bed, and the encasement of the Granular Column helped in deriving higher lateral resistance.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.417-439
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• 2017

The stone columns are increasingly being used as a soil improvement method for supporting a wide variety of structures (such as road embankment, buildings, storage tanks etc.) especially built on soft soil. Soil improvement by the stone column method overcomes the settlement problem and low stability. Nevertheless, stone column in very soft soils may not be functional due to insufficient lateral confinement. The required lateral confinement can be overcome by encasing the stone column with a suitable geosynthetic. Encasement of stone columns with geogrid is one of the ideal forms of improving the performance of stone columns. This paper presents the results of a series of experimental tests and numerical analysis to investigate the behavior of stone columns with and without geogrid encasement in soft clay deposits. A total of six small scale laboratory tests were carried out using circular footing with diameters of 0.05 m and 0.1 m. In addition, a well-known available software program called PLAXIS was used to numerical analysis, which was validated by the experimental tests. After good validation, detailed of parametric studies were performed. Different parameters such as bearing capacity of stone columns with and without geogrid encasement, stiffness of geogrid encasement, depth of encasement from ground level, diameter of stone columns, internal friction angle of crushed stone and lateral bulging of stone columns were analyzed. As a result of this study, stone column method can be used in the improvement of soft ground and clear development in the bearing capacity of the stone column occurs due to geogrid encasement. Moreover, the bearing capacity is effected from the diameter of the stone column, the angle of internal friction, rigidity of the encasement, and depth of encasement. Lateral bulging is minimized by geogrid encasement and effected from geogrid rigidity, depth of encasement and diameter of the stone column.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.567-581
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• 2023

Enhanced vertical load capacity of the ground reinforced with the stone columns drew great attention by the researchers as it deals with many of the geotechnical difficulties associated with the weak ground. Recently, it has been found that the stone columns are also prone to fail under the shear load when employed beneath the embankments or the foundations susceptible to lateral loads. In this study, the effect of various encasement conditions on the lateral deflection of stone columns is investigated. A method of dual layers of encasement has been introduced and its the effect on lateral load capacity of the stone columns has been compared with those of the single encased stone column and the un-encased stone columns. Large shear box tests were utilised to generate the shear deformation on the soil system under various normal pressure conditions. The stiffness of the soil-stone column combined system has been compared for various cases of encasement conditions with different diameters. When subjected to lateral deformation, the encased columns outperformed the un-encased stone columns installed in loose sand. Shear stress resistance is up to 1.7 times greater in dual-layered, encased columns than in unencased columns. Similarly, the secant modulus increases as the condition changes from an unencased stone column to single-layer encasement and then to dual-layer encasement, indicating an improvement in the overall soil-stone column system.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2011

This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation on construction method of geogrid encased stone column (GESC). In order to analyze effects of load carrying capacity and geogrid deformation characteristics of GESC, a series of medium scale unconfined compression tests with different overlay methods and reduced model tests were performed. The test results show that the method of overlap provides a simple and effective method of encasement construction. It is also found that geogrid encasement construction using method of overlap has important factor which can be applied to field tests. The geogrid encasement method related to effect of reinforcement is presented by laboratory test results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2018

Stone column installation is a convenient method for improvement of soft ground. In very soft clays, in order to increase the lateral confinement of the stone columns, encasing the columns with high stiffness and creep resistant geosynthetics has proved to be a successful solution. This paper presents the results of three dimensional finite element analyses for evaluating improvement in behaviour of ordinary stone columns (OSCs) installed in soft clay by geotextile encasement under monotonic and cyclic loading by a comprehensive parametric study. The parameters include length and stiffness of encasement, types of stone columns (floating and end bearing), frictional angle and elastic modulus of stone column's material and diameter of stone columns. The results indicate that increasing the stiffness of encasement clearly enhances cyclic behaviour of geotextile encased stone columns (GESCs) in terms of reduction in residual settlement. Performance of GESCs is less sensitive to internal friction angle and elasticity modulus of column's materials in comparison with OSCs. Also, encasing at the top portion of stone column up to triple the diameter of column is found to be adequate in improving its residual settlement and at all loading cycles, end bearing columns provide much higher resistance than floating columns.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.329-342
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• 2019

In this paper, the effect of a group of sand columns in the loose soil bed using triaxial tests was studied. To investigate the effect of geotextile reinforcement type on the bearing capacity of these sand columns, Vertical encased sand columns (VESCs) and horizontally reinforced sand columns (HRSCs) were used. Number of sixteen independent triaxial tests and finite element simulation were performed on specimens with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 200 mm. Specimens were reinforced by either a single sand column or three sand columns with the same area replacement ratio (16%) to evaluate the Influence of the column arrangement. Effect the number of sand columns, the length of vertical encasement and the number of horizontal reinforcing layers were investigated, in terms of bearing capacity improvement and economy. The results indicated that the ultimate bearing capacity of the samples with three ordinary sand columns (OSCs) is eventually about 11% more than samples with an OSC. Also, comparison of the column reinforcing modes showed that four horizontal layers of geotextile achieved similar performance to a vertical encasement geotextile at the 50% of the column height, from the viewpoint of strength improvement, while from the viewpoint of economy, the geotextile needed for encasing the single column is around 2.5 times of the geotextile required for four layers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.525-536
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• 2015

An experimental study was performed to investigate the axial-flexural load-carrying capacity of concrete-encased and-filled steel tube (CEFT) columns. To restrain local buckling of longitudinal bars and to prevent premature failure of the thin concrete encasement, the use of U-cross ties was proposed. Five eccentrically loaded columns were tested by monotonic compression. The test parameters were axial-load eccentricity, spacing of ties, and the use of concrete encasement. Although early cracking occurred in the thin concrete encasement, the maximum axial loads of the CEFT specimens generally agreed with the strengths predicted considering the full contribution of the concrete encasement. Further, due to the effect of the circular steel tube, the CEFT columns exhibited significant ductility. The applicability of current design codes to the CEFT columns was evaluated in terms of axial-flexural strength and flexural stiffness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.396-404
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• 2009

This paper presents the results of numerical investigation on support mechanism of geogrid-encased stone columns for use in soft ground. A number of cases were analyzed using a axial- and 3D stress-pore pressure coupled model that can effectively model construction sequence and drainage as well as reinforcing effects of geogrid-encased stone columns. The results indicated that the geogrid encasement tends to significantly improve the load carrying of a stone column. Also revealed was that such a confinement effect depends on encasement length and stiffness of geogrid. It is also shown that there exist critical encasement length and stiffness of geogrid for a given condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.25-36
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• 2008

This paper presents the results of numerical investigation on support mechanism of geogrid-encased stone columns for use in soft ground. A number of cases were analyzed using a axial-and 3D stress-pore pressure coupled model that can effectively model construction sequence and drainage as well as reinforcing effects of geogrid-encased stone columns. The results indicated that the geogrid encasement tends to significantly improve the load carrying of a stone column. Also revealed was that such a confinement effect depends on encasement length and stiffness of geogrid. It is also shown that there exist critical encasement length and stiffness of geogrid for a given condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.15-27
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• 2007

This paper deals with the bearing capacity behaviour of geosynthetic-reinforced stone column(GRSC) constructed in soft ground, as part of an investigation regarding the applicability of GRSC in Korea. In this study, two-dimensional finite element analyses were performed to investigate the effect of relevant design factors on the bearing capacity behaviour. The parametric study is performed for various influencing factors. The results indicated that the geogrid encasement tends to significantly improve the load carrying capacity of a stone column. Also found were that the geogrid encasement length and its stiffness significantly affect the load carrying capacity behaviour of GRSC, and that the encasement length of three times the stone column diameter is sufficient in mobilizing the full reinforcement effect. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.